Legendary Ferrari 288 GTO to get brand new tyres from Pirelli

Pirelli has been busy lately, making sure old Ferraris can be driven on new tyres. The latest historical supercar from Modena to get new boots is the legendary Ferrari 288 GTO.

The Cinturato P7 joins the Enzo's P Zero Corsa System, introduced in the summer, on Pirelli’s Collezione range of historic performance car tyres. The tyre was introduced for its road debut during the tour event for the 40th anniversary of the 288 GTO that Ferrari hosted, with cars driving from the Dolomite mountains to Maranello.

Being a car from two decades before the Enzo – itself now a 22 year-old car – the 288 GTO uses very different tyres, with the Cinturato P7s being taller in profile and thinner in section than more contemporary rubber. The 288’s are 225/50 R16 at the front and 265/50/R16 at the rear – not sizes you can typically get a P Zero Corsa in; and ones you’d associate more with an early 2000s BMW M car, than a Kevlar-clad supercar.

At the time, though, it was cutting edge in how much closer it was to the dimensions we consider typical of modern tyres. The Cinturato P7 was originally developed for rallying in 1974, with the rubber reaching road cars in 1976. At the time, it was considered the first ultra-low profile product with a reduced sidewall. Today its reintroduction retains the visual feel of the original, while incorporating modern material and compound technology.

Pirelli has been a close collaborator with Ferrari’s throughout the generations, with the Ferrari F40 launching in 1987 as the first to feature the then-new Pirelli P Zero tyre, allowing safe and stable passage up and beyond the 186mph barrier and the F40’s famous 202mph V-Max.

The Collezione range continues to carry a specific P Zero for the F40, in the required sizes of 245/40 R17 for the front and 335/35 R18 at the rear. The Ferrari F50 introduced the Corsa System in 1995, in 245/35 R18 and 335/30 R18 sizes, before the range was introduced in the early 2000s for general use.

Then, of course, followed the Ferrari Enzo, for which System rubber is now available and the Ferrari LaFerrari and Aperta, to which the P Zero Corsa Asimmetrico 2 was fitted.