FERRARI 288 GTO

Now that's more like it. And I thought I was the only fool to use a GTO as a commuter car....

Steve

 

No, Lord John Mexborough also did the same for the first few years in using "56769" as a faithful companion.... Like you, it still remains in his care after 23 years.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Very cool!

 

Daily commuter? I have seen a lot of photos of you hunting down more modern cars on the track

 

The word "Evoluzione" is properly pronounced "e-vo-luu-tsi-o-ne" and the way it rolls off the tongue it invokes the Maranello Rosso passion that Enzo hoped the prancing horse stood for.

FISA's Group B regulations in 1984 were clear: 200 roadgoing cars had to be built to satisfy Homologation, and then an all-conquering racing car could be feilded by Ferrari to settle old scores with the opposition. That car became the 288 GTO Evoluzione...

The Evo was not initially built as a test-bed for the F40 as is erroneously parroted by armchair afficionados of the marque, but insted it was created in singular purity of purpose as a competition car. In the wake of Henri Toivonen's fiery demise and the abandonment of Group B, it quickly became an automotive rebel without a cause, and inspired the engineers at Maranello to pursue a road & track car that was to become christened the F40 - another long story. That the Evo ended up becoming the inspirational format for the F40, there is no doubt, a fact that F40 owners can be thankful for. But we must remember that it was created in its own image for one purpose only: to compete. And what a rally or racing machine it would have been!

We all know the car was loosely based on the 288 GTO with a chassis consisting of steel tubes and composite reinforcements, with body clothing consisting entirely of composite panels. Clearly the developmental engineers were given carte blanche and told they could do whatever they liked - and they did! The first car (70167) was fitted with the Type F114 CR engine ("R" being the designation for Rally) producing 530bhp which had to propel just 940kg!! A second car (70205) featured a tuned 288 GTO engine, and the next three cars (79887, 79888 & 79889 making 5 cars in total) featured the scary Type F114 CK unit ("K" being the designation for Track or Racing) developing all of 650 bhp at 7500rpm. Given their power-to-weight ratios, these cars are unbelievably fast and with the correct gearing 225mph is rated. A widow-maker if ever there was one...

The cockpit of the Evo went from the plush civility of the GTO to the outrageous austere anarchy of a full-blooded race car: cloth seats with full harnesses, a bit of felt on the dash to reduce glare, a shifter perfectly placed for action, adjustable pedals, instruments that belied calibration of high speed alone.... oh, and a steering wheel thrown in.

The car's rear bodywork came with fully adjustable wing, and a plethora of ducts, louvres & vents that signified a mad-scientist approach to cooling a racecar Two oval Megaphone pipes and one smaller overboost pipe potruded rudely through the lower slots and their vulgar hand-wrought presence serves only to strike fear in the hearts of those who know what their significance is.

The front end of the car looks awe-inspiring & blatantly mean, and it harkens from the simplistic styling finish of the famed 512 BBLM racers of lore. In the rear-view mirror of slower machinery around the track, the thing must look like an impossibly fast giant red mousetrap with lamps ablaze about to gobble them up!

The flame-belching Evo is a harsh and brutal machine, designed to be nothing less, and consequently we fully expect that it should be lacking in any form of subtlety or refinement whatsoever. Favoloso! Make no mistake: this is no pretentious poseur, and its intent is obvious by the car's fabricated-on-the-fly character. The Evo oozes rawness and and will forever signify Ferrari's response to a particulary competetive era in Motorsports.

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

FWIW, I talked to Larry yesterday (he is my mechanic and is still doing a great job), and he remembers doing 28 GTO conversions. He believes that was more than half of all cars that came to the States.

.

 

Larry loves them and will talk about them forever...

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

A 'nod & a wink' of approval from the old man?

RTB, you are very lucky. If & when you are ever through, you know how to get in touch...

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I must correct myself as pointed out by RTB that Maranello simply refers to the car as "GTO Evoluzione" and I just noted that it categorizes it as "Gran Turismo Competizione"... more of the famed "79888".

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Dual purpose car. Commuter during the week, F40 slayer on the weekend.

Steve

 

I think that car should have my name on it....

Steve

 

Were all the GTO Evoluzione models built actually used for development work? Or were any merely built for an owner to put in his 'collection' ?
CH

 

I have always loved the rear treatment on the EVO cars. Thanks for posting!
Erik

 

Joe, love the twist from 288 to the EVO in this section. This car is just amazing. Can you even put a price on this car? What kinda numbers we talking here? We won't hold you to it Joe.

 

YOU HAVE A SILVER MASERATI COUPE??!!!








-J

 

Anybody have any photos of the EVO running with its lights up?




-J

 

Truth is, if I were offered an Evo for sale, Id be hard pressed to think of someone who would put it to better use than you...

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Here is some 'developing' taking place at Monza. Note the brake-vent discs popular on Group B and sportscars of the era... seen these before?

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Like a demonic red cheese-grater?

This car often invokes disparaging comments, usually from those upon whom the car's 'raison d'etre' is lost.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

We are talking "tell me what number you need on the wire transfer form"...

5 original cars, none available at most times.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

The Evo's headlights are perfunctory items which can only deployed manually by cranking them open! (correct me if Im wrong RTB) You have to go through the laborious effort of opening the front hood to accomplish this. Im not 100% sure if all 5 cars were finished thus, and its always possible that headlamp motors have been fitted in one of the car's but that defeats the "stripped" purpose of the car.

Essentially its a competition car and not made to run on roads at night, so Ive only ever seen them run on the track with the two fixed driving lamps (see attached) ablaze if lighting is required...

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The base car from the period...

Joe
www.joesackey.com
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

It is an interesting question - if one puts an LM at 1-1.5M somewhere, then perhaps an evo is 2+ just on rarity? It is of course something with no period race history, so I guess doesn't follow the normal rules. Same with the F50GT1, last traded around 2M (albeit several years ago).

 

"74045" LM asks $1,500,000...

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

Now that's more of an answer!

I would imagine they will NOT be less than $2M right now.