There's no cheslong funnily enough, instead two Michelotti race seats

Just because your Grandmother said it, doesn't necessarily mean it's true. But then again, that old saying that you shouldn't put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear is beyond that of an old wives tale, it's true. But I must say this piece of medical advise has always confused me, as it is actually impossible to place your own elbow in your own ear unless of course you are triple jointed, or have disproportional limbs. This leads me to the Sultan of Brunei, the well-known collector of crazy cars. Either his highness has way too much earwax for two ears to contend with, impairing his hearing to the point that he can't hear when people object to his hair brain ideas, or perhaps, that he is the type of gentleman that is determined to prove to others that you can indeed fit your own elbow in your ear. And metaphorically speaking he has done just that, owning some 5000 cars, housed in massive aircraft-style hangers, including a Ferrari collection boasting a Ferrari Testarossa F90, Ferrari F50 Bolide, Ferrari 550 Barchetta Speciale, Ferrari 456 GTA Venice Estate, two fully operational Ferrari Mythos road cars, six Flat 12 Testarossa-powered Ferrari FX.

From the list you can tell they are not exactly off-the shelf numbers, the Sultan determined to request one-off personal preferences that for a very good reason don't exist on the manufacturer's optional extras spreadsheet, and that no other man or woman could convince a manufacturer to entertain. It is this stubbornness, and the fact that he is one of world's richest man, that has allowed the Sultan free rein to reinvent the wheel over the last 15 years. His passion for bypassing convention blankets every corner of his life, whether marrying a Singapore female tank driver with penchant for the AK-47 assault rifle, or ordering a state-of-the-art team bus for UK soccer team Newcastle United then taking it back once manager Kevin Keegan announced his resignation. But it's not just silly nonsense for sake of owning a soccer team, or being the only known human being with a four-poster bed custom-crafted into the back of a Bentley either, as we soon discovered when we flew half way around the world in order to hunt down the only-known right-hand drive Ferrari F40, once owned by the Sultan himself. Actually there are seven in existence, and he special-ordered all of them.

However, Ferrari had by the early 1990s stopped making small production runs of road cars, but agreed instead to supply them in conjunction with Pininfarina, to be regarded as a small one-off production run. This meant abiding by Pininfarina's request that at least six had to be built to qualify as a production run. Not content, the Sultan added one more to the tally, making it seven, just for the sheer hell of it one would imagine.

Ferrari is understood to have built each of these cars in largely the same way as a stock left-hand drive car, until a late stage in the factory process when they were transported to Pininfarina for the special commissioning that had evo ME once again hot-footing it around the globe, winging it from Dubai Airport to the UK on the Sultan's very own airline. And 45-minutes door-to-door from Heathrow to Hampshire we finally find ourselves in a picturesque courtyard setting with an L-shape of converted barns. Behind the glass fronted concertinaed wooden sliding doors sits a magnificent display of classic Ferraris: 1954 250 Monza, 1957 250 Testa Rossa, 1959 Dino 246 Grand Prix, 1964 250 Lusso and a 1972 Dino 246 GT- all belonging to Duncan Hamilton & Co Limited, who's portfolio also includes a 1965 Ex-works Gulf Team Ford GT40, Ricardo Patreses 1981 Arrows F1 car and a1982 Porsche 936.

At the far end of the main block though, is the nose of an F40 peaking out of an open door. At first glance, I thought that this is in fact not the Sultan's Ferrari, but a standard F40.

But on closer inspection I note that the steering wheel is on the right, as per the Sultan's unique request I realised I am standing next to one of only seven right-hand drive Ferrari F40s in the world. I'm soon surprised to find that the Sultan's F40 retains its standard silhouette - and is not two extra tyre widths wider. The Italian supercar is not ten-foot up in the air on a monster truck chassis, either, nor has it been converted to a station wagon. There's no cheslong funnily enough, instead two Michelotti race seats. And there is no pool table balanced on the plastic rear deck lid, but I assume the chandelier usually hanging from the ceiling has been removed by the current owner for safety reasons. Boy, this has truly got to be the sanest acquisition ever made by the Big Boss of Brunei.

