1984 Ferrari 308 GT/M

History

During the late 1970s, the costs and technical demands required to stay competitive in Formula One competition continued to escalate. Ferrari focused its efforts and resources on this singular competition arena and increasingly formalized its relationship with the Michelotto tuning and racing organization, which owned the official Ferrari service center in Padua, Italy. Since the company's inception in 1969, Michelotto had built a reputation for its outstanding race-car preparation and dominant performance, eventually becoming in effect a 'semi-works' arm of Ferrari. When customers approached Ferrari with the idea of building a Group 4 rally version of the 308 GTB, the company directed them to Michelotto. Their Ferrari Dino-powered Lancia Stratos won a succession of Italian rally championships. After the Stratos' retirement, Ferrari's new V-8 powered 308 GTB was Michelotto's choice for 1978 since it had already been homologated by Ferrari for FIA Group 4 rally competition. The privately developed cars were impressive enough to convince Ferrari to partner with Michelotto to construct a Group B car towards the close of 1982.

The new Group B 'evoluzione' was relatively unrestricted and allowed Michelotto to take the basic 308 GTB to the extreme. The mid-mounted V8 engine was turned from a transverse placement to a new longitudinal position within the tubular chassis allowing ease of access to the engine and gearbox. The lowered engine placement also gave the car a low center of gravity. Production-based underpinnings were modified for competition use. The engine was based on the 308 GTB road car engine, using the alloy cylinder block and the new Quattrovalvole four-valve cylinder heads, plus competition-spec pistons, cams, and valves. It was given a custom fuel delivery system utilizing a Kugelfischer pump and Bosch injectors. The 370 horsepower produced by the engine was delivered to the rear wheels via a five-speed Hewland competition gearbox.

The first chassis was completed in 1983. It wore a body created from carbon-fiber composite and Kevlar panels from a hand-formed aluminum buck. Its design was similar to that of the 512 BBLM GT. The show wheelbase car had short front and rear overhangs, radically flared rear fenders, a tall rear wing, and plenty of cooling vents. The entire package weighed just 1,850 lbs.

This new Group B competition car was designated 308 GT/M, with the 'M' representing 'Michelotto.' The 308 GT/M, developed jointly by Ferrari and Michelotto, was tested at Ferrari's Fiorano circuit.

The first example, chassis 001, was purchased by Jean 'Beurlys' Blaton of Belgium. The second 308 GT/M was raced just once, at the 1984 Rally di Monza, where driver Lele Pinto proved the car's potential by leading the event. Unfortunately, it was forced to retire after it was involved in an accident.

The Ferrari 308 GT/M was fast and competitive, but soon eclipsed by turbocharged, all-wheel-drive competitors that would take rally competition to new levels, eventually resulting in the cancellation of Group B altogether after the Tour de Corse in 1986.

A third GT/M was later built for a Dutch buyer, using the remaining spare parts still on hand.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2015

The 308 was Ferrari's first two-seat V8 road car. Made available to the public in 1975, it was the long awaited successor to the incomparable Dino 246 GT. The 308 series was a new beginning for the company as the premier builder of exotic sports cars for road use. As such, the 308 was designed to epitomize the sports car in its era. It did so admirably, and remains perhaps the most influential enthusiast car in history. The 308 is the car against which every subsequent sports car has been measured, upon which every Ferrari V8 sports and racing car has been based, and the car that brought Ferrari from the pinnacle of elite car-culture recognition into the minds of the general public. 25 years later, the shape and sound of the 308 is still 'Ferrari' in the minds of many people.

Design

The Ferrari 308 GTS provided Pininfarina with an opportunity to flex its design and styling muscle. The company responded by redefining the public's collective impression of what a Ferrari, and indeed what a sportscar, should look like. The task given Pininfarina was the creation of a two-seat mid-engined V8, and few can have expected the Turin designer to respond with such a tour de force.

The 308's shape bears a passing resemblance to Pininfarina's Dino 246 GT. Where the older car was the ultimate expression of curvaceous 1960's styling, the 308 hinted far more at the future. From its sharp nose incorporating a slim bumper and a deep air dam, to its retractable headlights and row of black louvres that vent air from the radiator, the line flows up the windshield and out around the flanks to reunite

with itself at the buttress C-pillars, ending in a very subtle rear lip spoiler. The design is so beautiful and effective that it has been a basis for exterior styling of every subsequent V8 Ferrari and an object of study for design students the world over.

GTS models had louvered panels over the whole of their rear quarter windows. Increased venting front and rear served to improve cooling with each evolution of the engine. By and large, however, the design of the 308 was so iconic and effective that it was virtually unchanged throughout its decade of production.

Drivetrain

The heart of the 308 series was its three litre V8 engine. The 2926cc Ferrari V8 was something of a departure for the company, which had mostly relied on V12s. With the V8, Ferrari could offer much of the power of their legendary V12s while improving fuel economy and saving space. By placing the engine and transmission transversely Ferrari was able to reduce the length of their new sports cars and concentrate the mass within the wheelbase, a lesson of racing.

The transmission in the 308 was a five speed with reverse all synchromesh unit. Mounted transversely like the engine, the transmission received power through an unassisted single plate clutch. The gears sent power to the rear wheels through a limited slip differential and solid driveshafts with constant velocity joints.

Source - Ferrari