FERRARI

288 GTO

The Ferrari 288 GTO was built to compete in the new Group B circuit-racing series, for which a minimum of 200 cars were required for homologation. Revealed at the 1984 Geneva Motor Show, the Ferrari 288 GTO revived the legendary "GTO" badge for the first time since the 250 GTO of the early 1960s, and it shared the silhouette of the contemporary 308 GTB while being a fundamentally different machine underneath. Where the 308 sat its V8 transversely, the 288 GTO mounted a 2.85-litre twin-turbocharged V8 longitudinally, fed by two IHI turbochargers and Behr intercoolers to produce around 400 hp, making it the first road-going Ferrari capable of exceeding 300 km/h. Pininfarina sculpted the muscular, flared bodywork, executed in lightweight composites including Kevlar, glass-fibre and Nomex over a tubular steel frame. Due to lacklustre participation, the Group B circuit series never took off, so the Ferrari 288 GTO never raced and all the cars built remained road machines. Demand was so strong that production was stretched from the required 200 to 272 examples, with a further five hardcore 288 GTO Evoluzione cars built as the rolling testbed that directly led to the legendary Ferrari F40. Today the Ferrari 288 GTO is recognised as the first of the modern Ferrari "halo" supercars, the spiritual ancestor of the F40, F50, Enzo and LaFerrari, and one of the most coveted Maranello creations of the 1980s.