When one thinks of the legendary Ferrari F40, it’s difficult to think of any car of its era that could trump it. But as it happens, there is and it’s called the F40 LM. The chances of a car like this coming up for sale is pretty rare, but should one of these very scarce cars be on your bucket list, luckily one is coming up for sale this February.
RM Southeby’s is putting this one-of-nineteen Ferrari under the hammer at their Paris auction, and this particular example has quite a fascinating history. Built as a pre-production car, this 1987 F40 LM was sold to Rene Herzog, a former Le Mans driver, who was the one who sent the car back to Italy for the LM conversion. This meant that the F40 got a larger turbo (as if it needed it in the first place), a more advanced fuel injection system, larger intercoolers and also went on a bit of a diet. As a result, the F40 LM produced more than 700 horsepower (522kW) and weighed less than 1100 kg. In other words, it was rather quick.
Once the lairy beast had been created, it was sold to a man called Charles Zuger, but it was only until the Pilot-Aldix racing team bought the car in 1995 when the Italian stallion came into its own. In the Le Mans race of that year, the car qualified 7th and 2nd in the GT1 class. Come the race, however, the French Racing Blue car was positioned 12th overall and came 6th in the GT1 class. Unfortunately, that would be the best positions the LM would reach in its racing career, and in 1996 it called it a day. The F40 switched owners multiple times, until the current owner purchased it in 2008.
According to RM Southeby’s, the car had its last service last year and it also comes with a set of spare tires and its original transmission. The auction date is the 6th of February.
