Excerpt from article: Kiwi Power New Zealand's S40 Silhouette Merges Italian Design With a Toyota Engine By Mike Blake When a man from New Zealand has a dream car he can't afford as well as tenacity, talent, and a love of cars, an alternative is to build his own from scratch. That's what F40 Developments' Steve Cox did, and what emerged was an exciting new design, inspired by the F-40 and based on a new chassis...the S40 Silhouette. This is no one-off...it's for sale in the South Pacific and here in the States, as well. To re-create Italian styling for this sports-race-street car, the Auckland native mocked up a shell, delicately balanced on boxes and drums, and then re-engineered new plugs to get the shut lines perfect. The chassis started as a bunch of tubes on a workshop floor but finished as a custom steel-tube space frame with steel floors and firewalls to meet New Zealand specs. F40 Developments created its own CNC-machined aluminum A-arms and uprights, and Cox installed custom ProFlex three-way adjustable shocks, Compomotove racing rims (17x10 up front and 17x13 behind), and Michelin tires (245/45/17s and 345/35/17s, respectively). The car weighs in at 2,200 pounds, and when propelled by its lusty 800hp 4L Toyota engine ('90-96), custom F40 Developments twin-throttle manifold, Air Research turbocharger with a 20-pound boost, Porsche X8 injector, Autronic Computer Management electronic ignition, and K&N X2 air cleaner, this flying Kiwi can top 200 mph. Also added were a ZF five-speed tranny, Toyota MR2 cam buckets, JE pistons, Oliver connecting rods, Iskenderian valve springs, Ferrera "wasted-stem" stainless steel valves, Griffin custom radiator, and Iconell stainless steel custom-fabricated exhaust system. The car is fully race prepared, has an 8,000-rpm limit, and pops out 675 lb-ft of torque at 6,800 rpm. For safety, Cox added Kings springs, AP racing brakes, and a Wilwood pedal assembly. The bodywork was done by F40 Developments, and the F40D fiberglass and carbon fiber/Kevlar shell was painted PPG Rosso Red. Hella headlights, Fiat taillights, and custom mirrors, door handles, and window glass make the look a classic one. The adjustable rear race wing is carbon fiber, though he offers a standard rear wing made of fiberglass. For that extra touch, the S40 badges are of a silver fern, an internationally recognized symbol of New Zealand. Inside, a custom F40 Developments carbon fiber dash, Motec ADL gauges, MOMO steering wheel, and F40D custom carbon seats and upholstery offer the same classy appearance. Cox has blazed down the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds, with a top speed of 131 mph, and according to the builder, "This is a fantastic supercar. It can go faster than a McLaren F1 and handles superbly. I pull 1.77 g's in the corners and 1.5 g's under brakes and can go from 0-100 mph in 6.5 seconds. I love this car and I want to share it with America." Nice of him to share, awesome to see, and delicious to drive. Kiwi power, with Italian styling and a Japanese engine...nice combo...glad he shared his S40 Silhouette with us Yanks. KC link to article: http://www.kitcarmag.com/featuredvehicles/142_0311_kiwi/ 0 - 100kph: 3.27 secs 0 - 150kph: 5.96 secs 0 - 200kph: 9.18 secs 0 - 250kph: 14.94 secs 100-150kph: 2.78 secs 100-200kph: 5.95 secs 100-250kph: 11.76 secs 150-200kph: 3.17 secs 200-250kph: 5.76 secs Price: 180,000USD. I spoke with Mr. Cox and he let me know that there are three trims available of the S40. Base w/o engine, 400-500HP tuned S40, or the full spec 800HP version. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I saw that exact car at the Carlisle replica car show in 2003. It is impressive to say the least. However, the body doesn't exactly replicate the F40.
THIS P.O.S. does not belong in this section. Moderator please remove to the appropriate section...... Thank you.
Here's the website: www.f40.co.nz Although I'm not a big fan of kitcars, in this case I'm impressed with the effort and quality. Similar detailed work of a Diablo kitcar: http://www.lambobuilder.com/edb/
i live in new zealand and have seen this car on a few occasions. i saw it drive passed on the road and knew instantly it wasnt a real f40. if u look at it close its a good replica but nothing special, and who are they kidding? a toyota engine?
Even though its just a toyota engine, they managed to squeeze 800HP out of the little tiger, ... thats impressive by any standards. - i like it, even though its not the real deal
Thats the most expensive replica ever! Why would you pay that much for a F40 replica that tops out at 131 mph or whatever. I would just buy a real F40 if I had that kind of money to throw around. At least you could get your money back when you sold the F40.
The only replicas on this planet that are worth their salt are those that doctors develop for women. Fine silicone breasts. I don't think that this attempt even deserves to be called a replica!
Have seen some amazingly accurate Cobra replicas. Even a few faithful 250GTO knock-offs. Shopping a rare muscle car? Best know your stuff L. Wayne-style, have your #'s memorized, and hope for a pile 'o factory docs to prove authenticity. But an F40's a pretty difficult car to accurately replicate, it seems. It is or it isn't and it doesn't require too close a gander to get a proper handle on it.
That thing is ugly...and I just don't understand the whole kit-car mentality. Why do you want try and convince people you have something you don't, its just lame. The owner claims he wanted a real F40 so badly he just had to build one for himself, but for as much work and money he put into that car he could have easily picked up a real F40, which would have been 10x more satisfying. The Toyota engine is the only worth-while part of that car...I would go as far as to say its a more capable engine than the F40's... That is the engine from the Lexus LS400 (with very heavy modifications obviously), and the Toyota engineers did a very thorough job over-designing that engine. "Just a Toyota engine" As a opposed to what? I am biased, but I would argue that engine is about the best choice out there for a small V8 you are looking to heavily turbo-charge. Forged internals stock, higher build tolerances than the 2JZ-GTE, and potential for even more power than 800hp...
131mph is the trap speed(which is very low for a 10.5 quarter mile...due to the light weight?). This car should be in the 9's easily though, if it was making 800hp. This car goes 200+.
All that work would have been easy to appreciate if it had been done to create an original design. It fails as a replica. I like replicars! I am currently awaiting deilvery of my Trabant-S. I can't wait .
Here's why kit cars are bad ideas all-in (though might be tempting up-front). From his web-site: "We are not going to build any more cars as they are working out to be very expensive and take too long to build. The two customer cars that have been and are being built will be the last. We are not going to make a kit available either as there is too much work required for very little reward. Sorry to disappoint anyone who thinks that they would like one of these. I am also not going to be releasing the moulds or panels from them. To give you an idea of what expensive is I have turned down USD 275k for my car as I can not build another one for that..." Now, how close would you be to owning a real Ferrari F-40 if you had spent $275+k on it, instead of dribbling money piecemeal on a kit (though perhaps a good one)?!
Aren't there legal issues with building such a kit car? Doesn't the design infringe on Ferrari SPa's patents? If so, wouldn't that be against FerrariChat rules of posting...
It is a fantastic replica and I love it, but Ferrarichat's policy is to not have replicas mixed in the Ferrari forums. Sorry but I have to move this. PS: I wish they had done a tad more work on the interior. Exterior is perfect, but the dash is kinda low key. A flaw many replicas suffer from.