Venturi 400 GT a classic from the 90's

The Venturi 400 GT was an exotic car from the 90s. Similar to the Ferrari F40, see below for more details of this classic car!

Established car manufacturers from France were building and selling many cars across the world during the 1990s.

But unlike Italian, English or German manufacturers, purebred supercars were not among them.

If you follow the Formula E championship, the name Venturi it will sound familiar.

It was the first team to officially join the competition in December 2013 and played for the next eight seasons, with its best result in the 2021-2022 season when it finished second overall in the team standings.

But Venturi's roots go back to the 1980s. It was founded in 1984 by two former Heuliez engineers, Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy, who wanted to put France on the map for supercar makers.

Almost a decade later, their ambition to become serious competitors for brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche seemed possible.

The company has built some interesting road cars and has been involved in several motorsport competitions including Le Mans or the BPR Global GT Series.

Unquestionably, the most exciting car developed by Venturi during its ICE years was the 400 GT. This model started life in 1992 as a thoroughbred GT race car called the 400 Trophy.

Designed from the ground up by the company's founders, it was conceived in 73 examples that were sold to privateers who wanted to participate in a single-make championship called the Venturi Gentlemen Drivers Trophy.

The competition included six races that took place on some of the most legendary tracks in Europe, such as Circuit de la Sarthe (also known as Le Mans), Magny-Cours or Nürburgring.

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In addition to the vehicle, customers received the engineering support they needed to compete. In addition to these conversions, the company also presented a pure road version, called the Venturi 400 GT, at the 1994 Paris Motor Show.

Since it started out as a racing car, the Venturi 400 GT was built around a lightweight chassis using the latest technologies available at the time.

To keep the weight of the entire car as close as possible to the 1,000 kg mark, the frame was assembled using tubular steel beams.

It was equipped with a competition suspension system with highly adjustable shocks and carbon-ceramic brakes, making it the first road car to feature this technology.

From the shape of the front end to the side vents and all the way down to the rear spoiler, the French supercar's bodywork looks like it was designed by Pininfarina for its Maranello-based client.

Because of these similarities, the Venturi 400 GT was often called the Ferrari French F40. Therefore, this car was very innovative for the time.

Source: Autoevolution