Ferrari F40 LM
The factory-sanctioned Ferrari F40 LM series built by Michelotto
In the early seventies, the Ferrari factory effectively withdrew from all other racing series to focus their effort solely on the FIA Formula One Championship. While that focus paid off in 1975 when the Scuderia Ferrari won both the Constructors’ and the Drivers’ Championship titles, it was only due to a few privateers that the Ferrari name kept heading results lists with the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 ‘Daytona’ and the Ferrari BB’s that came after.
In 1984, Ferrari’s mechanical engineer Nicola Materazzi wanted to go Group B racing with an evolution of the road-going limited edition Ferrari 288 GTO. He started a small side-project and eventually built five development cars called 288 GTO Evoluzione cars, but when the FIA brought and end to the Group B category for the 1986 season, the project was destined to be aborted with a proper racing series to compete in.
By 1986 the 40th anniversary of Ferrari was approaching and Enzo Ferrari at age 88 felt he wanted to leave a legacy in the form of a proper ‘supercar’. When all this came together, the decision was made to continue Materazzi’s 288 GTO Evoluzione project towards the production of a car exclusively for road use baptised ‘Ferrari F40’ to celebrate the 40th anniversary. Michelotto was officially the Ferrari service center for Ferrari Padua, but they had a history of great success in converting Ferrari 308’s for competition purposes. From Materazzi’s concept of the 288 GTO Evoluzione, Naterazzi in conjunction with Michelotto built the pre-production prototypes for Ferrari.
The limited edition 1987 Ferrari F40 was not developed to compete with the limited edition 1986 Porsche 959 supercar, but, albeit an entirely different approach, the whole car world and the posters in everybody’s childhood bedroom placed the two supercars cars side-by-side. While the motor press receive the more raw and more expensive Ferrari F40 with mixed reactions, it became an instant icon with the general public, potential customers and speculators. The original ideas of a limited series of 400 cars sold for about a quarter of a million dollars was stretched to well over 1.300 cars. The request for Ferrari, specially the F40, exploded by the end of the eighties and the final cars of the ever growing ‘limited’ edition were sold for up to one million dollars in a turbulent market.
Ron O'Dell, Reno, Nevada, USAApart from Materazzi’s side-project with the Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione and the unofficial support of a couple of privateers, the Scuderia Ferrari was still refraining from any motorsports effort apart from the FIA Formula One Championship. Inevitably a ‘privateer’ would stand up to take the iconic Ferrari F40 and re-enter the GT racing scene. The French Ferrari importer Ch. Pozzi SA commissioned Michelotto to develop a racing version of the F40 that was called F40 LM, for Le Mans, though in the end, this particular series of cars did never end up competing at Le Mans.
Eventually the Ferrari factory sanctioned the F40 LM project and Ch. Pozzi SA and managing director Daniel Marin, competed with s/n 79890 and s/n 79891 under the Ferrari banner in the IMSA series in 1989 and 1990. The racing team was led by ex-Renault F1 manager Jean Sage and had a proper line-up of drivers of past and future racing pedigree. Out of five entered races they took five podium finishes between the two chassis before both cars were sold to Ch. Pozzi SA in 1991.
- 1st test session at Fiorano circuit on 25 October 1988 driven by Dario Benuzzi (1m23.1s)
- Test session (4th) at Fiorano circuit on 24 November 1988 (1m19.4s)
- Test sessions at Fiorano circuit (broken gearbox) and Mugello circuit on 7 December 1989
- Test session at Fiorano circuit on 20 December 1989 (broken differential)
- Test session at Fiorano circuit on 11 January 1989 (broken 2nd gear)
- High speed testing at Nardo speed track in February 1989 (367 kph)
- Test session at Fiorano circuit in February 1989 driven by Dario Benuzzi (1m18.0s)
- Test session at Monza on 21 February 1989 driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille (2m31.0 in cold weather before oil pump failure)
- Monza testing on 3-5 March 1989 driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille (1m44.3s)
- Monza endurance testing on 20-23 March 1989 driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Alain Ferté
- After the forced abandon of the Le Mans project, technical development continued in preparation for the IMSA races at Monza, Fiorano, Paul-Ricard, Jarama, Lédenon by various drivers, including Piere-Henri Raphanel and Jean Alesi.
- Test session at Vallelunga on 29 July 1989 driven by Eric van de Poele (1m13.5s)
- Test session at Heartland Park circuit in Topeka, Kansas driven by Eric van de Poele (1m40.9s) and Jean Ales (1m42.6s)
Michelotto built a total of 18 F40 LM chassis and converted one (s/n 74045 which was originally a pre-production Ferrari F40 built by Michelotto) chassis to the same full F40 LM specification under built number 13 that was previously skipped. While ’17’ was considered an unlucky number in Italy, that number was skipped too, so in the end, a total of 19 chassis with Michelotto built numbers 1 through 20 were built as listed below.
