Ferrari F50 ordered by Ralph Lauren goes to auction

The deliciously analogue F40 – Ferrari’s 40th anniversary supercar – was a tough act to follow, but at least the Prancing Horse had a decade in which to develop something even better (in theory) to mark its half century. Enter the F50.

Although ostensibly built for the road, the Pininfarina-designed car bristled with racing technology and cutting-edge materials, with its carbon-fibre, Kevlar and Nomex honeycomb bodywork being draped around an all-new 4.7-litre V12 engine developed from the marque’s early 1990s 3.5-litre F1 V12.

With more than 500bhp on tap and a relatively light 1230kg to propel, the F50 was capable of posting a then-remarkable 0-60mph time of just 3.6sec and howling on to display a top speed of more than 200mph on its high-tech LCD dashboard.

Although it cost a cool £350,000 when new, wealthy Ferraristi who could see the F50’s investment potential couldn’t move fast enough to place deposits on the 349 cars slated to be built – and now, as the estimate for this example demonstrates, values have multiplied beyond the power of 10.

Even more special than most F50s, this one has the distinction of having been bought new by fashion mogul Ralph Lauren – a renowned collector of cars – who kept it for eight years before it moved to the current owner in 2003.

It is among 31 Giallo Modena (Ferrari’s triple-yellow) examples built, one of only two US spec F50s in this colour, and has covered just 5400 miles from new – all of which might enable RM Sotheby’s to break the £4.1m F50 price record it set in March.

1995 Ferrari F50

On sale with RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, US, August 15. Estimate: £4.9m-£5.7m. rmsothebys.com