The Only Ferrari F40 With a V-12 Is Heading to Auction

One of the rarest Ferrari F40s is about to change hands.

The only example of the legendary supercar with a V-12 will be auctioned off by Iconic Auctioneers later this month at this year’s Silverstone Festival. The competition-grade speed machine was built by U.K.-based Simpson Motorsport with something resembling the approval of the Italian marque.

The F40 may have been the first Prancing Horse to break the 200 mph mark—briefly making it the world’s fastest production car—but it wasn’t powered by one of the company’s famed V-12s. Instead, its engine bay was filled by a twin-turbocharged 2.9 liter V-8 that generated 471 hp. That wasn’t enough for race car driver Stefano Sebastiani.

The F40 headed for the auction block started life out as a test car. Following crash testing, the car’s chassis was offered to Sebastiani by the Maranello-based automaker, which he had a working relationship with. He then commissioned Simpson Motorsport to rebuild the car, but rather than returning it to factory spec he wanted it outfitted with the naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V-12 from a 550 Maranello. Needless to say, it was an expensive process, but one that, the Drive reports, boosted the car’s output to 542 horses.

Other changes included the use of a Hewland transmission (which was upgraded to a six-speed sequential gearbox in 2005), a lightened F40 GTE race car body, and the installation of an FIA-spec roll cage. Despite the addition of the latter feature and the use of a heavier mill, the car is said to tip the scales at just 2,370 pounds. The standard road-going F40, by compression, weighs 2,765 pounds (and 3,018 pounds in the U.S.).

This V-12 F40 was engineered and built for the racetrack. Sure enough, the car raced plenty between 2002 and 2006. It was entered in 13 races over this period, including a second-place finish at the Britcar Oulton Park circuit in the spring of 2006. Once its racing days were finished, it was put into dry storage and has been regularly maintained in the years since.

The 1992 Simpson-Ferrari V-12 GTR is scheduled to go up for bid on the first day of Iconic’s Silverstone auction, which runs from Friday, August 23, to Sunday, August 25. The auction house expects the unique race car to sell for between £500,000 and £600,000, which works out to roughly $639,000 and $766,000.

Click here for more photos of the 1992 Simpson-Ferrari V-12 GTR.

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