RE: PH Heroes: Ferrari 288GTO
Discussion
Any 288 lovers out there might like to read this personal anecdote of living with a GTO for 7 years ... (First posted May 2008 )
Stealth-wagon said:
lazyitus said:
Idea taken from the vast amount of references to this (most beautiful car ever in my eye) wonderful mould of automotive gorgeousness.
Now, to me, that is it. That is my Holy Grail. I doubt I'll ever own one but it's good to have a dream that is so unlikely to be fulfilled. Look at it. I mean, LOOK AT IT.
Can I ask for anybody who wishes to contribute to this thread to either add words or indeed any other pictures you might find. I can't get enough of it. It oozes beyondness.
I'd love to sit in one just to smell it, to touch it, to close my eyes in it. I'd pay a big sum of money to just listen to it on the move, from the inside.
Just thought I'd share this with you in the hope that I'm not alone in my fetish of a sculpture designed for the very purpose of producing pleasure from a humans mind.
Now, to me, that is it. That is my Holy Grail. I doubt I'll ever own one but it's good to have a dream that is so unlikely to be fulfilled. Look at it. I mean, LOOK AT IT.
Can I ask for anybody who wishes to contribute to this thread to either add words or indeed any other pictures you might find. I can't get enough of it. It oozes beyondness.
I'd love to sit in one just to smell it, to touch it, to close my eyes in it. I'd pay a big sum of money to just listen to it on the move, from the inside.
Just thought I'd share this with you in the hope that I'm not alone in my fetish of a sculpture designed for the very purpose of producing pleasure from a humans mind.
It seems the majority of folk who have replied share your lust. Me too. I lusted after once ever since its 1984 launch… so much so that I was very fortunate to have owned one for 6 or 7 years back in the 90s, and experienced all sorts of pleasure (fun) and pain (financial) during that time. I probably did 20,000 miles in it.
Anyhoos, I thought you and others might enjoy my ownership recollections, as well as my time in the cockpit of a real live 288 GTO Evoluzione around Silverstone.
Firstly it must be remembered that Group B cars, of which the 288 was one, are very nearly 25 years old now. They had NO traction control or electronic aides of any other sort. This was the era of mechanical excess and huge turbo-lag. As such the performance tests from the day recorded 0-60 times of “only” 4.7 seconds. BUT … this is because these beasts can spin their wheels in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear, and getting a clean get-away is tricky. Driving in the wet needs thought too.
But make no mistake, this is one extremely accelerative road car, even by modern standards. There’s only a handful of current cars that could beat it to 100mph (in 10.3 seconds or so) or 125mph (in 15 seconds, comparable to a current V10 engined BMW M5 / M6).
Due to the turbo lag you’d put you’re foot down when off-boost, and not a lot would happen, but behind your head evil turbine noises would build exponentially and the dual turbo’s would begin to spool up with a charismatic whistle and then within a second or so you’d be shoved up the road with an almighty kick in the back and it felt like you were hanging onto the steering wheel as if some rocket had ignited. On boost it felt positively heroic and used to surprise many a super-bike owner on the empty twisty roads round here. The power delivery curve might look like a big “S” shape on a graph rather than today’s more linear turbo’s, but it was a pure fix back then.
The engine was approx 400 BHP, but unlike modern lard arse cars weighting (ie 1,700+ kg) the 288 GTO was a true featherweight at a mere 1,150 Kg, so the power to weight ratio was approx 350 BHP / Ton, and there’s precious few cars that can boast that now.
What’s more it was also geared for 192 MPH, give or take. I remember once trying to max it out, and above 150 the wind noises appeared to subside into an almost serene state of being “in the zone” whilst the sound of savage power from the banshee engine behind you took over. I didn’t find out where the speed leveled off because above an indicated 180+ the cars nose started going a bit light under lift … similar to taking off in a small plane …
Another recollection was just how composed its chassis was, and how supple and compliant the suspension was. At 100mph it would simply lope down the road with understated ease feeling more than capable of cruising all day without batting an eyelid. It had a 5 speed box with some very long gear ratios. Second gear went to 85mph, and third was good for almost 120mph before changing up to fourth, as such mid range acceleration was phenomenal.
