Ferrari’s Challenge racing series is the ultimate playground for the Gentleman Racer – a series containing full fields of identically prepared Ferrari racing cars, all the off-track hospitality and catering that you could hope for, enjoyed as the series travels the world and races on the best circuits available. It sounds every bit as exciting and glamorous as it actually is.

Being a factory sanctioned series, the Ferrari Challenge always utilises the latest model in Ferrari’s line of mid-engined V8 supercar. This means that there is a constant supply of used and outdated race-prepared Ferraris coming onto the market, and up until now, they have not been especially collectable. But that is beginning to change, and we think that the 360 Challenge is an unpolished gem.

The Ferrari Challenge kicked-off in 1993, using the 348 as a base. These 348 Challenge cars were almost stock-standard production cars, with competitors purchasing a ‘Challenge kit’ to retrofit an existing road car into race specification.

The Challenge kit for the 348 consisted of little more than wheels, tyres, racing seats, and a bolt-in roll cage. These really were factory based cars, and many retained most of their interior trimming and sound deadening. Some examples of the targa-topped 348TS were even raced. Many were still road registered during their racing career, and plenty were converted back to road specification once their time on the track was done.

 

It was amateur racing at its best. One look at how the cars are pitching and yawing into the bends of Laguna Seca reveals their production based setup.

The Ferrari Challenge moved on somewhat with the introduction of the F355 in 1995. Existing road cars were still converted, all hardtop GTBs this time, but the Challenge Kit was rather more involved. A more comprehensive roll cage, removal of most of the interior and replacement of the wheels were the first step, and that was dutifully followed in subsequent years by suspension upgrades, proper Brembo motorsport brake callipers and discs, and aero additions.

Crucially, the 355 Challenge cars were still converted road cars. This meant that whilst they might not have been road legal, they kept the ability to be road registered, and many of the original 355 Challenge cars see regular road use today.

 

Compare this clip to the 348 clip above. You can see that not only are the cars more serious, but so are the teams and the crews running them. The races were often televised, and the Ferrari Challenge was a regular support act on the Formula One calendar.

 

Many examples of the 355 Challenge have now been carefully restored, their rare Challenge kit preserved, and in such a specification they make highly desirable road cars that are equally adept at the odd track session. We’d buy one for the noise alone!

 

The biggest leap came with the introduction of the 360 Challenge in 2000. For the first time, the Challenge cars were not converted road cars, but were built in the Ferrari factory as racing cars. They had no interiors, racing suspension, lightweight panels and plastic windows. As the popularity of global GT racing grew, the Ferrari Challenge cars gradually morphed closer to their endurance racing brethren, which only increased further with the introduction of the 430 in 2006, and the 458 in 2011. Today’s 488 Challenge is closer to Ferrari’s GT3 specification racer than it is the road car.

The price curve of Ferrari Challenge cars has been an interesting one to watch over the years. When the cars finish their time in the Ferrari Challenge, they typically pass down through the ranks of amateur racing, and most end up as track day toys. Traditionally they were never particularly collectible, and this baffled us. For years they were viewed as haggard old racing cars, and they were actually worth less than standard road cars.

Over the past couple of years the market has turned around, for the 348 and 355 Challenge cars, at least. The first 348 Challenge in our photos sold for €241,500 with RM Sotheby’s in 2017 (4 times what a nice road car is worth), and the 355 Challenge in our photos carried an estimate of €135,000-175,000 at auction with Sotheby’s in 2018 (again, twice the value of a nice road car).

Of course, half the value in these 348 and 355 Challenge cars is that they are eminently streetable. And who doesn’t want to drive a Ferrari racing car on the road?

For years, the 360 Challenge was horrendously undervalued. This 2003 example has been a track toy for most of its life, was never seriously raced, and sold in 2012 for just £34,720! That’s an almost criminally low price for a factory built Ferrari racing car, but for some reason, nobody wanted them. We could never understand why.

The black example in our photos is a 2002 model Challenge, which wears some additional GT aero upgrades and is admittedly a little cosmetically shabby. But it would be the ideal candidate for some light restorative work – tidy up the interior, re-trim the suede dash, replace those Sparco seats with the original red Ferrari Challenge specific OMP racing seats, and replace the steering wheel with the correct type. Prices are increasing, but Bonhams still only realised £68,700 for it at their 2017 Goodwood Revival sale. That’s still a lot less than the price of a nice 360 road car.

Of course, the big difference is that the 360 cannot be legally road registered. However, where there’s a will, there’s a way. We live in a world where Le Mans winning McLaren F1s are regularly driven on the road, and someone has successfully street registered the track-only Aston Martin Vulcan and McLaren P1 GTR. Surely there would be a way to get a 360 Challenge onto the road, legally.

The 360 Challenge seems particularly good value when you compare it with its road sibling, the 360 Challenge Stradale. Yes, the naming convention is a little weird. Stradale means road, so it’s the road version of the track version of the road car. Anyway.

Sotheby’s sold this yellow 2004 360 Challenge Stradale for €168,000 at Paris in 2017. Remember, it’s essentially the same car as the 360 Challenge, but it costs over a hundred grand more. Sure, it has a few extra creature comforts and is easily road registrable, but it lacks proper track pedigree. The tech is the same, but its not actually a Ferrari racing car.

This is why the Ferrari 360 Challenge is an unpolished gem, and is why you need to jump on it now, before it’s too late. Keep it as a treat for special track days, or attempt the bureaucratic hassle of getting it road registered and have one of the most exciting road cars possible with true motorsport heritage.

Either way, you can’t loose.