Ferrari 288 GTO: what it got right, what it got wrong, and how history has judged it

Ferrari hypercars appear approximately once a decade. Which means approximately once a decade the TG hive mind turns to the cars that went before, and we swirl through the space-time continuum like a lo-fi special effect back to 1984. It’s when the 288 GTO landed, the car that fired the starting gun on the whole hypercar shebang.

It’s the one I clock first sitting outside the recently restored fire station at Dunsfold, which must say something given the company it’s keeping today. On the face of it an elongated 308 GTB, the GTO (Ferrari never calls it 288) somehow transcends its origins to become the sort of thing a little kid would draw when asked to imagine a fast car. It’s a primal force with swoopy front wings, big NACA ducts, and a sublime stance. It’s also beautiful in a way that many hypercars aren’t.

Then the eye is drawn to the F40 next to it, the car that capitalised on both the GTO’s unexpected commercial success and the turbo mania that gripped the 1980s. Everyone wants one of these, it seems, including Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, and rumours are rife the next Ferrari SP car will be an F40 homage. This is as menacing a Ferrari as there’s ever been, more so than the F50 that followed it, a Ferrari which is definitely having a moment. A manual gearbox and nat-asp V12 will do that. Then again, the Enzo suddenly looks like The One, as it closes in on its 25th birthday and the smart money starts to get seriously interested.

Photography: John Wycherley

Funny how these things go in cycles. It also seems premature to be admitting the LaFerrari to this pantheon, but not even a Ferrari hypercar can outrun time. These aren’t just five great Ferraris, they’re five of the greatest cars ever made. Here’s the lowdown on the first: the 288 GTO.

What it promised

When does a supercar make the jump to hyper? For our purposes, 1984’s GTO – to give it its official name – is where Ferrari went next level. Originally conceived to do battle in Group B rallying – imagine how that would have looked – Maranello pressed on with the car even when the FIA banned those loony forest warriors for being too dangerous. 

The GTO was overseen by Italy’s Mr Turbo, Nicola Materazzi, who had helped Scuderia Ferrari onto the correct technical path in the early 1980s. So Enzo Ferrari trusted him. “There was no specific instruction, just to produce a car based on the 308 GTB that could be used for racing,” noted Pininfarina’s star designer, Leonardo Fioravanti. But recent Ferrari F1 hire Dr Harvey Postlethwaite helped advance the car way beyond that starting point, using F1 composites and Kevlar to clothe its high tensile steel frame chassis. 

The 288 bit of the GTO’s name relates to its engine, a 395bhp, 2.8-litre V8 mounted longitudinally rather than transversely (as in the 308), to fit the twin IHI turbos and Behr intercoolers. Materazzi and his team developed it in parallel with Lancia’s deliriously cool LC2 Group C racer. Its wheelbase was also stretched by 110mm and the track widened, to the point where it ceased being a steroidal 308 – although it’s actually shorter overall – and became its own thing. 

And captivatingly beautiful it remains, blending competition aggression with classic Ferrari cues such as the curvaceous front wings, pronounced hips and air vents. Plus, pop up headlights.

What it got right

At the time, pretty much everything – 40 years later, as we all chase a full-bodied analogue automotive flex, this ticks all the boxes, and also a few that weren’t invented in 1984. It’s less intimidating to drive than an F40, even with the same awkward dogleg first gear. It doesn’t warp forward with the same exhilaration/sense of impending doom as the car that followed it, but there’s still an addictive turbo whooshiness. 

It’s beautifully damped and has a suppleness that suggests a broader bandwidth than you might imagine. Killer fact – it could max out at 189mph, which made the GTO the world’s fastest production car until the Porsche 959 arrived. And once you’re pulling 4,000rpm and the turbos are fully spooled up, it feels fully, scintillatingly alive. But you have to drive it like you mean it.

What it got wrong

The GTO can’t quite shake off its 1970s roots, and lacks the rigidity and intensity of the cars that followed it. It idles like a four cylinder car, as so many flat plane crank Ferrari V8s do, and buzzes, vibrates and generally sounds very mechanical. Anyone weaned on EVs would have a heart attack, although dealing with a heavy clutch and unassisted steering might pose a bigger challenge. 

The cockpit is also a little tight for taller drivers, the engine pressing up against the Kevlar and Nomex bulkhead. The driving position is idiosyncratic, the interior very 1980s. To be clear, none of these things are wrong, per se. But we have to find something.

How history has judged it

While 200 were required for homologation purposes, Ferrari made 272 GTOs. On which basis, it’s still the rarest of all in the hypercar bloodline. The name alone guarantees top level status in collectors' circles.

Ferrari 288 GTO

Prices then (1984)/now: £73,000/up to £3.5m
Specs: 2,855cc V8, 395bhp @ 7000rpm, 366 Ib ft, 1160kg (dry), 0-62mph in 4.8 secs, 189mph