It is a kind of «Benfica x Sporting» of the automobile world. Who will win in this duel of giants?
For some it's an obvious choice, but for others it's like deciding between father and mother. The Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959 are two of the most striking supercars of the 1980s, and either one has plenty of arguments to win. On the one hand, the entire German technological source; on the other, the exotic beauty typical of Italian brands. Let's get to know them in detail.
Ferrari F40 vs. Porsche 959: which would you choose? Vote at the end of the article.
The development of Porsche 959 began in the early 1980s, with the arrival of Peter Schutz as director of the Stuttgart brand. Helmuth Bott, who at the time was Porsche's chief engineer, convinced the new CEO that it would be possible to develop a new 911, with a modern all-wheel drive system and new technologies, that would be able to withstand the passage of time. The project - nicknamed Gruppe B – resulted in a prototype specially developed to debut in Group B, as the name implies, and which was presented at the 1983 Frankfurt Motor Show.
In the following years, Porsche continued to work actively on the development of the car, but unfortunately, with the end of Group B in 1986, the chances of competing in the most dangerous and extreme race in motorsport vanished. But that didn't mean Porsche gave up on the 959.
The German sports car was equipped with a 2.8 liter “flat six” bi-turbo engine , six-speed manual transmission and a PSK all-wheel-drive system (it was the first Porsche all-wheel-drive), which although it was somewhat heavy, was capable of careful management of the power sent to the rear and front axle depending on the surface and conditions. atmospheric.
This combination made it possible to extract 450 hp of maximum power, sufficient for an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 317 km/h. At the time, the Porsche 959 was considered “the fastest production car on the planet”.
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The first deliveries of the Porsche 959 began in 1987, at a price that did not cover half of the manufacturing cost. The year 1987 was also marked by the birth of another sports car that would come to mark automotive history, a so-called Ferrari F40 . “Just over a year ago I asked my engineers to build the best car in the world, and that car is here,” said Enzo Ferrari, on the occasion of the Ferrari F40 presentation, in front of an audience of journalists surrendered to the look of the Italian model.
Moreover, this was a special model not only because it was launched on the 40th anniversary of the Maranello brand, but also because it was the last production model approved by Enzo Ferrari before his death. The Ferrari F40 is considered by many to be the greatest supercar of all time, and it's no accident.
If on the one hand it did not have the technological avant-garde of the Porsche 959, on the other hand the F40 beat its German rival to points in terms of aesthetics. Designed by Pininfarina, the F40 had the look of a real road racing car (notice that rear wing…). As you can guess, aerodynamics was also one of its strong points: the downward forces at the rear kept the car glued to the ground at high speeds.
Furthermore, because Ferrari used all its experience in Formula 1 to develop this sports car, in mechanical terms the F40 was also an unprecedented model for the Italian brand. The 2.9 liter V8 engine, placed in the central rear position, delivered a total of 478 hp, which made the F40 one of the first road cars to surpass 400 hp . The sprint from 0 to 100 km/h – in 3.8 seconds – was slower than the Porsche 959, but the 324 km/h top speed slightly surpassed its German rival.
Like the Porsche 959, production of the F40 was initially limited to just over three hundred units, but the success was such that the Cavallino Rampante brand produced 800 more.
Almost three decades later, choosing between these two sports cars remains for many an almost impossible task. So we need your help: if you had to decide, which would you choose – Ferrari F40 or Porsche 959? Leave your answer in the vote below: