Test drive all Ferrari GTO models: wonderful red
Meeting the most expensive automotive veteran in history and his two heirs
GTO models are extremely rare - in the entire history of Ferrari, only three appeared: in 1962, 1984 and 2010. For the first time, auto motor und sport brings together all generations of wild two-seat sports cars.
It smells like engine oil, like a veteran car. It also smells like gasoline. A few deep breaths and thoughts fly away. In the days of the fearless gentleman pilots. At Le Mans 1962. To riders judging the next turn with a view of the hilly landscape of the front fenders. Which hold back the bumps and bouncing of the stiff rear axle and bounce off the ass trays. With one car that celebrates its fifty-seventh birthday this year and is worth more than 60 million euros today, the Ferrari 250 GTO.
Ferrari 250 GTO - thoroughbred racing car
A friend's father could buy it in the late seventies with a faulty engine - for 25 thousand marks. However, the man gave up. If he had the flexibility he needed, he would have been biting every day since the 000s – you know where. Because since then, an ongoing phase of high prices has begun. Current example: Tour de France winner (1964) and fourth Le Mans (1963) GTO example changed hands in 2018 for $70 million.
According to Carozzeria Scaglietti, the former body shop and current Ferrari press shop, only 38 examples of this model have been produced. They were destined to go off the road straight onto the track from which they started in the GT class. Hence the name, since the additional letter O comes from omologato, i.e. homologated by the FIA. In fact, 100 units were required to be produced, but Ferrari announced the GTO as a version of the production 250 GT.
What a genius euphemism! If you are ever fortunate enough to test out a veteran 300 horsepower in action, you will hear with your ears that this is a thoroughbred racing car. No soundproofing filters the applications of the three-liter V-XNUMX engine, taking away the rumble of low and the scream of high revs. Whoever drives this car in a race on their own must be tough enough.
After 1964, the front-engined design looked obsolete and the two-seat model was considered a common scrap car. Competitive sport knows no mercy for rare beauties - until more recent times, when collectors' speculation turned them into icons. Back in 1984, when the successor was introduced, a deal was out of the question - 250 GTOs were a candidate for the millions.
Ferrari GTO never hits the track
The new model is again based on a tubular lattice frame, but instead of aluminum, a garment made of fiberglass, Kevlar and Nomex is stretched over it. Adopted the scheme of competing models of the eighties - the V8 engine is located in front of the rear axle, which should improve maneuverability. The car is simply called the GTO and does not have, as is often claimed, the additional designation 288 for 2,8 liters of displacement and eight cylinders. The layman might mistake it for a much cheaper 308 GTB, but the connoisseur will immediately recognize it by its bulging fenders and longer wheelbase. The latter feature allowed the designers to deploy a 400 hp bi-turbo engine. longitudinally, not transversely.
Raise the back cover. The two prevailing compressed air coolers show that here the engine is pumped with steroids to achieve maximum shape. The engine is hidden deep beneath it, behind it is an open gearbox that gives the GTO a menacing look even when viewed from behind. The voice of the device is hoarse, but not loud. Positive in a positive way, slightly metallic and high frequency, this is a typical example of what is now called the Ferrari sound of the eighties. We open the driver's door. The atmosphere is not like a racing car, but rather a super GT. Leather seats with perforated Daytona design are surprisingly soft, the instrument panel is upholstered in velvety fabric. This goes well with relatively good (not like the 250) suspension and soundproofing, suitable for long trips.
And the second GTO is intended for homologation, this time in the so-called. Group B motorsport. Although Ferrari is even developing a racing version, it never competes in FIA competition - like the GTO itself - as the Group B rules are not approved and abandoned. Thus, instead of the planned 200 "evolutionary" racing units, only one was made, and the road version - 272 copies.
F40 comes from GTO Evo
The only Evoluzione has a glorious fate - the F40 is born from it. True, he no longer has a big name, but the idea of a supercar continues. This is followed by the F50 and Enzo Ferrari, which are not derived from production models, but are completely new developments. However, fans are forced to wait until 2010 for the next GTO. This is an extreme version of the 599 GTB Fiorano, a roaring 670-hp supercar that, like the 250 GTO, hides its V12 under the hood.
The twelve-cylinder engine is derived from the Enzo, displaces six liters and sits entirely behind the front axle, giving the 599 GTO much of the performance of a mid-engined sports car. He has become a real giant, for which his two predecessors look like skinny children - and whose ergonomics are at a good level for the first time. The 250's steering wheel is still huge, while the XNUMXs model's is sloping like a light van.
Despite its size and impressive weight of 1,6 tons loaded, the 599 GTO is a real aerobatic machine and, as the Fiorano test showed, it is still one of the fastest Ferraris to drive. road network. All 599 pieces were looted in a short time - as in the years of the most dizzying speculation. But unlike its predecessors, while the price of the old ones is not growing; Collectors are unhappy with the excessive circulation.
Moreover, the 599 GTO has no racing history. Because GTO has long had nothing to do with homologation, i.e. with homologation models for competition. The days of gentleman pilots with their cars are long gone. Today, wealthy amateurs compete in signature series such as the Ferrari Challenge, only in the case of the 488, a two-seater with a central engine. It also kicked off at the tradition-rich 24 Hours of Le Mans. Indeed, why is there no 488 GTO?
Text: Markus Peters
Photo: Hans-Dieter Zeifert
