Ferrari 288 GTO R Imagines What Might Have Been If Group B Had Lasted

Group B was barely a flash in the pan on the motor racing scene, lasting only from 1982 to ’86. But in that short span of time, it yielded some of the most impressive machinery ever made.

The Audi Sport Quattro, BMW M1, and Porsche 959 might never have come to be if not for Group B. Ditto the Ferrari 288 GTO.

Unfortunately the FIA shut down the Group B category before the 288 GTO ever got to compete, but if it had, the racing version might have looked a little something like this.

Rendered by Zoki Nanco and shared on Behance, these digital images envision a Ferrari 288 GTO R – representing a slightly different direction than Maranello took with the 288 GTO Evoluzione and the F40 that followed. It’s jam-packed with aerodynamic addenda, from the strutted front splitter and side skirts to massive rear diffuser and rear wing so big it looks like you could serve an entire dinner party off of it. It’s also wearing oversized HRE alloys shot with Yokohama rubber.

The interior, as much as we can see through the windows, looks mostly untouched (save for the roll cage), suggesting this would, in turn, be a road-going version of the racing model. But the road-scraping ground effects suggest otherwise.

One way or another, it certainly catches the eye – as well as the imagination. Who knows, if the GTO had gotten to race, maybe the F40 that built upon it might never have happened. And if the F40 hadn’t, who knows if the F50, Enzo, and LaFerrari would have.

That’s the ripple effect for you, but we’ll try not to get too caught up in all that and just enjoy the sight, however fictitious, of bespoilered creation in front of us right now.