1985 Ferrari 288 GTO

When Ferrari announced in 1983 that it was to build a modern-day GTO, it sent the hearts of red-blooded Ferraristi into dangerous flutters.

It was the 308 GTB that Ferrari chose as the base for the GTO, a car, like Porsche’s contemporary 959, designed for international Group B racing and for which a minimum of 200 examples had to be built. But although visually fairly similar to the 308, the left-hand drive only 288 was to differ radically under the skin.

The engine was moved from a transverse to an in-line layout, necessitating a 4.5-inch increase in wheelbase. The engine was basically the 32-valve 308 V8 but strengthened in many areas with improved lubrication and cooling. It also had twin IHI turbochargers and twin intercoolers, separate Weber/Marelli ignition and fuel injection systems for each cylinder bank and a 1-mm smaller bore to give 2855cc—important given the FIA’s 1.4-turbocharger equivalency factor which multiplies capacity to 3997 cc, within Group B’s 4.0-liter limit. And potent the V8 certainly was, producing a highly impressive 400 bhp at 7,000 rpm and a huge 366 1b.-ft...