Ferrari 599 2011 News

Ferrari has created a one-off special-edition Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano that will be auctioned at a charity event in Beijing next month. What makes the car different is its paint scheme. This one-of-a-kind Ferrari has been given the once-over by celebrated Chinese artist Lu Hao. Instead of Ferrari's signature red or yellow, Lu Hao has used a "cracked glaze" paint pattern of the coveted Song Dynasty-era Ge Liln porcelain, signed by the artist himself. There is also a jade engine starter button, luggage featuring a map of the Silk Road trade route, Chinese script instruments and a name plaque. The glazed V12 sportscar is one of 12 special edition 599 China models that will be sold in China. Lu Hao was also responsible for the paint scheme on the other cars. However, they are less polarising. The artist opted for a body done in red - a Ferrari shade called Rosso Fuoco, or fire red - but the pillars and roof are painted a shade of medium grey. "The 599 China Limited Edition model is a true masterpiece, combining rich Chinese artistic heritage with Italian design in stunning approach," according to Ferrari Asia Pacific CEO Marco Mattiacci.

Well you're too late.

Probably not, but we all have to dream. Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa qualify on talent but now the Italian supercar company is easing the way for some of its most committed and cashed-up fans. Anyone with a proven history as a Ferrari owner can help with testing and development of the latest Ferrari 599XX - provided they also have the cash to splash on their own test car. Ferrari has already run a program with the Enzo FXX - which Michael Schumacher has as one of his personal cars, splashed in matt-black paint - and now it's doing the same with a 599XX which will only be available for use at special Ferrari-organised test track days. The 599XX was one of two cars revealed this week at the Geneva Motor Show, alongside the 599 GTB Fiorano with a performance pack called the HGTE kit. The letters stand for Handling GT Evoluzione and the pack runs to stiffer springs and rear anti-roll bar as well as A re-calibrated Manettino control system which adjusts the the 599 HGTE’s magneto- rheological shock absorbers for a more racetrack-like drive. The Fiorano - named after Ferrari's private test track - also gets a lower ride height, grippier performance tires, an upgraded version of the F1-SuperFast transmission with faster shifts and improved accelerator response, and a raunchier exhaust. Visually, the Fiorano picks up 20-inch wheels, a rear air diffuser and a cabin with carbon fibre seats trimmed in two-tone leather and alcantara. There is no news yet on sales plans or prices for the 599XX or the Fiorano, but there is almost zero chance of either car coming to Australia.

