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April 16, 2002 seemed to be a normal day but then the unexpected happenned! A press release arrived from Maranello and yes, it is the news that every Ferrari fan has been expecting to hear ever since the F50 was released back in 1997. The F50's successor, the much-hyped F60 will be unveiled on April 27, ahead of its official launch in the 2002 Paris Motorshow in September 26 and here is the first official pic!
The picture you see here was sent by Ferrari along with the following press release
Maranello, April 16th 2002. The design prototype of the Ferrari "FX" this being the production code of this limited series model which carries on the tradition of the F40 and F50 will debut at the "Artedinamica: Ferrari and Maserati at the Contemporary Art Museum of Tokyo" international Exhibition. The official inauguration will be on April 26th; from April 27th to July 14th the Exhibition will be open to the public. The Ferrari FX, which will officially be presented at the Paris Auto Show on September 26th, will bring to the road Ferrari's most advanced technology, directly derived from the Formula 1 World Championship experience. The FX represents the ultimate expression of technological transfer from F1 to Ferrari's road-going GTs, the conception of which has always benefited from racing experience at the highest level. No technical details are included in the press release, but we fully expect the car to be powered by a 6.0 lt. V12 producing 650 hp that will be good for propelling the 1200kg supercar to 60mph in 3.2 seconds and to a top speed of 250mph.
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The Ferrari F50 & F40
All greatness starts with an idea. The idea for the F50 can be found in the roots of Ferrari and the company that created it. When Ferrari first started to build cars, they were intended to be streetwise and racetrack competitive. As time passed, Ferrari built cars either for the race track or the road, as it was impractical to make dual purpose automobiles. In 1987, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the company that bore his name, Enzo Ferrari personally introduced the F40. It was the last Ferrari new model introduction in his lifetime. That fact is often considered appropriate, since the F40 represented a return to the idea of a road car that would be competitive on the race track. The F50, introduced in 1995, is a continuation of the concept.
Both the F40 and F50 are supercars. That title is based on performance, of which there is no shortage with the F50. It accelerates to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds, and covers the 1/4 mile in 12.1 seconds, statistics that were exclusive to formula racing cars only 10 years ago. The factory claims a 202 mph top speed, although a Car and Driver test (January 1997) achieved only 194 mphCost and exclusivity are also trademarks of a supercar. The F50 was limited to 349 units, the last which left the Maranello factory in July 1997. Why 349? The official answer from the factory is that their marketing research estimated that they could sell 350, so they made one less to keep the ownership competition juices flowing. Others suspect that since their closest competitor, the McLaren F1 was scheduled to build 350 units, 349 would give the Ferrari a slight edge. In the supercar games, no quarter is given. 55 are scheduled for US customers, where the car is legal for sale in all 50 states.
The F50 might be legal to sell in all 50 states, but they were available by lease only. Even if you were in a position to cough up the ,000 down payment, the EZ monthlies of ,600 for 24 months and the ,000 final payment, (not including sales tax, the ,240 luxury tax, the ,700 gas guzzler tax, and freight) you still might not be able to put an F50 in your garage. They were leased ONLY to individuals who were approved by the factory. The intent was to weed out speculators, who had driven the price of the F40 to nearly $1,000,000 even though 1200 were made.
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