Few cars stir the soul of the driver as much as Ferrari does, and among the greatest hits that came out of Maranello, the F40 is up there at the top with the best of them, 250 GTO included. So how did the 40th-anniversary model came to be in 1987, the final Ferrari blessed by Il Commendatore himself?
Enter Nicola Materazzi, the mastermind behind the F40 and the man responsible for the Lancia Stratos and 288 GTO. Speaking to Davide Cironi, the father figure of the twin-turbocharged supercar takes his time to explain the whole process, right from the drawing board.
Even though Materazzi and Cironi speak Italian throughout the 24-minute interview, the English subtitles make up for the language barrier. When compared to all the information listed on Wikipedia and enthusiast website, the insight given by the 79-year-old engineer would make even grown men blush with appreciation.
After graduating the University of Naples, Materazzi spent a year working as an assistant professor, then landed a job at Lancia in the automaker's technical department. Here, the Caselle in Pittari-born engineer dealt a lot with mathematical approaches to engineering problems. A tough job, more so if you remember that computers weren’t exactly a thing in the 1970s.
Following the Stratos, Materazzi went on to develop the Formula Fiat Abarth racing car. Then Osella came up on his agenda, where the visionary engineer was responsible for two single-seater projects. For Formula 2 and Formula 1, to be precise. Come 1979, the man landed at Ferrari as head of the technical department within the racing division.
Materazzi convinced Enzo and the rest of the engineers to experiment with turbochargers, landing projects such as the 208 Turbo, 328, 412 GT, Testarossa, and the Tipo 268 engine used by Lancia in the LC2 prototype racing car. Following the Prancing Horse, he went to Cagiva, after which Nicola jumped to Bugatti, Industria Motociclistica Laverda, as B Engineering.
Similar to the Stratos, the F40 is one of the most fulfilling projects Materazzi worked on during his professional life. To find out what were the challenges of developing the most extreme supercar of the 1980s, grab some popcorn, press play, and enjoy the story.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News