Only 272 were made, but people today are more likely to remember the son it sired - the F40 of which over 1,300 were made. The F40 feels a bit quicker, with a power to weight ratio of about 425 bhp / ton, and it feels like a big kart on a track. But the F40 has far stiffer suspension and no inner wheel arch guards and no air con and no sound proofing etc, and so it makes a horrendous racket from wind rush, and all the stones and road crap rattle noisily into the wheel arches.
Looks wise, for me, the 288 was and still is the most beautiful car ever made. No 2D flat photos, even the ones shown on this thread, capture its amazingly curvaceous 3D form, and its one of the only cars you could say was ‘voluptuous’ with horny curves in every direction. I previously owned a 308 / 328, and thought that shape made for a seriously good looking car. But next to a 288 they don’t stand a chance.
The cars chassis and layout was pure race car, right down to the longitudinally mounted dry-sump engine and in line gear box sticking out the back of the car. The chassis was a tubular space frame, with the engine mounted in a completely removable subframe, although all engine belts could be accessed by a carpet lined removable panel behind the seats. It had twin balancing fuel tanks fuel tanks capable of taking 27 gallons, which would require an whopping £140 to fill up at today’s massively over taxed fuel cost. Weight distribution was a good 45:55 to the rear which allowed a good degree of balance around a circuit, although you’d need big balls to push past its limits on a public road. The overall weight of 1,150kg was so light because it was constructed out of Kevlar, nomex, fibreglass and aluminium and didn’t bother with all the nanny state requirements of quad air bags and side impact girders. Steering was remarkably light even though it didn’t have any power steering. The engine was all alloy, the gearbox was super light weight magnesium. It had no storage space bar a gap in the front boot well for a toothbrush. It did, though, have a roll cage hidden behind the interior padding.
The wheels were bolted to the axles hub by a single spinner nut needing an extending 3 ft nut spanner to get them off. The brakes were 12inch / 310 mm vented discs with 4 pots and were reasonably good. But they would eventually boil up on a track.
Costs ?
One person on this thread mentioned that during the 1989-1990 boom in classic car prices and Ferraris in general (just before the last economic boom/bust cycle) that the were worth over £1m. It is true that at least one dealer was pumping up the prices and “asking” £1m+ but I never met anyone who actually paid anything like that ! I still have the advert showing all the silly asking prices that happened in late 89. And the bloke who ran that particular dealership served some time in the clink for financial misdemeanours.
Service costs were a total joke. If you have a 288 and its gets collected for servicing, be prepared to take out a mortgage nearly everytime. Even if you’re well off, the costs make you wince. Sure, you get treated like royalty, but you’re also fleeced senseless in the process even though a lot of the parts are common to other models at the more ‘normal’ price level. If its got ‘288’ on it, it’s a licence for them to rob you blind. And given age / rarity, anyone using one now is probably expected to have parts fabricated in Italy at extreme cost, and the items flown in by private jet. I recall one head-rebuild where they tried charging me £419 PER-SODIUM FILLED VALVE, and there was 32 of them. What pissed me off was that at the time I had another group B car also using a special head with sodium filled vales and dealing with more power/heat per litre than the 288, and its valves cost a mere £19 …
Then there was the time I damaged the low front spoiler, and it was, get this, £12,500 for a new one plus paint and fitting, and that was something the factory had in stock and did not have to fabricate. Thank gawd I had a decent insurance policy.
The tyres, especially the rears, became harder to find, as they were a weird size, assuming you wanted to keep them original spec so that the local concourse experts would sleep soundly at night.
In the 20k miles I did in it, it was very reliable, the only major thing that bust was a shaft in the gearbox on the way home after a track day. And I did use it in all weathers. There was none of the modern excessive electronics and this probably contributed to its dependability.
Reactions
I did dozen’s of track days with it and got these four types of reactions :-
1- Loads of people swarming all over it taking pics of all the people swarming around it.
2- 50 % of the comments would be “sacrilege, how can you possibly use that car, it should be in an air condition museum preserving it for the future”
3- The other 50% of commentators would say “well done / jolly good show glad to see an owner actually using such a rare car for the purpose it was built for”
4- “Can I have a go?” and I did share the experience with many people.
