The Ferrari F50---Living In Shadows.

So, the F50. We all know this car. The one that was so overshadowed by its predecessor the F40 that Ferrari, back then, didn’t allow Journalists to test the F40 and F50 side-by-side, since it was slower. That said, it was overshadowed for another few reasons, One: It was terrifically ugly, definitely by both Normal and Ferrari standards, and Two: It was slower. Though looking at the Papers alone would tell you that.

The F50 was meant to be Ferrari’s ‘Extreme Machine’ of the ‘90’s, the car kids would have parked up in a poster on the Bedroom Wall, meant to take over from the F40, and was also, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Ferrari’s history as an Automotive Manufacturer…..Albeit a little bit early. But you sort of know the story: It didn’t quite work out.

Anyway, back to the bit about Ferrari’s 50th Anniversary. Under normal circumstances, you’d usually just commemorate it with some party or make some ‘50th Anniversary’ edition based off an existing car….But because this is Italy we’re talking about, and particularly, one of Italy’s most well-known car brands….They didn’t do that. Instead deciding to challenge the norm, they began work on something that would be the poster-car young boys had plastered on their bedroom walls.

The engine shoved behind the driver, was in simple terms, literally a revised version of the 3.5-Litre V12 found in their Formula One single-seater of the 1990 season, the 641. Certainly not the best one ever, but it did sound good. Enlarging the engine nearly to a size nearly a 1/3rd bigger(4.7-Litres was the magic number) than the original in a rather feeble attempt to get more power out of the Cast Iron Block, they arrived at figures of 513 bhp, and 347 lb-ft of Torque. Out of such a large engine, that’s a bit low, but anyway. All this blunt-fanged fury propelled the car to 60 in 3.7 seconds, and on to 202 mph, only a Mile-An-Hour faster than the F40.

Then, they did the absolute ‘Odd-For-A-Road-Car’, and decided to bolt the engine Straight TO the Chassis(Itself made of Carbon Fiber), pretty much like how an F1 car would have Its engine bolted on, with the 6-Speed H-Gate manual and rear suspension, also mounted to the engine itself. So, a somewhat luxurious sports/Supercar, but made more like a racing car compared to anything else. Now…Where have I heard that before?(McLaren F1) So, it was extravagantly built…But what eventually would result is that every single vibration from the engine would literally be transmitted Into Your SPINE, via the Carbon Tub, and eventually you’d probably just have your Spine shaken apart by the engine. Not how I’d want to live my life…Plus, since it had as much in the way of Comfort as the McLaren F1 LM….You’d best buy Ear Defenders, after all, you’ll probably shake your ears to pieces, and the engine is apparently quite audible within the cabin, from what I’ve seen.

They say the car was styled by Pininfarina, but judging by the way it looks, which, while definitely not ugly, was probably styled by the designer when he was Absolutely Drunk.
At this point, I should mention that it did have a Removable Hardtop….Except that it couldn’t be stored on the car itself. I’m serious. So, they gave out a small canvas one for the day that the owner would go out without that removable hardtop and the weather turned to ‘Absolutely Terrible’. With a Side-Order of Rain. When fixed the hardtop gave the car a greater fluidity of line, as when removed two small roll hoops and an aerodynamic surround section flowing into the sail panels added to the number of complex body curves. Between the sail panels was the clear plastic louvred engine cover, which afforded a good view of the carbon fibre intake plenum atop the engine, and the surrounding mechanical components.

The bodies were mounted on a 2580mm wheelbase chassis, with a 1620mm front track and 1602mm rear track. The Cytec Aerospace carbon fibre chassis had factory reference numbers F 130 BD, and were numbered in the continuous chassis number road car sequence. The construction incorporated the rubber fuel cells(Sounds like a recipe for absolute disaster to me) within the structure between the passenger compartment and engine mounting points, and as with the F40 the body panels were all constructed from composite materials. Sadly, this didn’t seem to help weight, as it weighed nearly 1400 kilos fully loaded with fluids.

Four wheel independent suspension, via wishbones with a pushrod system to horizontally mounted spring and damper units, again analogous to the system used on F1 cars, was employed, together with an electronic damper control system, to optimise damper performance dependant upon road speed and other considerations.

