JGTC Ferrari F360 And 550 Maranello
By Joey Leh, Photography by the author
Maker of some of the most sought-after streetcars, Ferrari is also known quite well for putting together an awe-inspiring racecar. In fact, their street car business is in place to fund their racing operations, which range from Formula One to their own challenge series.
In 2004, Ferrari had privateers and customer racers using both the F360 and 550 Maranello. The F360 was a mid-engine, V8-powered sports car with 400hp and an optional six-speed F1 sequential-shift transmission. There were numerous factory racing versions of the F360 produced by Ferrari and its popularity did not escape the Pacific.
JGTC Ferrari F360
The longtime Japanese Ferrari racing team, Jim Gainer, fielded two Ferrari F360GTs that year in the JGTC series and we caught up with them at Round 5 – Twin Ring Motegi. The Japan GT Championship, now called Super GT to reflect its international stops, was segmented into classes, GT300 and GT500. Both classes featured heavy modifications such as pushrod suspensions, carbon bodies, flat bottoms, slicks, non-factory front and rear ends and engine swaps. Although the Supra ran a V8 and the 350Z used a twin-turbocharged V6, the classes were capped in horsepower – GT300 at 300hp and GT500 at 500hp.
Jim Gainer’s Ferrari F360s were run in the GT300 class using air inlet restrictors. Still, their V8’s wail at speed was unlike any other car on the grid. Despite the overcast skies, rain and resulting trackside mud, the #10 F360, driven by Tanaka and Yogo, finished on the podium in third.
JGTC 550-GTS Maranello
Strangely enough, somebody else made one of Ferrari’s most distinctive racers in recent years, the Ferrari 500-GTS Maranello. From 2001 to 2004, famous rally team and engineering firm Prodrive began selling its own factory racing chassis, based on the 485hp V12 Ferrari 550. Known as the 550-GTS Maranello, Prodrive’s creation was sold around the world.
In Japan, the 550-GTS Maranello was campaigned in the GT500 class. Following the 2004 season, Prodrive began to work on the Aston Martin Vantage DB9R program and Ferrari released its own 575 GTC Maranello. Although 2004 was the last year that the 550-GTS Maranello was produced, some cars are still raced around the world today.
