Holy Grail Ferrari GTO Evoluzione Will Discover New Dwelling Subsequent Month

There are six Ferrari GTO Evoluziones in existence. Sometimes when there are solely six of one thing, the worth of the merchandise in query tends to be fairly excessive. We’ll all get to watch how excessive when one such Evoluzione chassis hits the block later this month in Germany, by way of RM Sotheby’s.

The story across the GTO — or 288 GTO because it’s really not formally named — is that Ferrari created the automobile to marketing campaign Group B street racing. That by no means got here to cross as a result of Group B was canceled earlier than it had the prospect to begin an occasion. The Porsche 961 — the street racing counterpart to the 959 — very practically suffered the same destiny, though that automobile really made it to Le Mans in 1986. Lancia ditched some rally plans too, for related causes. Group B left a wake of race automobiles that by no means raced.

Nonetheless, the GTO’s precise story is slightly totally different, in accordance with its engineer, the recently-passed Nicola Materazzi. It wasn’t constructed for motorsport on the outset; it was constructed merely to be the rawest, most succesful avenue automobile Ferrari may ship on the time, on the behest of Il Commendatore himself.

Throughout improvement, Maranello acknowledged the GTO’s aggressive potential, and the race-ready Evoluzione got here out of that initiative. Although it by no means noticed motion, it did inform the lineage of Ferrari apex supercars that adopted: the F40, F50, Enzo Ferrari and La Ferrari.

If not for the GTO Evoluzione, the F40 (and definitely the F40 LM) in all probability wouldn’t have ended up what we all know it to be right now, because the itemizing explains:

Pininfarina reworked the automobiles bodywork utilizing Kevlar and fiberglass to scale back weight as a lot as doable, and the automobile’s rear wing was product of carbon fibre. Fitted with bigger turbos and additional refined engine tuning, the automobile’s Tipo F114 CK engine produced a monstrous 650 bhp, a rise of over 60% from the street automobile’s 400 bhp. Tipping the scales at simply 940 kg, efficiency was actually astounding with prime straight-line velocity revealed to be 229.9 mph. The 288 GTO Evoluzione has an influence to weight ratio of 1.61 Kg which might out carry out any rival on this interval. Whereas this unimaginable automobile by no means noticed competitors, the 288 GTO Evoluzione proved pivotal as a take a look at mattress for growing the F40, Ferrari’s subsequent in line, and arguably most visually iconic, of their supercar collection. Place the 2 aspect by aspect and the resemblance is immediately obvious and is extra than simply pores and skin deep.

This specific Evoluzione — quantity 4 out of 5 within the line, chassis No. 79888 — has handed by way of a number of fingers because it was in-built 1988. Most notably, Aston Martin Govt Chairman and Netflix villain Lawrence Stroll. Lately the automobile was repainted in Rosso Corsa and given a complete service inside and outside totaling €133,000, masking the whole lot from drivetrain parts to inside supplies.

When you have the means, I extremely suggest throwing your hat within the ring come October 19, when this Evoluzione will go below the hammer. It’s exhausting to pin down what the successful bidder ought to anticipate to cough up, as a result of RM Sotheby’s isn’t disclosing that. In order for you a very imprecise concept, this less-rare Pilot-liveried F40 LM went for slightly below €5 million in 2019. That might very properly find yourself a steal in comparison with this GTO.