Ferrari Rebuilt with 1000-HP Honda Kicks K24 Engine’s Butt on Track

Rod Exits Oil Pan Assembly

Producing 1,000 horsepower on a developed engine largely grants quicker lap times, however the enhancement unavoidably intensifies trustworthiness concerns – which this Ferrari 308 GTB featuring a Honda motor encountered in a tragic manner.

Mike Burroughs from StanceWorks made some adjustments to his Ferrari 308 GTB, its ancestor of the F8 Tributo model,by swapping out the motor for one of Honda’s popular K24 powerplants — a common engine found in 2000s Honda Accords. This motor is a favorite among modifiers especially JDM enthusiasts. However, unfortunately, sadly, at a recent track shakedown run happening in California, one of the rods broke out of the engine block.

I blew up the K24 Ferrari. Big time.

Mike took his Honda-powered Ferrari 308 out for a spin at the Global Time Attack finals at the Buttonwillow Raceway, only to be heartbroken as his engine malfunctioned and caused him to abandon the race meeting. Despite the setback, he kept an upbeat attitude, asserting that such impediments are all part of competitive motor racing.

It is yet to be found out as to why this incident happened. Could it be that the piston rods endured too much strain? Or did a flawed oil pump lead to inadequate lubrication? Whatever the case, evidence of the failure was visible as the rod pierced the engine block and spilled on to the raceway. Fortunately, this was detected only at the end of the competition.

With the aspiration to achieve a 1:55 lap time in the Unlimited Class, Mike clocked 1:56.372 around the raceway right before disaster struck. He noted that he would have been able to knock off two additional seconds if his pre-race practice had not concluded prematurely. Moving forward, the team plans to push for high or mid 1:40s results.

This isn’t the first mechanical issue faced by the build. Mike’s Honda-powered Ferrari had a sequential gearbox breakdown during its Australian debut, resulting in him having to shell out $11,000 towards the new one. Sadly, with the K23 failing him, it looks like the expense to get the car back on track will continue to grow, being equipped with a K24 engine swap.