Is this the Ferrari 296 we've been waiting for?

The new GT Modificata is faster than a GT3 car but only for track days - or perhaps a road conversion...

By Matt Bird / Monday, 14 September 2026 / Loading comments

You’ve probably heard it said a thousand times (or thought it yourself) with the current crop of electrified supercars: what would they be like without the hybrid help, lighter and less complex but still with hundreds or multi-cylinder horsepower? After all, that’s the spec the race cars run to. And everyone wants something the rest don’t have when it comes to exotic cars…

Might this Ferrari 296 GT Modificata be it? We’re not going mad. While this is officially a track car, it’s not designed with competition in mind: ‘solely for track day use and participation in the events of the Ferrari Club Competizioni GT’ is the remit. Circuit events that you and I could only dream of, effectively, with a 2027 calendar that includes Jerez, Fuji and Indianapolis, with a 296 that benefits from a second seat for a passenger or a driving coach.

Like a true motorsport machine, furthermore, the Modificata boasts the latest and greatest in racing tech. So the turbo V6 on its own is 730hp strong here, significantly more powerful than in the GT3 racer (600hp, because rules) and the roadgoing hybrid (663hp). That’s thanks to revised turbos (with some 499P influence), an ‘optimised’ fuel system, plus changes to the cams, intercooler and induction. This is no mere two-seat GT3, not least because one of those already exists in the shape of the 296 GT3 Biposto…

It wouldn’t be a Modificata Ferrari without an aero update, too, so this GT M benefits from a new ‘Slotted Splitter’ at the front and a ‘completely revised’ (also completely mad) rear wing, with a 5mm Gurney Flap that you probably clocked immediately and 499P-style endplates.

Hopefully the ‘Modificata’ font in the grille can be dispensed with and doesn’t serve a purpose, because at the moment it gives off GR Yaris vibes. More positively, it goes to show just how right the 296’s fundamental design was that it still has the power to wow all these years on. And not just because it’s now more than five metres long and two metres wide.

Thanks to the power, the aero and the latest ABS, Ferrari says a GT Modificata is three seconds quicker than a 296 GT3 Evo around Fiorano. It’s a weird world we live in now, where cars for customers that can’t be raced are significantly faster than pretty senior competition machines driven by full time professionals, though Ferrari certainly isn’t alone in offering both. In fact it’s rarer for a supercar maker not to offer an ultimate track day car.

Anyway, back to the original question - what if this 296 GT Modificata were homologated for road use? The standard GTB is already a stellar supercar, and this one weighs 140kg less at 1,330kg dry. There’s traction control, steel brake discs (now with better cooling, of course), and a DDU ‘driving information display.’ Oh sure, a carbon clutch sounds tricky, and visibility will be compromised, but we live in a world where a Lamborghini Sesto Elemento has been made road-legal - this ought to be a cinch. A fog light to replace the rain light and Bob’s your uncle.

There's more to it than that, of course, though there can surely only be so much appetite for another race car that can’t be raced. A race car for the road, however, is always cool, as numerous Challenge-grade Ferraris with MOTs will attest to. Look at how extreme some of the stuff debuted at Monterey was as well - this could be made compliant if required. Then someone really would have a unique Ferrari 296, before even considering the personalised content available on a Modificata…