The Top 5 Fastest Cars Ferrari Ever Built, Ranked

The name Ferrari is synonymous with going fast — not to mention looking good while going fast. Even die-hard Lamborghini fans can't argue that Ferraris are slow. The first car the brand debuted at an auto show, the 166 MM Barchetta, arrived in 1948 and kicked off a 75 years of history of producing the fastest cars Maranello, Italy could churn out. 

Over that long history, the brand has built some incredibly speedy models. The F40 was one of the brand's first production models to break the 200 MPH mark and could rocket itself to 60 miles per hour in just 4.1 seconds. It was mythically quick in 1987, the year it first arrived, and it is still remembered as one of the greatest cars to ever wear Ferrari's standard Rosso Corsa paint color. 

The F50 cranked the quickness up a notch, topping out at just over 200 miles per hour but boasting a zero to 60 time of 3.87 seconds all the way back in 1995. As famous as the F40 and F50 are, those two are not the fastest cars that ever wore a Ferrari badge. For that, you'd have to look beyond what Ferrari was willing to build just for the highway. 

The Ferrari Daytona SP3 represents the pinnacle of Ferrari in the modern era. Unlike the LaFerrari, the SP3 is not a hybrid, which means that instead of having an electric motor jump in to help, its 6.5-liter V12 does all the work. According to Ferrari, the F140 HC engine generates 829 horsepower. That allows the SP3 to propel itself to a top speed of 211 miles per hour.

Beyond that, the Ferrari Daytona SP3's 0-60 mph time is only 2.85 seconds, making the SP3 one of the quickest Ferraris ever made. In fact, this is roughly the same time that it takes for a Lamborghini Aventador — the SP3's arch-nemesis – to accomplish the same feat. 

While 211 miles per hour isn't anything to sneeze at, it's not actually the fastest car the brand can make. There are still plenty of thoroughbred Ferrari race cars that can beat the top speed of the Daytona SP3 — and its $2,226,935 price tag. 

The Ferrari Enzo is one of the most recognizable Ferraris ever made, and there isn't a gearhead alive who couldn't spot an Enzo from a mile away. Every single time a car show is graced with the presence of one of these vehicles, the crowd doesn't die down until the car leaves. 

The Enzo, named after the man who founded the company, is powered by a 6-liter V12 that produces 660 horsepower. It's constructed out of carbon fiber and Nomex, the material that fire-resistant race suits are made out of. It weighs in at 2,767 lbs, comparatively heavy for a Ferrari supercar but a feather compared to most other vehicles. It's capable of a top speed of 217 miles per hour and can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.65 seconds according to Ferrari. 

Ferrari was so proud of the Enzo that it gifted the final car, serial number 400, to none other than Pope John Paul II. The Pope declined the car and it was later sold with the proceeds going to charity in 2005. The same car was auctioned for $6,050,000 in 2015.

The Ferrari LaFerrari has a perplexing name. What's not perplexing, however, is that Ferrari's first hybrid produces 949 horsepower. According to Ferrari, the LaFerrari was not only the brand's fastest-ever street-legal car at a top speed of 217 miles per hour, but its 6.2-liter V12 was also among the most powerful the company had produced when it first launched in 2013. In addition, a 0-60 mph time of under three seconds puts the LaFerrari into the upper echelon of Enzo's company.

While Lamborghini has only recently gotten into the hybrid game, Ferrari has been combining the power of internal combustion engines and electric motors for about a decade. The hybrid system itself goes by the name HY-KERS and is derived from technology that Ferrari's Formula 1 team developed. 

Ferrari explains that the electric motor allows the car to throw down more torque right off the bat. As with all hybrids, this system is more efficient than an all-gasoline system and can even recharge the battery through braking. However, don't expect Prius-like fuel economy from the LaFerrari — this supercar hybrid only achieves about 14 miles per gallon. 

For competition use, the stock F40 wasn't spicy enough, so the engineers came up with the F40 Competizione in 1989. It was originally designed to run in the 24 Hour of Le Mans endurance race. Race teams got to bugging Ferrari after seeing the new and improved F40. The company only built 10 total models, making it one of the rarest Ferraris around — not to mention one of the fastest. According to Ferrari, the track-only F40 Competizione tops out at 228 miles per hour. 

It's powered by a 2.9-liter V8 that pumps out 700 horsepower with the help of two turbochargers. When it was first produced, in 1989, carbon fiber wasn't yet being used in every conceivable facet of a supercar, so the F40 Competizione's frame is made out of steel and a composite. Despite the relatively old and heavy tech, the car only weighed just over 2,292 pounds with a full tank of gas.

In 1996, Ferrari took the F50 and gave it the race-ready treatment, much like the F40 Competizione. The result was the F50 GT. The GT model reached an astonishing 233 miles per hour on the track with the help of its 4.6-liter V12. It was capable of generating 750 horsepower at a thoroughly unreasonable 10,500 rpm. 

Carbon fiber was used to make the F50 GTs chassis, and with an empty tank the car weighed just a little over 1,895 pounds, lighter than just about every large-scale production car today. For comparison, a 2023 Toyota Corolla weighs in at 2,995 pounds.

Not many F50 GTs were made, with only three ever seeing the light of day. It remains one of the fastest cars Ferrari ever built well over two decades after it was made. As it turns out, a V12 and a car that weighs only a few hundred pounds more than a large motorcycle is an incredible combination.