Officine Fioravanti unveils its timely attempt to tame the infamously wild F40
Officine Fioravanti Ferrari F40 – front
The Ferrari F40 is having a month of it, for good and bad reasons. Yes, Lewis Hamilton starting his new job at Maranello by going full Don Fanucci in front of the iconic supercar is undeniably cool, but it’s a little overshadowed by the two separate examples of the F40 that have found themselves getting acquainted with barriers and lampposts throughout January.
Perfect timing, then, for Swiss tuner-stroke-restomodder Officine Fioravanti to show us what it’s been up to. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s previously turned its hand to beautiful but flawed Italian metal including the Ferrari Testarossa and Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, aiming to give them a driving experience to match their looks.
Officine Fioravanti Ferrari F40 – rear detail
Fiddling with the F40, though, is a biggy. There’ll be those who say you simply shouldn’t (although nobody told Liberty Walk), and that its infamously frisky nature is all part of the package. Still, if it stops a few more F40s from going viral for all the wrong reasons, we probably shouldn’t complain.
Fioravanti calls its conversion the F40 Alte Prestazioni (once again demonstrating the power of the Italian language – that simply means High Performance). The overhaul involves fitting it with four-way adjustable Öhlins TTX 36 dampers, as well as in-house developed control arms, hub carriers and bearings.
Officine Fioravanti Ferrari F40 – brake
The original braking system is done away with, replaced by modern carbon-ceramic discs and Brembo callipers – six-pots at the front and four at the back. Unlike the original, it gets anti-lock brakes too. An air duct integrated into the wheel hub helps keep all this cool.
Those brakes are shrouded by new lightweight wheels that mimic the original insta-recognisable centrelock five-spokes, but are now staggered in size and wrapped in a choice of Michelin PS Cup 2 or Pirelli P Zero rubber. A new close-ratio hydraulically-assisted steering box and a nose lift system complete the changes.
Officine Fioravanti Ferrari F40 – rear
Sensibly, Fioravanti has left the F40’s looks well alone save for those subtly different wheels, and there’s thankfully no mention of any changes to its feisty 471bhp, 2.9-litre twin-turbo V8, either. All this, says the company, solves the two-pronged ‘issue’ faced by F40 owners – that if you don’t use it regularly, bits start to go wrong from neglect; but that if you do, there’s a decent chance you’ll end up as an accidental TikTok sensation.
There’s no word on how much these tweaks will cost, but if you’ve already got an F40, you can probably afford them. So, what do we think – is this heresy or a simple act of preservation?
The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.