If you believe the legend, all red-blooded Italian men will immediately stop what they are doing when two things pass them by. One is a pretty woman; the other is a pretty fast Ferrari. They say it's in their blood. Driving through a tiny village nestled in the foothills of the Apennines, overlooking what is commonly known as the Supercar Valley, I saw first hand that the legend was in danger of becoming a myth. Oh, there were plenty of beautiful woman enjoying the early summer sun, but they didn't even rate a glance from a road gang of big burly blokes, although a waitress from across the street gave a two-finger salute to a bloke on a bike in front of me; he appeared to be the local postman. Perhaps they knew each other. As for the stunning 559 GTB Fiorano Ferrari I was driving. It too didn't raise any interest from the gangers busy fixing potholes, not even when I blipped the throttle — the 599's exhaust bark is nothing short of magical as it echoed off the centuries-old stone and brick walls. This was serious. What's wrong with these Italian blokes — or perhaps they were itinerant workers from Eastern Europe. Were they blind, were they deaf, were they dumb? How could they not be impressed? Negotiating their wheelbarrows and traffic cones was the fastest V12 coupe Ferrari has built; the fastest naturally aspirated two-seat production car in the world and probably the most technically advanced car Ferrari has crafted. How could they ignore it? This is a $650,000 bespoked supercar with buyers lucky enough to get into the queue being forced to wait for at least 18 months to take delivery. Perhaps it was the that Ferrari was painted in a less than spectacular metallic grey/silver, not one of the several shades of traditional Ferrari red, or even their bold yellow. My faith in the legend was partially restored in the next village where two old men sharing a fag and a morning coffee on the footpath, stood and waved in appreciation as the Ferrari, the replacement for the 575 Maranello, squeezed through the narrow streets. They were old enough to know the true history of Ferrari and the value of this, a Pininfarina-penned supercar, which has helped to further define Ferrari's fiery spirit. Perhaps up here in the hills overlooking the home of exotic brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Pagani such cars are commonplace. Oh, surely not. Earlier that day I had been asked the question most car enthusiasts only dream about: would you care to take the 599 for a couple of hours for a run in the countryside? And there it was parked in the forecourt of the Ferrari factory, a resplendent brooding beast with a cockpit displaying a plush mix of tan leather, carbon fibre and alloy. A massive bright yellow tacho between the spokes of the steering wheel dominates the dashboard. The carbon fibre race seats look thin and hard but turn out to be wonderfully supportive. But this is a big car and hard to get a clear view of its surroundings. With nerves on edge, not helped by so many people looking on, it was time to go; remember which buttons to push first in the starting sequence and fire up the V12. Ferrari is the life blood of Modena; the factory dominates the otherwise lack lustre town. It's important enough to rate its own set of traffic lights so one of the town's busiest streets comes to a halt as you drive out of the famed gates. About 100 metres down the street there's speed radar with a huge display mounted on a lamp post just to remind you to keep the throttle under control until you get out on to the open road. The guard at the gate had already warned me the local police were getting a litte tired of the street being used as a supercar pit lane, but 50km/h in the 599 is torture. Out of town it was time to head for the hills with its narrow twists and turns, its off-camber corners, farmers on slow-moving tractors and hordes of fit looking blokes in brightly coloured Lycra suits on pushbikes. It was a couple of days before a major bike tour wheeled through the district. Just my luck. On these narrow roads you quickly appreciate just how wide the 599 GTB is. Blind corners, the lack of guard rails and buildings set right on the roadside call for absolute concentration. But the 599 is, surprisingly, an easy car to live with, once you master its Formula One style controls. Shifting is done by flappy paddles either side of the steering wheel; the wheel itself has various buttons to vary the 599's traction and control settings including sport and race modes — and one which switches them all off, if you dare. By now the villages have been left behind and the road twists and turns into open mountain country. We have set, for me anyway, a cracking pace, although the sky is darkening by the minute. The car beckons to be pushed a little harder, to go a little quicker. Power comes on fast and furious, the car swallows up the corners with consummate ease. Then came reality. Around a tight left hander was my undoing — a stream of runoff water covered the road. Too late to select the rain mode setting on the steering wheel as the 599 gracefully aquaplaned sideways before finding grip again, neatly parking itself almost sideways in a driveway leading to a farm. Time to stop, pry my fingers from the wheel, catch my breath, restore the heart rate. Plenty of mud but not a scratch on the car. I pretended to be admiring the view as one of those orange and green suited cyclists caught up and peddled past. I'm sure he was smirking. The next problem, how to get the 599 back on track. Apart from some advice on don't bend it, the factory had been a bit light on showing me how the gear selectors worked, or perhaps I wasn't listening. Finding reverse was simple enough, there's a big R on the centre console just ahead of the full automatic switch and the launch mode button. But how to find neutral? Ah, try pulling both gear leavers backwards at the time. OK call me stupid. Perfect timing, the phone rang. It was the Ferrari PR bloke asking where I was and how long before I bought their precious car back. After all they were waiting for me so they could go to lunch and next to high performance motoring, eating is the next best Italian past-time. Time to wind down to the valley below and to explore the 599's power on a blast along the valley floor back to Modena. The mountain roads had shown off the 599's handling strengths - pin point accuracy, wonderful flexible delivery of power, superb quick change six-speed gearbox and eye popping brakes. It also gave hint to its weaknesses, not that the 599 has many. The steering is too light for my liking and a perhaps a little vague and in full auto mode, gearshifting is not as smooth as manual changing. On the straight valley roads the 599 is equally at home as a long distance grand tourer. Get it right and, according to Ferrari, the 599's launch control can get this front-engined two-seater with its all alloy body and frame from a standstill to 100km/h in a mere 3.7 seconds. The 6-litre V12, a development of the famed Enzo motor but made more compact for its front end installation in the 599, develops a thumping 456kW at 7600 revs, matched by peak torque of 608Nm at 5600rpm. Top speed, three times the Australian legal limit at 330km/h. The heart of the 599 is its F1-inspired gearbox, with manual shifting taking a mere 100 milliseconds — that's the time it takes for the car's electronics to lift off the power, declutch, select the next gear, re-engage and apply the throttle. It's not the quickest system on the market but it is impressive. It almost feels seamless, only the slight movement in your body reacting to changes in acceleration forces. It is the same system Ferrari uses in its F1 cars, but tamed for standard road use. The switches on the steering wheel to control the car's dynamics are also liked to the 599's adaptive stability control system, called F1-Trac which is smart enough to predict the maximum grip available in advance and tailor the amount of power delivery for best possible traction. In the real world that equates to almost slingshot acceleration out of corners without wheelspin. This is one smart car. The other smart device on the 599 is its adaptive suspension wait for it, it’s called the magnetorheological fluid suspension system. In simple terms it can change the viscousity of the fluid in the dampers by applying an electrical charge to it. The result is a suspension which quickly reacts to different road surfaces far quicker than a conventional oil-filled damper, with its single viscosity. On the road that equates to a car which sits wonderfully flat whilst cornering. On the high speed autostrade the 599 happily cruises at speeds I don't dare discuss. Take my word it is quick. Ferrari says there is more stick-to-the-road suction created under the car because of its design than lift generated by the bodywork and the flying buttresses either side of the rear window are designed to channel the air flow, producing up to 190kg of downforce at maximum speed. The surprising thing about driving the 599 at speed is just how eerily quiet it is. It is a car you can easily drive all day — providing you can afford the fuel. Three hours in the 599 seems like a lifetime. All I need now is $645,000 for the car plus $7000 for the Daytona trim, $13,000 for the extra carbon fibre in the cabin, another $13750 for the special paint job and $12,750 for the ball-polished 20-inch wheels. That lifts the price to $691,500. Add on on-road costs and it’s a million dollar car. That’s a mere $333,000 for each hour I had it. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano How much: $645,000; $691,500 as tested Power: Naturally aspirated 6-litre 65 degree V12; 456kW at 7600rpm; 608Nm at 5600rpm How quick: 0-100km/h 3.7 seconds; 0- 200km/h 11 seconds Co2 emission: 490g/km Fuel consumption: 21.3l/100km combined Transmission: 6-speed F1 paddle shift Suspension: adaptive magnetorheological dampers F1 Trac stability and traction control system Tyres: 245/40 19-inch front; 305/35 20-inch rear with tyre pressure and temperature monitoring Brakes: 355x32mm front; 330x28mm rear Weight distribution: 47% front, 53% rear Kerb weight: 1690kg  

