There’s something exciting about a fast car. The power, the presence, the noise, the sensations, it all just makes you want to let it off the leash a bit. However, before you do, you might want to consider the conditions. If it’s damp, cold, or both out, don’t get too exuberant, or you might bin it. That’s exactly what seems to have happened to this Ferrari F40, which was crashed in greasy conditions in the U.K. this week.
According to the Herts Advertiser, the crash happened on Thursday in Markyate, which is near Luton. In a statement to the newspaper, Hertfordshire police said “The driver has been taken to hospital for treatment, and the vehicle has been recovered.” The Mirror reports that the driver was a service technician, which would definitely make this one of the worst days at work ever.
Cold, damp weather in a powerful car on summer tires without any form of driver aids requires serious attention and restraint, and in this case, restraint wasn’t displayed. You can hear the F40 experience wheelspin while accelerating, and while wheelspin is usually a sign to gently back off the throttle, gently backing off the throttle doesn’t sound like it happened. It really looks like the driver kept their foot in it until the back end of the F40 kicked out, at which point another error occurred.
Greasy road, too low a gear, gap to the car in front, too much loud pedal and around she goes!
Silly bugger.#Ferrari #F40 pic.twitter.com/87FKuIxhRB
— _ (@DabOf0ppo) January 17, 2025
Judging by the video’s audio, it sounds like the driver of the F40 lifted abruptly once they realized the car was rotating. This is a bad move because lifting in an oversteer condition can often result in a spin, especially if the car has a small polar moment of inertia. Considering the F40’s mid-engined, that lift seems to have caused the back end to whip around violently, resulting in the carnage you see here.
As the F40 slams into the curb, a few things happen. The first curb strike with the front end exacerbates the spin, while the second curb strike with the rear tire flips the limited-run Ferrari onto its side, directly into a lamp post. The damage is quite brutal, with the front clamshell being ripped off and shoved underneath the car.
Potentially making matters worse, this might not be just any Ferrari F40. Right now, photos from the scene show the registration number F40PRX, and the car with that number plate is allegedly the highest mileage F40 in existence. While the car can certainly be rebuilt thanks in part to strong values on F40s of around $2 million for a decent one, a crash like this would certainly leave a mark on its history.
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As it stands, we wish the driver a speedy recovery, wish that owner can get their prized possession restored to tip-top condition, and hope this serves as a reminder to treat powerful cars with respect, particularly in suboptimal conditions. Things can go wrong quickly, and at the end of the day, it’s best to get home safely.
(Photo credits: X/Dabofoppo)
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Shouldn’t the headline read “Watch This Ex-Mechanic Put A $2 Million Ferrari F40 In The Bushes” ?
I know it’s no F40 (lol) but having recently had some tire spinny fun in the wet with my 533i I don’t really understand how this happens? And at least in my experience w under 300 hp rwd cars it’s jarring but lifting usually does still right the ship if the tail is coming out. Also if it’s on summer tires wouldn’t they spin easier hence counterintuitively easier to manage? Like if I start spinning tires on snow and let off the throttle almost nothing happens-if I spin them on dry pavement there is much more possibility of weird shit happening because the difference between grip and slip is so much higher.
Too many idiots hooning that think that lifting the throttle when the tail starts to get squirrely is somehow worse than keeping the throttle pedal mashed to the floor. Probably they’re reading too many Mustang forums with too little driving experience in real life. I can absolutely confirm that if you stop feeding it torque soon enough, a 662 hp RWD car will settle down and right the ship.
Pretty sure that’s a lambo, dude!
Speed. I am speed.
KA-CHOW!
Given the mileage, this crash just adds to the provenance of the car. Like Rowan Atkinson’s dailied F1 which he wrecked and rebuilt two (three?) times in his fifteen years of ownership.
Right, but Johnny mechanic is just some English bloke. Not everyone can conjure the Black magic to adder its provenance.
The owner of this car isn’t Johnny Mechanic! (References acknowledged.)
Cold tires. Cold operator. Cold-cocked.
Did he check the tire pressure?
Looks to me like he might’ve been .5psi off
Manual or auto? 2.8 V6 or Iron Duke?
Or am I too used to Fiero-based replicas?
The real question is- who has access to such a car that would let this happen? IOW, what kind of F40 owner lets someone who would do this drive the car in the first place?
This can’t be a real Ferrari tech, right? RIGHT?????
Just for perspective, a Ferrari tech probably earns less than a Toyota tech.
I will never understand how people can’t comprehend that in powerful rear wheel drive cars without any driver aids one does not simply “send it”. You’d think that after seeing dozens upon dozens of videos on social media of people losing the rear end of fast cars that the rubes would learn, but alas.
There’s no fucking launch control in an F40 amigo. It’s you and the car, and the car is homicidal…as was supercar tradition until the goddamn Veyron showed up and ruined everything. These machines are to be respected and even feared. The list of cars you shouldn’t do this in is as vast as the bank account of your average F40 owner.
I mean sure I wish the guy a speedy recovery and all that but that poor, poor F40. These are such monumentally special cars and this is the one that’s been enjoyed the most out of all of them. It deserved better.
Even the Mustang/Challenger/Camaro-runs-into-the-crowd meme makes me pine for the days when everyone’s first RWD car was a Chevette.
Maybe for service techs for high end exotic machines, one of the job qualification tests should be to give them a TVR Cerbera (With the V8, not the Speed Six) for a week. If they survive, and the car is still in one piece, they get the job.
400 HP. Weighs about the same as a Miata. No ABS, no TCS, no Launch Control, etc. The Cerbera had a long-travel throttle to compensate for the lack of electronic traction-control and very sharp steering. The V8 powered cars were two turns from lock to lock and the Speed Six car was 2.4 turns.
The road to hell is paved with overconfidence.
And the bushes alongside it filled with poorly driven supercars.
As James May said on a trip to Patagonia a midengine car is glorious it hugs the road right up until it doesn’t. This was after his Lotus left loose. He looked like he was sitting in a pile of poop ????
We do?
I think too much speed was part of the problem to start with.
Hammond!!!!!
YOU IDIOT!!!!
oh cock
I worked at a Dodge dealer in the mid-90s, right around when the 2nd Gen Viper GTS came out with door locks and such, we had the owner of a 1st gen come in and want some of that fanciness, so they added the hardtop and added some door poppers using Caravan hatch parts and fob, the manager and main tech took it out to ‘test’ the parts and nearly got sideways on the highway.
I think the fantasy of putting your foot into it is part of the draw, but clearly the reality requires the proper venue and some experience. I’d have expected a little better though from a Ferrari technician than some southern country dealership boys.
He was Michael Schumacher for about three seconds there. I hope he enjoyed it.
The part when he hit the tree?
Boo this man
[hovers over clicking smiley face button but just can’t do it]
Groan. Booooo 😉
Oooof! That’s a little harsh!
Still too soon.