The Venturi 400 Trophy Is France’s Own Homologation Racing Special

By Patrick Morgan - November 10, 2016

venturi-2

Back in the 90’s when everything was much cooler, France had an automotive ace up their sleeve. Venturi was certainly not the only French supercar, but it was one with an astounding motorsport pedigree.

Venturi, and the 400 Trophy version you see here was the brainchild of Gerard Godfroy and Claude Poiraud. It was to race in the Gentleman Drivers Trophy, a bespoke series specifically for the Venturi 400. A total of 73 Venturi 400 Trophy race cars were made for that series, and almost all of them produced were used as intended.

Number #0051 is now for sale. This rare racing car with extensive pedigree started life in race livery, and was owned by Belgian racing driver Eric de Doncker. It was campaigned successfully from the early 90’s through 1995

Brakes made entire out of carbon was one of the early applications of this technology, but fitting for an exotic race car. A 3.0 litre V6 twin-turbo with 400 horsepower gives those modern brakes a workout, however, power is dispatched to the rear wheels through a traditional manual gearbox.

Admittedly, it looks fairly familiar to anther supercar from Italy, but at least it has the pedigree to make up for any unintended similarities. Heck, you could tell people it’s a Pontiac Fiero kit, and they would likely believe you. Little do they know.