We often think of the Porsche 959 and the Ferrari F40 as hugely
significant cars, and indeed they were, enough that we already covered them
months ago in other series. But these cars cast such a big shadow that it's
sometimes easy to forget that the 288 GTO came first, and was a major leap
forward for turbocharging technology. Much like the Porsche 930, the 288 GTO
took racecar technology and adapted it for road use, it just did so with newer
technology.
We often think of the Porsche 959 and the Ferrari F40 as hugely
significant cars, and indeed they were, enough that we already covered them
months ago in other series. But these cars cast such a big shadow that it's
sometimes easy to forget that the 288 GTO came first, and was a major leap
forward for turbocharging technology. Much like the Porsche 930, the 288 GTO
took racecar technology and adapted it for road use, it just did so with newer
technology.
The 3.0-liter V8 from the 308 was de-bored, bringing displacement
down to 2.8 liters in order to comply with FIA regulations governing
displacement for turbocharged cars. Though there were very strict regulations
governing displacement, there were none governing boost, and the twin-turbo
setup in the GTO pushed power to 400 horsepower. The first street car with twin
turbos, the Maserati Biturbo,
had debuted just a few years earlier in 1981. But the Biturbo was junk, and has
been called one of the worst cars of all time by several outlets, including
Time.
The 288 GTO was the first road car which really demonstrated
the value of twin-turbos, although these would remain mainly on supercars until
the early Nineties, when the Japanese began to adopt them. Ferrari would later
build five units of the 288 GTO Evoluzione, which cranked up the boost to make
650 horsepower. All five are still owned by Ferrari and are on display in its
engine plant in Maranello. Much of the mechanicals on the GTO came from F1.
These included the electronic fuel injection and ignition system, the
twin-plate clutch, the dry-sump lubrication, and to state the obvious, the
turbo setup itself.
This was also Ferrari's first road car to use weight-saving
composites, and the GTO ended up weighing about 700lbs less than the car it was
based on. Due to its extreme rarity and highly advanced technology, the GTO was
one of the few cars ever produced which became worth more than its sticker
price as soon as it was delivered to its first owner. Ferrari does not appreciate
customers flipping cars like this, but it was an option for the lucky few who
got their hands on these rare cars. The Porsche 959 would appear in 1986 and
the Ferrari F40 in 1987, so the 288 GTO's moment in the spotlight was
short-lived.
This is really a shame, because the 959 and the F40 weren't
as big an evolutionary leap from the GTO as it was from the other turbo cars of
the day. But both of these later cars were built in bigger numbers. The 959
didn't sell a whole lot more units than the GTO, but Ferrari would sell about
six times the number of F40 units as they had sold of the GTO. So popularity
had a little to do with it, but the reason we remember the other cars probably
has to do with Guinness. The 959 became the fastest production car ever built
in '86, and the F40 grabbed this title away in '87.
The GTO was never built for top speed, and its massive
technological accomplishments therefore didn't receive as much attention. The
288 GTO was still an absolutely amazing car, one so good that even Ferrari, who
typically hate forced induction, put what they learned from it into its next
road-going supercar. The 288 GTO was years ahead of its time, and it brought
turbocharging to a whole new level.
source: www.carbuzz
by Jacob Joseph
by Jacob Joseph
Turbocharging Pioneers: Ferrari 288 GTO
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