Ferrari creates SP38
This year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este saw the latest bespoke Ferrari unveiled in the form of the ‘SP38’. The product of the Italian carmaker’s Special Projects division, the SP38 is based on the current 488 GTB, but bears almost no resemblance to that model, thanks to substantial bodywork modifications. The SP38 follows past Ferrari Special Projects creations, like the 458 MM Speciale from 2016, the SP FXX from 2014 and SP12 EC that was commissioned by Eric Clapton in 2012. Limited edition and short-run models created in a similar vein to these one-offs include the Pininfarina ‘Sergio’ from 2015 and last year’s ‘J50’ special created exclusively for Japanese customers.Exactly who commissioned the SP38 and what they plan to do with it has not been revealed, with Ferrari only saying that the owner is one of their most dedicated customers and has a passion for racing.
Unique Style. According to Ferrari, the all-new skin on the SP38 was inspired by the F40 from 1987, but the influences of that iconic supercar are hard to spot.At first glance, the SP38 appears closer to the aforementioned Sergio and J50 in both its styling touches and overall dimensions, while the narrow headlight treatment is, dare we say it, Lamborghini Diablo-esque in appearance.The owner’s brief of being able to drive the car on the road and track meant the Ferrari Design Centre couldn’t undertake anything too radical, so the finished product retains the 488 GTB’s road legality and – apparently – still meets all European crash and safety regulations, despite the significant bodywork changes. Compared to the 488 GTB it’s based on, the SP38 looks much smaller and has the look of current Lotus coupes and the modernised MAT Lancia Stratos from some angles. This is due, in part, to a pronounced ‘wedge’ treatment that starts with a narrow front end, expanding toward the rear so that all the visual bulk is biased toward the back end and over the rear wheelarches.
Front, Back and Sides. At the front end, the 488’s vertical headlight arrangement has been replaced by a narrow horizontal light cluster, with the DRLs repositioned to the front bumper. This bumper is significantly different from the 488 GTB, with slim upper and lower bars framing a large grille mouth and featuring contrasting colour sections in a similar treatment to that applied to the Sergio and SP12 EC, but the Ferrari Design Centre says inspiration here came from the 308 GTB.In profile, the SP38 appears to have deleted the necessary side air intakes entirely, but they’re still in place. The designers smoothed out the flanks and incorporated intakes into the side window area aft of the doors, as well as the doors themselves. The result reduces the visual complexity of the car when viewed in profile, while contributing to that aforementioned visual bulk. The wheels play a part here, too, with the split 5-spoke treatment being much chunkier than those on the 488 GTB. Ferrari hasn’t confirmed, but the SP38’s wheels are believed to be one-offs created specifically for the project.
At the rear, the changes are as dramatic as the front, with the regular glass engine cover replaced with a one-piece, flip-up unit made from carbon fibre and featuring three large vents that extend down into the flanks. Again, this is said to have been inspired by the F40.The F40’s signature fixed spoiler has been honoured on the SP38, too, but in a much more subtle form (even Ferrari calls it a ‘hint’) that sits so low on the back end that it almost appears to blend in to the tail from some angles. The spoiler links up with the lower diffuser to create a ‘loop’ effect at the rear, in a look that’s familiar to treatments on recent hypercars with its prominent aero elements. The quad tail light arrangement is another nod to the F40, but one that has also been repeated on numerous Ferraris since. More unique to the SP38, though, is the high-mount tailpipe exits, which actually sit above the licence plate holder and look like scaled-down versions of the big outlets seen on the latest Ford GT.Covering the body is a special three-layer metallic deep red paint that’s a departure from the usual Rosso Corsa, Rosso Scuderia and similar shades found on other Ferraris. It’s unique to the SP38, too.
Tailored and Turbo’d Inside, the SP38 has been treated to a custom interior from Ferrari’s Tailor Made program. No images or information has been released on this, but given the owner’s passion for racing, assume lightweight carbon fibre racing buckets trimmed in Alcantara and featuring five-point harnesses feature, along with a racing steering wheel, instrumentation, shift paddles and other competition-style touches. No information has been provided on the running gear, either, but as the SP38 was intended to be road driven, the 488 GTB powerplant has presumably been only mildly altered or left untouched. If the latter, that means a twin-turbo, dual-intercooled 3.9-litre V8 delivering 492kW and 670Nm and driving the rear wheels through a seven-speed gearbox.
Other 488 GTB features likely to be retained for the SP38 include Variable Torque Management, F1-Trac traction control, the electronic E-Diff, Side Slip Control and magnetorheological dampers as part of a sophisticated and finely-tuned suspension system. If the SP38’s weight is similar to that of the 488 GTB, 0-100km/h should be achieved in 3.0 seconds, with a top speed in excess of 330km/h, while a Brembo Extreme Design braking system takes care of the stopping.
How long the SP38 took to design and build is unknown, but past Ferrari bespoke projects of similar magnitude to this one have taken more than 12 months to come to fruition, depending on the amount of work and modification involved. Similarly, no word has been released on the cost of this project, but a million-dollar (perhaps even multi-million) price tag is a given. The future of the SP38, in terms of its public exposure at other concours events, has not been revealed.