Plus, there were a number more color options available to the F50 compared to the previous supercars like the 288 and F40(I’ll cover that soon). You had the choices of Red, Two shades of them, in fact, yellow, Black and Silver, though most opted for Red. The F50 did have Air-Conditioning, and the composite-shelled seats were trimmed in Leather with Cloth Centres. The instrument panel moved from traditional dials, to a multicoloured illuminated display panel in the binnacle in front of the driver, but otherwise the spartan streak initiated with the F40 was prevalent, with the occupants still having to wind the windows up and down manually.

The production of the F50 spanned from ‘95 to ‘97, with around 350 cars made in total.

Now, you might think that this is the end…But no. There was also the F50 GT. You probably know about this car already, since Dylan Smit covered it quite a while ago. But in case you didn’t know, here’s the summary:

It was meant to replace the aging F40 GTE, a car that, by 1995, was being outclassed by the younger McLaren F1 GTR, and, with the F50 being the follow-up to the F40, it had the inevitable fate of being adapted to a Racer. The standard engine, was definitely not short of power, No. But to compete with the F1 that was running at 680 hp, the engineers would definitely need to inject a few Shots-Of-Insanity into the engine. From 513 hp at 8000 RPM, power was increased to 720 hp at a ear-splitting 10500 RPM. Yes, a 207 hp increase courtesy of 2500 RPM more. Then, the car was stripped and re-engineered, eventually resulting in the F50 losing 500 kilos, now weighing in at a rather light 909 kilos. From a semi-lacklustre supercar, this F50 had been turned into a Demon. One Ready to shatter your ears and tear your face off. Sadly, the project never really saw use in the championship it was adapted to enter as the outrageously quick 911 GT1 had dominated the season, and Ferrari, seeing the path the 911 took as the one they didn’t want to go on…
They pulled the plug on it all, re-focusing their efforts on their lacklustre F1 performance.

If you really think that neither of those really ‘turn you on’, well, I might have just the thing. I present to you: The Koenig F50. An F50 that….Is vastly better, basically. What Koenig did to the engine was, and I’m not joking here, fit Two-Turbochargers to an engine that already has ‘Ample Power’, and maximum power now soared to 850 hp, and it also came with a new exhaust, an uprated Clutch and set of brakes, a stripped-out interior, and 3-piece BBS-style rims. Apparently, it’d hit 60 in under 3 seconds, and scream on to 220 mph….Which is more than enough, right?

…..And that’s about it. My coverage of the Ferrari F50, the car that then, and even now, only manages to live in the Shadow of those who came Before, and After it. For many different reasons, which all add up to it being Sidelined, one way or another, whenever in the presence of those that came Before, and After. In essence, this is the Ugly Duckling of Ferrari’s history of Automotive Greats. Slower than its predecessor, less beautiful, and so on. But you know what? It’s special. More so than those that came Before, and After it. Not because its a Fezza, but because it was so different compared to everything else, and possibly, all the better for it. Feel free to leave overlooked details, advice and suggestions for the next article down in the comments, and I hoped you enjoyed it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to rest.

See you at the next one.

[Writers’ Note: So, if you’ve read till here, then Again, Thanks. I know, this might be a bit ‘incomplete’, and a bit different compared to everything else, but spare a thought for the guy who’s typing this on a tired brain. So, spot an error—-You know what to do. Feel free to add extra information, too. Anyways, back to the car. The F50 has always been my 2nd favorite out of the Quadruplets(288, Enzo, F40, F50, and my favorite between F40 and F50), mainly because it was so different compared to everything else. I know, it wasn’t as quick, or as beautiful, but you know what can make up for it? That sound. Um..Again I’m running low on ideas, so I might cut this short. So, the F50, the Ugly Duckling of the Quadruplets, one that this time, didn’t get the Last Laugh. But you know what might? That Koenig kit. I first heard of it scrolling through an old Top Gear issue, one from around 2008, and that was really early on in my life. So, fast forward to when I did this, and I just had to give it some form of mention. Anyway, my next plans: Pretty much nothing, till I can either find more time, or find something new to write about. I’m not expecting much yet. Lets just see what happens. And no, the ‘Quick Car Feature’ series is slated to return…..Never. As mentioned earlier, If you spot errors—-You know what to do. Feel free to add extra info in the comments, too.

Hoped you Enjoyed it, and I’ll see you at the next one.

Thanks Again—-Joel.]