Nice very nice

Very nice. Estimate seems a little low with regard to other 355s on the classifieds. Is this because it has a sealed engine and a racing fuel system?

I wonder if that means a bag tank that's time expired and an engine that's in need of work?

No intention to knock the car, genuinely curious.

Odd seats to have in a Challenge, a radio and handbrake too!

Looks like an old former Race/Track Day car that someone is trying to shift to me - probably been sat in the back of someones Garage - now getting in the way - I'll bet if the car is examined closely there will be all the tell tale evidence of its former lfe (for what it was built for might I add).

I'm under the impression that some of the 355 Challenge cars have been converted to "Road legal" spec but I'm sure where never sold as a Road car when new.

These are brilliant, I had one a few years ago. Flawed yes but will always put a smile on your face (when it's working )

Cheers,
Bryn.

I find its common at auction nowadays regardless of what the auction is for, Property, plates, cars etc

The ad says "Cars left the factory in either the full Challenge specification or were uprated with the official upgrade kit." so I'd say this one was bought as a standard 355 and uprated, but kept the road interior. It's the ideal combination really.

Whoever above said this is probably a track day car that has been left standing is probably correct.

It is utterly, utterly lovely though. A colleague has just bought a concours-standard "rosso corsa" F355 GTS and IMO this challenge blows that out of the water.*


(*in looks, obviously not in condition)

The Challenge kit for the Berlinetta was circa $30,000+ but this car seems to be missing the full cage and some of the more obvious bits. It is my undestanding that all Challenge cars started off as Berlinettas and that conversions were done by the approved dealers. The only difference between them was that some of the base cars were supplied without a road going interior - this saved the customer a little bit of money off the purchase price of the original car. I am by no means an expert but I have been told that there are quite a few Berlinettas floating around with Challenge badges that are not verified by Ferrari (I am not suggesting this is one). The first thing I'd be looking for is for authentication paperwork from Ferrari.

looking at the various cars presently for sale that would kind of make sense.

So you ordered a new 355, and then a Challenge upgrade kit, and I guess car could either be road registered or gutted as a race car dependent on intended use.

So could you order a 355 and just spec various bits at the factory like big brake kit etc ?

I know a pal of mine had a new 360 and specked it to have a cage, albeit leather covered as well as carbon seats etc.

Be interesting to know the story behind them and if any were in fact factory built ?

An F355 Challenge racer is basically an F355 Berlinetta enhanced to withstand the rigors of competition. Except for a lightweight exhaust system and competition clutch, the midships-mounted 3.5-liter/375-horsepower DOHC five-valve-per-cylinder V-8 and transverse six-speed manual-transmission drivetrain remains unchanged.

The Ferrari-supplied kit that turns a regular F355 into a Challenge racer includes a full rollcage, safety harnesses, a single lightweight seat, competition steering wheel, fire suppression equipment, solid suspension bushings, rear brake cooling ducts, and a set of 14-inch diameter front and rear Brembo disc brakes, whose adoption requires the fitment of the included Speedline 18-inch wheels. Around those wheels fits a set of Pirelli series-specific racing slicks: 245/645-18 front and 305/645-18 rear (up from the 225/ 40ZR18 and 265/40ZR18 Pirelli P Zero radials fitted to the street car). Challenge competitor or not, every F355 owner will want the black mesh grate that replaces the body-color convex tailpiece between the street F355's taillights.

The conversion kit costs $30,000 beyond the $123,480 price of the F355 and takes 110 hours to install (at the $55-per-hour Ferrari of Houston shop rate). For $146,500, Ferrari will also import a street-configuration F355 stripped of its interior and with some Challenge equipment already in place. That reduces the installation time to only 60 hours.

Only Challenge kit components are allowed in the series; though competitors can choose between two sets of springs. With Ferrari dealers acting as the race teams, however, the cars remain pretty much equal. The result is close racing in very fast cars for relatively-very relatively-moderate cost. Running the six USA Challenge races will cost you about $225,000, including the price of a new F355 Challenge car, but not counting any damage you may incur. Although there's no prize money, Pirelli provides one set of tires for each race, and Shell covers fuel and oil.



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