Jean Sage ran Renault’s turbocharged F1 program through the Alain Prost years. He later moved to Ferrari France to oversee the F40’s IMSA campaign in the United States, and it was that background he drew on in 1994 when he commissioned Michelotto to rework his F40. Chassis 84642 started life as a “non-cat, non-adjust” F40, the purest spec Ferrari built before catalytic converters and adjustable suspension came standard. Michelotto, the shop that turned 18 F40s into Le Mans racers, rebuilt the engine with dual I.H.I. turbochargers and a lightweight Chabord exhaust. Output climbed to 527 horsepower and 626 lb-ft of torque, a 49-horsepower jump over stock. Weight-saving work elsewhere left the car lighter than a standard F40, and lighter than an F50. Michelotto also added a cockpit-mounted brake bias adjuster, the kind of control usually reserved for cars that never see a public road. In March 1995, the car ran BPR Global Endurance qualifying at Paul Ricard against four McLaren F1 GTRs. It posted the fastest GT4-class time and finished six seconds off a purpose-built F40 LM race car. It’s still road-legal, still carries its matching-numbers engine and gearbox.
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