348 Factory Challenge Car History

The factory challenge cars had the standard exhaust and intake. They also came with the standard width rear wheels and not the wider track like the Speciale or the Spider. the only modification was the welded in brackets for mounting of the roll cage and the carpet was modified to fit around the mounts so the car could be easily converted.

They are also legal street cars not fully converted.

Best regards, Jim

 

Are you sure? I thought the 348C was a converted streetcar in all forms except the 32. The 32 came with the challenge package installed including the 348C seats which were a modified OMP VID seat with red ferrari covers and 348challenge script, the cage FIA legal OMP and the rest of it per 1994 348C parts book like the bushings all from gestone sportiva sp? the sporting arm of Ferrari. The carpet and A/C stuff and seats and rest of OEM factory streetcar stuff came to the customer in a box. The "32" may be the only cars imported to the usa with the VIN plate saying "348 challenge". Either way all the 348's had a street title and so did the 1995 355C. But from 1996 on the street 355 had 5.2 obd2 motronics and the 355C's 1996 and on had the 2.7 motronics and never came with a title only a bill of sale and could not be titled for street use. I could be wrong on some of this.

 

You are correct that all the Pre- 32 built 348 challenge models were street cars converted by the dealers to compete in the series. at that point, any 348 could be converted. far as I know, all the cars were TB`s.

The 32 factory cars were built to make it easier to convert the car to the challenge. the car still came with standard seats, exhaust, and engine. The suspension is the solid bushing type and the mounts are pre-welded in for the roll cage with nice cutouts in the carpet for installation. the wheels were the standard 348 wheels. in short, all the hard work was done to convert the car and was up to the customer to complete if he or she wishes.

Best regards, Jim

 

There were actually 45 348 C's in '94. 32 tb's and 13 ts's. Some with numbered plates and some without. The plates were on the right side similar to the SS's. Some came with the 348 challenge script on the rear deck and some did not. If you have the dealer run the vin they will just come up as a 348 tb. There were an additional 15 348 SS ts's in '94. That was it for non spiders in '94.

The '94 tb CH cars they were all street cars. There is very little on what they came with from the factory. I know for sure that they came with regular interior, but the cut out and pre-welded plates for the roll cage, stiffer springs, solid bushings and eye hooks for the harness. They all came on regular wheels. The '94 challenge series ran stock wheels. The challenge rim was not introduced until '95. They came with the single can exhaust.

There is some question if they came with lighter weight front and rear bumper (Ferrari won't say as rumor has it the car would not have passed the DOT 5mph crash test) and different ECU's. All cars still needed to have some or most of the challenge kit installed. It just took less time than a regular 348.

The '94 CH came automatically from the factory with the challenge kit. It was $14K delete option if you did not want it. Not all cars have had the kit installed. In fact only about 1/2 had it installed.

Not many, but there were a few ts's that were converted to race.

As for price, I don't think they are worth any more at this time. Maybe low miles non raced tb.

 

The 2 348 CH cars I saw in '96 that were road cars one yellow(#6 IIRC) and one red with a stripe down the middle. Both were as Jim in the above post described, std. wheels, plates for the roll cage and script on the back. They both had US bumpers on them(side Marker Lights). The yellow one had the solid bushings in the suspension the red one I don't, I didn't look.
The only thing I thought was odd is why would they put the std wheels on them, did Ferrari know something we don't know about bearing wear or hanlding or...?

 

The only thing that I have read is the solid bushings, stiff springs, and modified suspension geometry made up for any handling issues so they did not need the wider rear wheels. Presumably the wider rear wheels have more mass at the hub and add unsprung weight?

The first year of the Ferrari Challenge series in '94 the 348 raced on stock wheels mounted with slicks! There may have been a fender clearance issue on the rears with the lowered suspension and slicks?

 

Good thoughts, you are probably correct forgot about the slicks. Obviously they would make a huge difference in the handling.

 

I can only speak to my car, which is a '94, #24 of 32. My car has the 348 Challenge script on the rear deck but didn't come with a numbered plate installed where the SS plates are typically located. I've heard - though unsubstantiated - that these numbered plates looked like the SS plates (see pic) were dealer installed and that they were shipped from the factory (or perhaps FNA?) late, after many of the 32 had been sold. So, the plates often were separated from the cars and therefore many of the "factory" 348 Challenge cars do not have the plate.

In addition to the script, my car came with a stock suede steering wheel (looks exactly like a normal tB wheel, just suede and not leather), drilled aluminum clutch and brake pedals and the pre-welded roll cage mounts (including carpet cutouts and leather covers) etc. I haven't checked if my car has solid bushings or not, or even lighter bumpers for that matter - but will do so this weekend. Otherwise, it appears pretty much a stock tB, i.e. factory 17" rims, regular (not SS) rear track etc. Rumor also has it that the "factory" Challenge cars had a bit more advance on the exhaust cams but this might be more hearsay than anything else.
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Interesting. At speed in my 348 was only on track never on public roads. I converted my early chassis 1991 car with old subassembly (the twitchy one) and used slicks, delrin bushings and custom valved shocks and very stiff springs and never had the twitcy issues at speed so often reported. later I used the 355C wheels with unknown offset relative to stock 17 348 wheel not because I was any faster but slicks were easier to find in 18" form. By the way there was never a fender rub issue for me anyway. I ran as large as 315 rear or 11.5 good year slick in the rear and up to 245 645 18 in the front with no issues. That's a long way from 215 and 255's stock.

That's my 348 racecar on the left made from a perfect 348 streetcar and Plugzits former 348C on the right from a 348SS
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excuse my ignornace but whats a 348SS?

 

Serie Speciale.

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thanks, now whats the difference between a 348, 348ch and 348SS?

 

http://www.qv500.com/indexferrari12.php

Check out this site. I don't think this is the right forum for that question. Go to the 348/355 section and do a search.

 

Here are some pictures of my 348C when it campaigned in and won the UK series
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This is how the car looks now. I love the noise and the handling but the car is soooooo slow compared with modern weaponry
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I have a 94 348CH that did NOT come with the right side door sill ID plate indicating its position in the run of 13 TS's for 1994. Is it possible to obtain a replacement plate? I am trying to get the car to embody as many of the Challenge features as I can. As a side note, it DOES fall within the VIN number range for 94 CH's and has rollbar hardpoints so, it is a real Challenge car.

 

Spa it must have been? I've seen this car being campaigned in Zandvoort I guess...

Gr. Martin

 

Do you have a pic of the leather covers for your rollbar mounts? Mine has the mounts but, not the covers. I want to re-create the covers.

 

Robb, this is the only pic that I found on my computer. If you want more, just pm me and I can take a few pics of the front and back as well as measure them up for you.

Mark
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Thanks so much! This is perfect!