Can these upgrades make the Ferrari F40 harder to crash?
Amid the recent uproar around the F40, a Swiss firm has come up with a set of updates for Enzo’s final Ferrari
We’ve all done it – an injudicious prod of the accelerator that spikes your heart rate and necessitates new undercrackers. If you’re lucky, only ego and pride are damaged, as a myriad of excuses spill forth – diesel on the road, black ice, worn tyres and so on. It’s always generally a simple case of driver error. Hopefully, we learn from these heart-in-mouth moments, making us better drivers in the future. Some cars, though, gain a reputation for not being so forgiving. More often than not, they’re cars that also attract attention and as you’ve no doubt read, the Ferrari F40 is the latest on trial.
Back in the olden days before phones had cameras and the internet was in its infancy, you’d be very unfortunate if one of those moments was recorded for posterity and plastered over social media, but it’s 2025 and the whole world is watching. And when someone hits the throttle in a Ferrari F40 with a little bit too much enthusiasm, the whole world certainly is. We’ve all seen the unfortunate consequences – no traction control and a slug of delayed boost for which the driver is unprepared, resulting in an almighty tankslapper and an unfortunate coming together with the scenery.
The internet is rife with conjecture as to what happened in these incidents – some recent, some dug up from longer ago in the ensuing furore – such as whether the drivers lacked the skill or experience to be trying full throttle or whether the tyres were old/worn/bald? We’re unlikely to know the full story but one company, Officine Fioravanti, has seen an opportunity here and has launched a range of products dubbed F40 Alte Prestazioni (high performance). These have been ‘designed to make one of the most iconic supercars in history safer, more accessible, and, when necessary, even more high performing’.
First up are changes to the F40’s suspension with an Öhlins TTX 36 four-way adjustable setup and new arms, hubs, and bearings from Officine Fioravanti which are said to have revised geometries for greater robustness and durability. A new braking system is being offered too, with Officine Fioravanti carbon ceramic discs with Brembo calipers – six-piston at the front and four-pot at the rear. Paired with this brake set-up is a new ABS system for the F40 – something that was missing from the original.
Other departures from the original spec include a close ratio steering rack with hydraulic power assistance and a front lifter system for tackling ramps on other obstacles that might interfere with the F40’s chiselled front spoiler. Completing the package are a set of Officine Fioravanti lightweight alloy wheels in 18- and 19-inch diameters (rather than the original’s 17-inch items) which the company says will allow for the fitment of Michelin Cup 2 or Pirelli Trofeo R tyres. And if you haven’t spent enough already there’s a new centre wheel-locking system that’s said to offer ‘significant safety improvements.’
But is the Ferrari F40 really such an untameable beast that all these changes are necessary? evo editor-at-large John Barker didn’t think so; ‘It all goes nuts behind, the hammery engine note almost consumed by the whoosh and hiss of the blowers. And the chassis twitches and then the rear tyres are unstuck and – this is the magic bit – it feels comfortable with it, and so do you. You don’t back out, you steady your right foot, steady the boost, and the rear wheels paint lines as they scrabble on a smidge of opposite lock this way, a smidge that.’
