Ferrari 308 Tribute Brings Back Manual V8 And Carbon Body

AC Motorsport chases low weight and high-rev power with a naturally aspirated V8, classic manual gearbox, and full carbon-fiber bodywork.

Photo by: AC Motorsport

By: Brian Potter

Oct 29, at 3:05am ET

Comment

AC Motorsport has pulled the wraps off a new car that looks like it drove straight out of 1982. Called the Michelotto Gruppo 4 Tributo, it is a ground-up reinterpretation of the Ferrari 308 GTB rally car that Michelotto built for Group 4 competition, and it made its public debut in Padova, Italy.

Francesco Calzavara, the founder of AC Motorsport, has a direct line to that history as his work with Michelotto goes back years.

The result is not a restomod bolted onto an old 308. It is an entirely new machine built to carry that car's spirit forward.

Not Just Another Ferrari 308 Restomod

Michelotto Gruppo 4 Tributo

Photo by: AC Motorsport

Most tribute builds start with a donor car and modify it. The Gruppo 4 Tributo skips that step entirely, riding on a tubular steel frame with an integrated roll cage, a structure that has nothing in common with the original 308's chassis.

Composite body panels wrap that frame, shaped to echo the 308's wedge profile and its pop-up headlights without copying it part for part. The car marks 50 years since Michelotto's Ferrari 308 GTB earned its FIA Group 4 homologation.

That rally car famously finished second at the 1982 Tour de Corse, Ferrari's only top-level World Rally Championship podium.

AC Motorsport calls the project an homage rather than a recreation, which lines up with recent efforts like the twin-turbo V8 homage built around Ferrari's own racing history.

Gallery: Michelotto Gruppo 4 Tributo - Ferrari 308

Source: AC Motorsport

Inside The Lightweight, High-Revving Package

Power comes from a naturally aspirated 3.4-liter V8 making 375 horsepower at 8,250 rpm, paired with 268 pound-feet of torque. There's no turbocharger and no hybrid assistance.

That engine drives the rear wheels through a five-speed manual with a gated shifter and a dogleg first gear, the pattern that puts first down and to the left so second through fifth fall in a straight line for quicker shifts on track.

Weight is where the numbers get serious. The car tips the scales at just 2,094 pounds with every fluid onboard except gasoline. That's light enough to make 375 horsepower feel like considerably more, and it undercuts a modern Mazda MX-5 Miata by a wide margin.

Suspension tuning includes adjustable front and rear shocks and stabilizer bars, while four-piston calipers grip ventilated discs at each corner.

Inside, the cabin skips touchscreens entirely in favor of a three-spoke wheel, a digital gauge cluster, and not much else. Compare that layout with the approach taken on another naturally aspirated Italian V8 project built around a manual gearbox, and the philosophy tracks: fewer screens, more mechanical feedback.

What do you think?

View

Comments

Each Gruppo 4 Tributo uses a bespoke tube-frame chassis, a custom V8, and full carbon-fiber bodywork, so production stays very limited. Fewer than 50 cars are planned worldwide, with pricing expected to start above €450,000 (about $505,500).

The car has already been shown in running form in Padova, where Michelotto used the debut to demonstrate that a naturally aspirated V8 and a gated manual still belong in 2026.