It has been confirmed by the Ferrari register that this particular (and dare I say moderately modified) F40 - chassis number 91283 - was originally delivered in Spain in 1991, believed for use by members of the royal family, before being transferred to Brunei where it apparently remained until 2002 when it was purchased by Ferrari specialist Talacrest.

It was (at the time) an unusual choice of colour, a rather dull silver, and not entirely as bold as you'd expect from a man not shy to express his pallette of eccentricities. The F40 is now, as you can well see, a good gloss of Ferrari red, thanks to the present owner who purchased the car directly from Talacrest and immediately set about restoring this rather special Ferrari - considering it had very little use in the previous decade and was by then in average condition. A total restoration plan was trusted to the respected Ferrari restorer Terry Hoyle Racing Engineers, the total cost of the valiant restoration undisclosed, but what we do know is that the work took around 18 months.

In this time the still silver F40 was completely disassembled, the composite bodyshell soon stripped back to its base, which exposed the original red paint lying underneath the silver repaint by Pininfarina. Whilst in many pieces on the shop floor the engine block of the 478bhp twin-turbocharged V8 was checked and tested and found to be in perfect condition, having only covered 5000 kilometres in total - requiring only new belts and repainting.

Virtually every other mechanical and electrical component on the car was overhauled or replaced to restore the F40 to perfect condition, to which it remains presently. This means the owner was forced to fit F40esque Michelotti racing seats and Sabelt harnesses, swapping the grey leather interior requested by the Sultan for something the current owner could in fact fit into rather then the non-standard seats installed by Pininfarina for Skinny Minnie of Brunei. Other desirable Pininfarina modifications summoned by his royal highness (desirable bits that you could say detract from the ethos of the factory F40) such as the electric windows, carpets and an impressive sound system remain.

The only other exclusive alteration to talk of is of course the principal mechanical changes from left-hand drive to right-hand drive, comprising of the fitment of a right-hand drive steering rack and pedals, with re-location of the brake cylinders. Other than the right-hand drive configuration, chassis number 91283 retained largely standard F40 mechanism, although a sports exhaust system was fitted at the time of delivery.

Owning a unique right-hand drive Ferrari F40 that can be fully exploited on the right-hand side of the road of Brunei, without any compromises is one thing, but the work needed to actually achieve a genuine driving position and pedal arrangement was no day at the beach. A particular challenge, to say the very least, given that the front right-hand wheel arch and location of the central tunnel limits the space for a right-hand pedal assembly.

But what an achievement - and credit to the Sultan for having the balls to even suggest it to begin with. If nothing else it just goes to show that the Boss Brunei has restraint, ultimately knowing when enough is enough when it comes to bespoking one of the greatest supercars of all time, the illustrious F40.

Specification
Engine Type F120 A 90¼ 32v V8, twin IHI turbochargers, twin Behr intercoolers, 7.8:1 compression
Location Mid, longitudinal
Displacement 2936cc
Cylinder block Aluminium alloy
Cylinder head Aluminium alloy, DOHC, four valves per cylinder
Fuel and ignition Weber-Marelli engine management,Weber-Marelli fuel injection
Max power 478bhp @ 7000rpm
Max torque 425lb ft @ 400rpm
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive, limited-slip differential
Suspension Double wishbones, coil springs, anti- roll bar
Brakes Ventilated discs 330mm fr & rr
Wheels 8 x 17in front and 13 x 17 rear,
Tyres 245/40 ZR17 Pirelli PZero front, 335/35 ZR17 Pirelli PZero rear
Chassis Kevlar body on steel spaceframe, integrated with composite materials
Weight 1100kg
Power-to-weight 254bhp/ton
0-100kph 3.7sec (claimed)
Max speed 325kph (claimed)
Price then $ 193,000 (standard)
Price now $ 400,000 (estimate, as tested)
evo Rating 5 Star

With thanks to Sir Neil Barker of Cookley for his assistance and Adrian Hamilton (of Duncan Hamilton & Co Limited) for co-ordinating the loan of the F40. Visit www.duncanhamilton.com for their current stock of historic, sports and race cars.