Ferrari F40 LM chassis built by Michelotto
| 79890 LM #01 | 79890 · LM #01 |  Ferrari SpA Ch. Pozzi SA |
| Ferrari Club Italia | La Leggenda Ferrari - Sport e Prototipi 1989 Italy, 11 June 1989, Imola | Ferrari SEFAC | |
 32. Toyota Monterey Grand PrixIMSA GT Championship round 19, United States, 12 - 15 October 1989, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca | Jean Alesi Ferrari France | |
| Camel Grand Prix of Southern California 1989 IMSA GT Championship round 20, United States, 21 - 22 October 1989, Del Mar Fairgrounds | Jean-Pierre Jabouille Ferrari France | |
| Nissan Grand Prix of Road America 1990 IMSA GT Championship round 15, United States, 17 - 19 August 1990, Road America | Jean-Pierre Jabouille Ferrari France | |
| The New York 500 1990 IMSA GT Championship round 17, United States, 21 - 23 September 1990, Watkins Glen International | Hurley Haywood Michel Ferté Ferrari France | |
| The Jamesway 300 1990 IMSA GT Championship round 18, United States, 29 September 1990, Lime Rock Park | Jean-Pierre Jabouille Eric Van de Poele Ferrari France | |
| 79891 LM #02 | 79891 · LM #02 | Ferrari SpA Ch. Pozzi SA |
| Camel Grand Prix of Heartland 1990 IMSA GT Championship round 07, United States, 4 - 6 May 1990, Heartland Park Topeka | Jean-Louis Schlesser Ferrari France | |
| Nissan Grand Prix of Ohio 1990 IMSA GT Championship round 09, United States, 1 - 3 June 1990, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course | Jean-Pierre Jabouille Olivier Grouillard Ferrari France | |
 Nissan Grand Prix of Mosport 1990IMSA GT Championship round 10, Canada, 22 - 24 June 1990, Mosport International Raceway | Jacques Laffite Ferrari France | |
| Nissan Grand Prix of Road America 1990 IMSA GT Championship round 15, United States, 17 - 19 August 1990, Road America | Michel Ferté Ferrari France | |
| The Jamesway 300 1990 IMSA GT Championship round 18, United States, 29 September 1990, Lime Rock Park | Hurley Haywood Ferrari France | |
| 25. Rétromobile France, 11 - 20 February 2000, Parc des expositions de la porte de Versailles, Paris | Charles Pozzi SA | |
 78. Salon International de l'autoSwitzerland, 6 - 16 March 2008, Palexpo, Genève | Geneva Classics | |
 (17302) Les Grandes Marques a MonacoMonaco, 18 May 2009, Monte Carlo Sold EUR 964.500 (incl.) | ||
| Cavallino Classic XX United States, 18 - 23 January 2011, Palm Beach, Florida, USA | Marvin Shein | |
| Ferrari Historic Race (Trofeo Shell) Lime Rock Park 2011 Historic Challenge USA round 05, United States, 29 - 30 July 2011, Lime Rock Park | Michael Schein | |
| (PB13) Gooding & Company | The Pebble Beach Auctions United States, 17 - 18 August 2013 Estimate: USD 2,000,000 - 2,500,000 · Sold USD 2,090,000 (incl.) | ||
 14. Salon PrivéUnited Kingdom, 5 - 6 September 2019, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire | ||
| 88513 LM #04 | 88513 · LM #04 |  Michael Gabel |
| 10. Modena Motorsport Trackdays Germany, 23 - 24 July 2003, Nürburgring | Percy Bongers | |
| (FF08) RM Auctions | Ferrari - Leggenda e Passione Italy, 18 May 2008, Pista di Fiorano Estimate: EUR 1.000.000 - 1.400.000 · No Sale EUR 900.000 (excl.) | ||
| 88520 LM #05 | 88520 · LM #05 | Jean 'Beurlys' Blaton Garage Francorchamps |
| FF40 Belgium, 26 - 27 September 1992, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | Jean 'Beurlys' Blaton | |
| Spa Ferrari Days | Historic Challenge 1995 Historic Challenge EUR, Belgium, 5 - 7 May 1995, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | Jean 'Beurlys' Blaton Pierre Dieudonné | |
