Ferrari F50
The Ferrari F50 was a mid-engined range-topping sports car made by Ferrari. The F50 was introduced in 1995 to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary. The car is a two door, two seat convertible with a removable hardtop. It has a 4.7 L naturally-aspirated 60-valve V12 engine that was developed from the 3.5 L V12 used in the 1992 Ferrari F92A Formula One car.
Only 349 cars were made, one fewer than Ferrari estimated they could sell. This was, in the words of Ferrari spokesman Antonio Ghini, because "Ferraris are something cultural, a monument. They must be hard to find, so we will produce one less car than the market." The last F50 was produced in Maranello, Italy in July 1997.
The F50's engine predated the car: It was used in the Ferrari 333 SP for the American IMSA series in 1994 allowing it to become eligible for the stock engine WSC category.
Following the motorsport theme, Ferrari developed the F50 GT, a prototype based on the F50 that was built to compete in GT1-class racing. The car had a fixed roof, large rear spoiler, new front spoiler and many other adjustments. The 4.7 litre V12 engine was tuned to generate around 750 bhp (559 kW). In testing in 1996 the car proved to be quicker even than the 333SP, but this went unnoticed as Ferrari canceled the F50 GT project, instead focusing on Formula 1. Ferrari sold off the three complete chassis that were built - the test car 001, 002 and 003. Chassis 002 and 003 had bodies fitted before being sold. The remaining three tubs were apparently destroyed.
A custom-made F50 variant named the Bolide was commissioned by the Sultan of Brunei in 1998 and delivered in the same year. It used the F1 derived V12 engine and the same chassis, but was completely redesigned due to the monocoque construction of the body on the F50. One car was produced in the coupe configuration. Very few images and no official performance statistics of this car are available.
information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F50
Related Pages: Cars, Ferrari Enzo, Ferrari F355, Ferrari F430
