Miguel Sánchez
PHOTOS FERRARI F50 PROTOTYPE: GOODING & COMPANY
At the beginning of the 80s, Enzo Ferrari felt the breath of death near. Aware of his end, he did not want to leave without first punching the table one last time. A vindication of its history capable of turning the world of supercars upside down. The product of that was the Ferrari F40. One of the greatest myths of sports car racing, so spartan and radical that Diego Maradona rejected the one the Napolés gave him after realizing that it came without sound equipment.
About ten years later, and with the Commendatore now deceased, Ferrari needed to revive the myth for the brand's 50 years. The answer was the F50. Considered an F1 suitable for the street, it included the engine in a self-supporting monocoque made of aluminum and carbon fiber. The XNUMXs airs were felt in the sinuous design of Pininfarina, criticized by many even despite following the maxim of 'form follows function' far from the sharp angles of its predecessor.
Quickly all the means of the engine echoed the last great model out of Maranello, which was neither the most powerful nor the fastest, but if possibly the purest. And they did it right with this unit. Because what you're seeing is the Ferrari F50 Berlinetta prototype from 1995. One of those that were used to develop the model, publicize it and to do the very few tests for the media.
FERRARI F50 BERLINETTA PROTOTYPE. A MULE IN FIORANO
Needless to say, Ferraris are given the spirited nickname of “cavallinos”. However, test vehicles in any make are often given the drier name of "mula”. Just what our protagonist was for several weeks on the Fiorano track: the “mula”From testing the F50. However, this brought him two important honors. The first is to have the quality of being the first Ferrari F50 ever built. A fetish for lovers of genealogies and chassis numbers.
And the second is to have been carried by the pilots who worked to fine-tune the F50's market launch. To give you an idea, in his seat they have planted the pilots buttocks like dario benuzzi -mythical head of testers in Ferrari-, Jean Alesi, Gerhard berger y ... Niki Lauda. Someone very appropriate to talk about buttocks, since the sensitivity of his rear is behind the great ability of the Austrian when it comes to knowing how to interpret the reactions of the chassis.
Tried and tested on Ferrari's tracks, this prototype F50 guided the way the next 348 units should be tuned. And it is that after a meticulous market study, the Maranello house decided to build 350 Ferrari F50s. Reduced to 349 to meet the founder's maxim: "The ideal number of cars to build is just one less than the market can absorb." And on top of that they made you pass an entire exam ...
FROM F50 PROTOTYPE TO F50 FOR SALE
After intensive development work, this unit of the prototype F50 served for the presentation of the model in various salons. It is even rumored that the measurements for the first miniatures released by Maisto and Bburago were taken from this prototype F50! So imagine, surely you have something straight out of this car hanging around your house.
After all the launch work, this prototype F50 unit was returned to Maranello, where it received a thorough rebuild and overhaul before being sold to Jacques Swaters, Former racing driver and personal friend of Enzo Ferrari. Until 2007 it remained in his collection, the year in which he left for his new garage in California. Since then it has gone through several hands, which have led it to be auctioned on January 15 by Gooding and company during the Arizona Auction Week 2020.
There, the prototype F50 reached the highest figure of the event, passing from hands to U.S. dollar 3.222.500. A figure followed not too far by the three million dollars of a new Chevrolet Stringray 2020 or the 2'4 of a Hispano-Suiza J12 of 1932. By the way, if you think it is somewhat controversial that the first F50 in history walks hanging around and not in a museum ... Don't worry, precisely the last to come off the assembly line is the one in the Ferrari Museum.
Finally, we cannot fail to recommend the excellent article that has recently published 8.000 laps on the model. Simply sensational: If you want to know more, do not hesitate to read it.