Luckily, out on the road, the perception was “oh look, there’s one of those Magnum cars’ or such like and it didn’t attract too much attention.
I did get some vandalism once, when some jealous t
ts walking along down the pavement decided to throw a handful of coins at the car as I rolled past. About £5 ended up on the passenger seat, but one coin cracked the windscreen and cost £1,500 to repair. Occasionally some idiot would see it trundling down the road and leap out in front to see how quick I would react and maybe expect me to veer off into a tree. I’d prefer to run them over, but that of course would be my fault. After a couple of incidents like that I kinda went of driving it. A mate of mine is in the army and offered to lend me a BB gun just so I could feel a bit better at the thought of popping a ball bearing in their arse, or purify the gene pool a little by taking their brains out 
But that too would also put me in jail. I did become a target for plod. They seemed to pull me over for any old excuse and would usually check all the tyres and ask lots of questions and look around it, but amazingly in 20k miles I never actually got a ticket, and this was all before tax scameras had spawned all over the country so I never got an NIP in the post either.
At the other end of the social spectrum I used to get pissed off with some of the people at the various Ferrari club type of events. There seemed to be disproportionate number of pretend aristocratic idiots at the various gatherings, many who spouted forth utter b
ks, and probably secretly knocked one out to the glory of the marque whilst wrapped in an Italian flag. Don’t get me wrong, I like Ferrari’s as much as the next bloke - enough to put my finance where my mouth is. But you’ve never been bored senseless until you’ve heard judges at a concours event. They are positively off-putting to F ownership. Luckily there are plenty of down to earth Ferrari owners who worked hard for their reward and can talk about other topics than just red things from Italy.
what does 750 BHP per Ton feel like ?? My 288 EVOLUZIONE experience …
I was fortunate enough to do 5 laps round Silverstone in one of the ultra rare 288 EVO in full battle trim. There’s only supposed to be 3 in existence. And f
k me was it an experience. There is absolutely NOTHING to touch that experience to this day, which is saying something considering I used to own another road legal track car which was in the Guinness book of World records for acceleration at the time.
The 288 EVO weights only 870kg, yet its power was an immense 650bhp. That’s an incredible 750bhp per ton. IE, 250% more than a 997 turbo. Even F1 cars are not much more at approx 900-1000bhp / ton, and a Veyron is ‘only’ 500 bhp / ton.
So we leave the pit lane with the car fuelled up with some high octane jungle juice, and set off for a slow lap of Silverstone to warm the slicks up. Then the BTCC driver let rip. I almost went blind with the utterly painful acceleration. The G forces it generates even above 100mph are really serious and the grip defied the laws of physics, even though I know what my own cars can do with slicks on. No roller coaster could match it for shear thrill. The forward acceleration is so hard that holding your arm out in front of you is difficult without thumping your face on take off. Given the explosive power, I was surprised it didn’t all go BANG. It really was that manic.
To put this into some kind of perspective, I used a chronograph to time the performance. This was a bit difficult due to all the violent forces going on, but 70mph to 150mph seemed to take only 3.5 seconds or so, and the shove above 100+mph felt way way harder than any normal super car doing 30 to 60mph.
I also timed a couple of clear laps. The best was a staggering 1min 42 seconds around the full 1993 Grand Prix Silverstone circuit. A contemporary F1 car was able to do 1min 30. I timed F40’s at 2mins 05 to 2 mins 10, and a full LM Mclaren F1 at 1min 58. So you should get an idea of just how staggering this felt. Life hasn’t been the same afterwards and nothing will ever match that day. It really was a religious experience, and life has been much humbler to date. There is no point me trying to find anything to even get close to it - which has probably saved me a lot of money trying to replicate even half that experience ever since!
The actual 288 EVO car I went out in is shown in the following tame clip. I was there on the day this video was being made since it was all about 288s in general. The proper video / DVD is still available from Duke Marketing as “too fast to race” and “the group B super-cars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVmCoPHxHw
The pics look a bit faded because they are scans from old photos. Back then we didn’t have digital cameras, or the internet, and track-days for road cars had only just started ! The pics were scanned in high res and reduced down to fit within the PH requirements.
