A few months ago, RM Sotheby’s announced the sale of a rare Ferrari F40 LM. Only 19 LM’s exist, all constructed by Ferrari’s racing specialist of choice, Michelotto. Highly sought-after, the F40 LM has been given a 4.5 million – 5.5 million Euro estimate. It will be sold as part of RM Sotheby’s Paris 2019 auction which takes place this coming Wednesday.
The car in question carries some history with it. It competed twice at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 and 1996, achieving 12th overall in 1995. It won the 1995 Anderstorp 4 Hours, and had multiple finishes in the 1995 and 1996 BPR Global GT series. It was the third F40 LM built, use by the factory as a pre-production prototype.
Whereas the standard F40 used its 2.9 litre twin-turbocharge V8 to produce 471 bhp, the Michelotto finished LM was a lot more powerful. The F40 LM gained a set of enlarged twin IHI turbocharger/intercooler units and advanced Weber-Marelli fuel injection which helped push power to over 700 bhp. In a package that weighed just 1,050 kg, the performance would have been incredible.
The last Ferrari F40 LM sale that we can find was through Bonhams at Quail Lodge in 2014. That car, one of the last and never raced, sold for $2.2 million. Gooding & Co also sold on at its Pebble Beach 2013 auction. That car achieved $2.09 million with less racing history. We expect that this example will easily smash through both of those figures.