| 21. Rétromobile France, 9 - 18 February 1996 | Classic Car Associates | |
| Ferrari Racing Days Nürburgring 1997 Germany, 4 - 6 July 1997, Nürburgring | Jean 'Beurlys' Blaton Michel Vanneste | |
| Spa Ferrari Days 1999 Belgium, 30 April - 2 May 1999, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | Jean 'Beurlys' Blaton | |
| (114) Brooks 114 - An Important Sale of Historic Ferrari Motor Cars & Automobilia Switzerland, 18 December 1999, Palace Hotel Estimate: USD 378,000 - 330,000 · Sold USD 362,565 (excl.) | ||
| 88521 LM #03 | 88521 · LM #03 | Giorgio Perfetti |
| 88522 LM #06 | 88522 · LM #06 | Albert Uderzo Ch. Pozzi SA |
| Ferrari Owners Club Concours 1995 United Kingdom, 9 July 1995, Castle Ashby, Northants | ||
| 5. Modena Motorsport Trackdays Germany, 1 - 2 July 1998, Nürburgring | Axel Urban ProTrade GmbH | |
| (13164) Bonhams | The Ferrari Sale Switzerland, 17 December 2005, Palace Hotel, Gstaad Sold CHF 844.665 (incl.) | ||
| 88523 LM #07 | 88523 · LM #07 |  Sultan of Brunei |
| 88524 LM #08 | 88524 · LM #08 | Capitanio |
 Forza-Ferrari II / Ferrari Club of Japan National MeetingJapan, 5 - 6 June 1999, Suzuka, Japan | Yoshikuni Okamoto | |
| 92235 LM #09 | 92235 · LM #09 | Yoshiho Matsuda Matsuda Collection |
| Forza Ferrari in Suzuka 1995 Japan, 8 - 9 April 1995, Suzuka International Racing Course | Yoshiho Matsuda Matsuda Collection | |
| 92236 LM #10 | 92236 · LM #10 | Jim McLean Ferrari NA |
| 92237 LM #11 | 92237 · LM #11 | Albert Obrist |
| 92238 LM #12 | 92238 · LM #12 | |
| 95448 LM #14 | 95448 · LM #14 | Walter Hagmann |
| 95449 LM #15 | 95449 · LM #15 | Young Ferrari NA |
| 97881 LM #16 | 97881 · LM #16 | Ed Wettach Ferrari NA |
| Ferrari Sonderausstellung 2011 Switzerland, 15 October 2011 - 8 April 2012, Pantheon, Muttenz, Basel | ||
| 97893 LM #18 | 97893 · LM #18 | Ferrari NA |
| (21917) Bonhams | Quail Lodge Auction United States, 14 - 15 August 2014, Quail Lodge & Golf Club, Carmel Valley, California Estimate: USD 2,250,000 - 2,750,000 · Sold USD 2,200,000 (incl.) | ||
| 41. Rétromobile France, 3 - 7 February 2016, Parc des expositions de la porte de Versailles, Paris | JD Classics | |
| 75. Goodwood Members' Meeting United Kingdom, 18 - 19 March 2017, Goodwood Circuit | Christopher Wilson | |
| 25. Goodwood Festival of Speed United Kingdom, 29 June - 2 July 2017, Goodwood Circuit | Christopher Wilson | |
| 97904 LM #19 | 97904 · LM #19 | Ferrari NA |
| Cavallino Classic VIII | Track Event United States, 21 - 22 January 1999, Moroso Motorsports Park | John Bisanti | |
| Cavallino Classic VIII | Tour of Palm Beach United States, 22 January 1999, Palm Beach, Florida, USA | John Bisanti | |
| Cavallino Classic VIII | Concours d'Elegance United States, 23 January 1999, The Breakers Resort Hotel | John Bisanti | |
| Ferrari Club of America Annual Meet 1999 United States, 26 - 30 May 1999, Atlanta Motor Speedway | John Bisanti | |
| Cavallino Classic IX | Track Event United States, 20 - 21 January 2000, Moroso Motorsports Park | Gianni Bisanti | |
| Cavallino Classic IX | Concours d'Elegance United States, 22 January 2000, The Breakers Resort Hotel | Gianni Bisanti | |
| Cavallino Classic IX | Concours d'Elegance United States, 22 January 2000, The Breakers Resort Hotel | Gianni Bisanti | |
| (MO15) RM Auctions | Monterey United States, 13 - 15 August 2015, The Portola Hotel & Spa – Monterey, California Sold USD 3,300,000 (excl.) | ||
| 99401 LM #20 | 99401 · LM #20 |
Ferrari NA |
| 74045 LM #13 | 74045 · LM #13 |
Rene Herzog |