Ferrari 250 GTO | 1. Birth
KING OF CLASSICS
The magnetism of this sports car remains intact as years go by and justifies its leading position among classic cars. Writes: David Leciñana | Photo credits: courtesy of Bonhams.
It's a mythical acronym. For the enthusiast GTO is synonymous with unattainable car, with the great unicorn inside the already prohibitive Ferrari paradise. In fact this Gran Turismo Omologato is the crowning touch to a very important berlinetta line in Maranello (the 250 series) and been successful in one of the most romantic motorsport periods has raised the GTO as one of the most special and expensive cars right now.
The reasons why such status has been reached are difficult to determinate (remember that most of the 33 cars built went through a rather miserable life during the seventies, when they were just obsolete racing cars). The classic car boom of the Eighties affected unquestionably in this rising but its rarity and its “Gran Turismo” archetypical bodywork are two of its strongest points. Peeble Beach gathered no fewer than 21 units of the model, showing its position inside the Concours d'Elegance calendar.
The primeval GTO origin is found at the 1955 Paris Motor Show, where a sporty version of the Ferrari 250 Europa is launched. After several incarnations, these “piloti-clienti” two-seaters evolve into lethal weapons with the 250 SWB arrival in 1959 (SWB for Short Wheel Base). This masterpiece from Sergio Pininfarina features a more compact engine (the 168B coded unit proyected by Colombo in his early days with the Scuderia) and the wheelbase have been shortened to 2400 mm.
Motorgrafico #002
1. Birth | Ferrari 250 GTO
In theory it was just a 250 SWB with a more streamlined body
Numerous victories were achieved with the SWB in the Gran Turismo category, which FIA promoted in 1962 as the main championship of the season (to the detriment of the increasingly expensive and dangerous Sports cars). But the launch of the streamlined new E-type from Jaguar and the obligation of prevailing their hegemony forces Ferrari to find a new body for the 250.
After a first design, tested in Le Mans '61 without good results, Enzo entrusts secretly a second shape to his engineer Giotto Bizzarrini. The new car is ready in September and it proves to be faster: the chassis modifications, setting the engine backwards and closer to the ground, had permitted a more wind-effective front section (such significant changes were also carried out by other teams and by no means were permitted in the homologation. Simply they weren't caught).
On February 24, 1962, the GTO is launched in its final form. Scaglietti has put the finishing touch to its aluminum body and the engine reaches now the 300 bHP mark thanks to a profound revision of the V12 mounted in the SWB.
Motorgrafico #002
