The arch-rival : Ferrari F40

Undoubtedly, the most obvious rival of Porsche 959 was Ferrari F40. Just one year after Porsche started delivery 959, Enzo Ferrari unveiled F40 in Maranello, aiming to re-clinch the "Fastest car" title from Porsche. If we say the Porsche was built on Group C technology, then Formula One must be the donor of the Ferrari.

In specifications, the Ferrari was even faster than 959. Its 2.95-litre twin-turbo V8 produced 28 more horsepower and 56 lbft more torque. In basic trim, it weighed just 1100 kg, thanks to the tubular space frame chassis and full carbon fiber body. Even adding winding windows and air-con like most customers did, it still weighed less than 1,200 kg, well below Porsche's real kerb weight of 1,530 kg.

Although F40's aerodynamic drag coefficient was higher than 959 (0.34 versus 0.31), it was recorded a top speed of 199 mph and 202.5 mph respectively by Auto Motor und Sport and Quattroroute magazine, eclipsing 959's 197 mph recorded by AMS. In terms of acceleration, 959 won in the earliest stage since its variable 4-wheel drive eliminated tyre slip during starting and made better use of traction. Therefore it could beat the Ferrari in 0-60 mph (3.6 sec versus 3.9 sec), but there after the Ferrari's true power started to display its superiority and it never look back until limited by drag. Here is their acceleration figures:

SUPER MATCH : 959 vs F40

Autocar ( 8 June 1988 )

Testers

Gerhard Berger : everybody knows he was one of the top Formula One drivers for many years. In 1988, he served the Ferrari F1 team and by the way participated in the testing of F40. He was invited by the company to demonstrate the F40 in this contest. He also bought a F40, but not yet delivered until September of that year.
 

Test Track

Test Car

Start testing now ...

Having arrived Maranello, Brun and Autocar's Malte Jurgens parked the white 959 in front of Cavallino restaurant and went inside to have a tea. People became curious. One finally asked what we were doing. " Waiting for Gerhard Berger and a Ferrari F40, " Brun replied.

A few minutes later, the white 959 rolled through the gates of Ferrari's holy of holies. Enzo Ferrari's son Piero Lardi seemed interested and came up on a cross-country Honda. Some of the race team stayed to watch too. (Note : the F1 team had already finished testing in the track) Then Berger strolled up and climbed into the F40 that was awaiting his pleasure. I dropped into the seat beside him.

" It runs fantastically well. It bites from around 3000 rpm and upwards of 3500 it really takes off as if the turbos are constantly supplying with full boost, " said Berger.

Beyond 3500 rpm, there is such an abundance of power and torque that Berger had power oversteer any time he felt like it.... while all this was going on, the F40 stayed as flat and felt as taut as a racing car. There was no impression of the wheels rising and falling to absorb irregularities in the surface ; more as if it was doing it with its whole body. This suited Berger. " I like hard-tuned suspensions, " he said, " and the F40 has the best road chassis I have ever driven. "

The Ferrari seemed to suck in the tarmac ribbon of the test track so fast that at the end of the short straight at Fiorano, the Jaeger speedo was showing almost 160 mph. The 959's speedo would show 138 mph at the same point.
 
When we were out on the track again, with Berger now pitting the 959 against the curves that the Ferrari had just attacked, it was clear that in its engine characteristics the 959 is the more radical of the two. Its two-stage turbocharging system gives it performance that is more typical of a blown engine.

Up to 4300 rpm, only the first turbo puffs into the cylinders of the flat six with its water-cooled heads ; above that, the second blower ( which has already started spinning, thank to the elaborate bypass plumbing ) comes in. This makes the Porsche feel rather leisurely below 4500 rpm. Then it suddenly explodes as it begins to dispense real power. Its maximum torque of 369 lbft comes at 5500 rpm ( against F40's 425 lbft at 4000 rpm ) which is why the 959's six-speed transmission wants to be operated quickly. The Ferrari makes do with five gears.

A few laps of Fiorano soon showed what the Porsche, despite its open-road prowess, couldn't do : sweep around corners quite as swiftly and adroitly as the F40. On this track, especially in the tighter bends, the Ferrari's ability to be driven mroe aggressively on the throttle helped make it superior. Apart from its power-to-weight edge, the F40's better weight distribution of almost 50 : 50 front to rear (compared with the 959's 42 : 58) makes it a perfectly-balanced car which, despite its longer wheelbase (96.5 in to the 959's 89.4), could snake around the tighter bends.

By comparision, the 959 struggled through the cuit's curvier sections. This calls for an explanation. The 959 is designed to run with its drive biased towards the rear. Then, as soon as the rear wheel sensors detect a tendency to spin, the front-wheel drive is progressively activated until a power distribution of 50 : 50 front and rear has been reached.

Walter Brun remembers being told by Porsche that the 959 can easily be pushed into oversteer on dry tarmac by turning in sharply and stepping on the throttle. This was not the case at Fiorano. The 959's engine characteristics, its weight and its four-wheel drive arrangement made it the inferior car on the smooth dry tarmac of the circuit.

The Porsche is based on the galvanised sheet steel construction of the 911. With comfort aspects like electrically adjustable seats and its heavy four-wheel drive, some models tip the scales at just under 3500 lb instead of the the 2970 lb specified by Porsche and the 2425 lb of the F40. These masses need to be accelearted and braked which, together with the four-wheel drive - not set to respond in the sportiest way - results in a handicap the 959 cannot overcome on a dry track.

"At Fiorano, the 959 is at least 10 secs behind the F40," Gerhard Berger said - and even 959 owner Walter Brun would admit to six.

By the time Walter Brun took over the F40 he had consistently run the Porsche to its limits. In the F40, he easily matched the speed Berger had posted in the 959. (Note: remember Berger's superior driving skill) "The F40 is very easy to drive," Berger explained. "If you are experienced with racing cars, you will find it very easy to handle the Ferrari." Brun's judgement, too, is based on his racing car experience : "The F40 runs nearly as well as my Porsche 962. With racing tyres and some fine tuning it would easily run at the front of category C2 (Note: FIA endurance racing Group C category 2, slightly lower than Porsche 962.) Berger chipped in again : "It is nearly an act of provocation to offer a car with so much power and so little weight to an ordinary driver."

But there is another side to all this. The F40's advantage is clear when the sky is blue and the tarmac fairly smooth. The 959, however, is a car which permits massive acceleration and deceleration even on wet surfaces, slush or gravel. The Porsche, with its interior noise levels reduced allows just a rumble of the staccato of its firing order into its cabin, whereas the F40 smacks at you with each rev. The hoarse howl of the Ferrari V8 is so dominant that very wisely there is no space for a radio in the dashboard.

"The 959 is a civilised two-plus-two with amazing driving performance," Berger and Brun agreed. "The F40 is a racing car for the road."