The Ferrari 288 GTO: The Racer That Never Raced
There is a category of car that is held in a different regard to any other in the automotive world. They are rare, special and purposeful in a fashion they rarely disappoint, they have an aura around them that comes with legendary status and before they’ve even turned a wheel: homologation specials. A “homologation special” is a road legal car that is produced in limited series by a manufacturer, to conform to a race sanctioning body’s requirements to prevent things from getting a little too wild. Things still got wild, and the race cars and road going siblings pay homage to that.
Examples of such road racers include icons such as the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, Lancia 037, BMW M3 E30, Audi Sport Quattro and the Ferrari 250 GTO, which we recently explored. There is another Ferrari that is a homologation special that we are moving onto, it's a road car that was based on a racer… which never raced. Ferrari were out to win as many racing championships as they could and there was no racing more fast nor furious than Group B rallying in the early 80’s. A new track based FISA Group B series was in the works and would have been the playground for the Ferrari 288 GTO “Evoluzione”. The rules of entry were simple, build 200 road versions of what you wanted to race and you could be as bonkers as you like. This saw the birth of the Ferrari 288 GTO, 272 of which were built between 1984 and 1987.
1986 was a dark year for Group B following the Untimely death of Henri Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto at the ‘86 Tour de Corse, in which Henri plunged his Lancia Delta S4 into a ravine. The FIA stated that it was ‘Too Dangerous, And Too Fast’ to continue, and went on to disestablish the entirety of the Group B class.
As a result, the 288 GTO never got to the start line 272 cars road cars, whilst still homologation specials, carried none of the glamour and prestige of being directly linked to a real race car. That is not to say that it was not a spectacular road car. The GTO was equipped with a 2.8-litre twin turbocharged V8 with a power output of 400bhp (140bhp / litre) which was enough to launch reach 60mph in 5 seconds or less, and with a conservatively rated top speed of 189 mph, making it the first road car to break the 186mph (300 km/h) mark.
It looked remarkable in period and still is striking today with its clean and wedge-like lines, one of many masterworks from Pininfarina. The 288 GTO’s looks, race car rawness and turbocharged fury make for an extremely alluring package, that is very much still the case today. With no driver assists, nearly 400 bhp and weighing in at just 1160 kg, the driving experience is known to be involving, intoxicating and one of the greatest driving Ferraris ever made. That combined with the GTO badge, extremely limited numbers and the story of it being sister to the race car which never raced, make the Ferrari 288 GTO tremendously desirable to collectors and Ferrari fans. A 2017 RM Sothebys auction in Italy saw a 288 GTO go under the hammer and sell for €3,263,000 (approximately $3.9million).
No Ferrari collection would be complete without a 288 GTO. However, they were not always given the recognition or attributed the values which accurately reflected how special the 288 GTO was, particularly in the shadow of the mighty F40 and F50. Those in the know and the few lucky people that have driven 288 GTO, F40 and F50 are often quick to jump to the defence of the GTO, stating that it is the most thrilling of the three. Without a shadow of doubt, the 288 GTO is an iconic and legendary Ferrari.
Images by Alex Penfold & DKEngineering