Anyway, I’ve written up 5 times more than I was planning. Hope you’ve enjoyed my 288 memoirs.
(is there a prize for biggest post ever ?!)
Edited by Stealth-wagon on Sunday 1st June 15:14
Thanks to Stealth Wagon for sharing and for reposting (hadn't seen the original). Gorgeous, uttlerly gorgeous (the car, never met Stealth Wagon!).
Never likely to own one of these but love reading about the experience from a real enthusiast - who owns it for the experience, not for the "status". Brilliant.
Never likely to own one of these but love reading about the experience from a real enthusiast - who owns it for the experience, not for the "status". Brilliant.
S3_Graham said:
lankyarcher said:
Gio G said:
My favourite car... Had many a picture on my bedroom wall. I suspect that most people that love this car are around there mid 30's??
I love it and i'm 28......;)
I was lucky enough to assist in the import of one of these cars from Japan to Europe a couple of years ago when the pound was strong.
We travelled down to the southern island of this arhipelago and bought a very wonderful low mileage example to add to the collection of a mystery collector.
The very wonderful chap from the European dealer flew out to inspect the car and together we negotiated on the car and came away with a bit of a deal.
I must say that for a while after i was obsessed by this vehicle and realising the rarity of it couldn't stop thinking of it.
I'm usually not a big fan of European sports cars (i like Japanese) but this car was truly something special and as someone not used to older cars it was a glory to just listen to its aggressive tickover and rich, rich smell of petrol.
We travelled down to the southern island of this arhipelago and bought a very wonderful low mileage example to add to the collection of a mystery collector.
The very wonderful chap from the European dealer flew out to inspect the car and together we negotiated on the car and came away with a bit of a deal.
I must say that for a while after i was obsessed by this vehicle and realising the rarity of it couldn't stop thinking of it.
I'm usually not a big fan of European sports cars (i like Japanese) but this car was truly something special and as someone not used to older cars it was a glory to just listen to its aggressive tickover and rich, rich smell of petrol.
An old school friend of mine used to rally (yes rally) and race a yellow fibreglass 308GTB .... and very successfully at that. It has been lurking in his workshop for some time now and will hopefully see the light of day once more at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed.
He also has a white Testarossa, a red 512TR and a red 328GTS. He repairs and services Ferarris and has driven (many round circuits) virtually every modern day Ferrari since the 70s.
I know that he lusts after a 288GTO and believes it to be the best road car Ferrari ever made.
I have always thought that the 308GTB was one of the best looking Ferraris .... and arguably the 288GTO takes the 308 silhouette and takes it to the next level. The rear view of the GTO is absolutely awesome with the arches nicely bulked out by some meaty rubber. The visible gearbox and other details simply lift it into another league of aesthetic delights ..... and as for the performance ... well ......
I want one ... and I can't have one.
He also has a white Testarossa, a red 512TR and a red 328GTS. He repairs and services Ferarris and has driven (many round circuits) virtually every modern day Ferrari since the 70s.
I know that he lusts after a 288GTO and believes it to be the best road car Ferrari ever made.
I have always thought that the 308GTB was one of the best looking Ferraris .... and arguably the 288GTO takes the 308 silhouette and takes it to the next level. The rear view of the GTO is absolutely awesome with the arches nicely bulked out by some meaty rubber. The visible gearbox and other details simply lift it into another league of aesthetic delights ..... and as for the performance ... well ......
I want one ... and I can't have one.
I think I could have a beer with Mr Stealth and listen to him and his stories all night. Legendary.
The nearest I've ever gotten to any of those experiences was in an F40 on a track day at Goodward in '98. I was in my old 3.2 carrera and having a right old laff. Met this guy in the pit lane who was prepping his F40 for the track. I was surprised when he said a passenger ride was fine and next thing I know we are out on the track.
Poodled along for the first few hundred feet and then he unleashed hell. Such acceleration, braking, everything. Just awesome. An experience I'll never forget.
As per others, if the lottery falls in my lap I'd get as close as I can to the 288GTO. For now, it's diecast all the way...
Happy days.
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