Both are coming straight from the Paris Motor Show, both are odds-on to be painted red and both are seriously quick machines. Ferrari's latest masterpiece - the 599 GTB Fiorano, above, and the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione - will both be among the show stars. And even if you would like to (and have the considerable means to do so) own one, the Maranello machine's order bank will mean a 2008 delivery date. The $270,000 Alfa's right-hand drive future looks bleak but it will be available to the U.S. market, marking a return for the breed after a 15-year absence. All the 599 GTBs allocated to Australia for 2006 and 2007 have already been sold and European Automotive Imports general manager Kevin Wall says even by Ferrari's standards that's a big deal. "The 599 GTB has been described as the best car in world, the greatest super car of all time, the ultimate useable supercar," he says. Ferrari boasts the $600,000, 1580kg 456kW/680Nm six-litre V12 599 GTB is faster than the F40 and just a little slower than the Enzo. "It is no wonder, therefore, that the demand for the 599 GTB Fiorano has been unprecedented," he says. The Alfa has made an appearance in Sydney before, only as a concept car, but Alfa Romeo general manager David Stone says it was only a dream then. "The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione we will unveil at this year's Sydney Motor Show is the production car, a real super car, available for a lucky few to buy," he says. "One thing that hasn't changed though is that the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione is the epitome of everything Alfa Romeo. It is born from a genuine sporting heritage, designed with a passion for style and engineered with an obsession for performance." About 336kW and 470Nm is produced by the new 90-degree 4.7-litre all-aluminium V8, which sends drive to the self-locking rear differential via a six-speed manual gearbox. The fun is halted by a set of massive ventilated disc brakes hiding not so quietly beneath 20in wheels.

The Fiorano test track, Ferrari's private playpen near its northern Italian headquarters, has hosted legendary men and machines for more than three decades. Michael Schumacher honed his association with Ferrari on the 3km track (he still does) and spent hours between F1 tests adding his input into the development of Ferrari's latest road warrior, the 456kW 599 GTB. It is no surprise, then, that Ferrari chose to launch the 599 in a program centred around its test track. The opportunity to follow in - or tip-toe in - Schumacher's footsteps was simply irresistible. It also provided the ideal stage to showcase just what a sweetie this car can be. Much in the way a tame grizzly can be considered a sweetie, right up to the moment it turns on you, something it will not do short of senseless provocation. If Ferrari has done nothing else during the development of the 599, it has perfected a performance car for dunces. It has, in fact, done much more than that and the lucky few who get their hands on one of these - only 10 in Australia this year - can make of it what they will. "The ultimate challenge for a performance car is to be at the extreme edge but still be very balanced to drive," says Massimo Fumarola, who is in charge of Ferrari's product development portfolio. "It may sound odd but this is an everyday use car ... performance balanced with comfort." The 599's character is set through the steering wheel-mounted manettino, a Formual One-inspired switch allowing the driver to choose suspension, gearbox, traction control and engine settings. The engine setting range varies between ice, wet, sport, race and ultimate, in which all electronic aids are disabled and the car is set free. All the information relevant to the manettino setting is displayed on a digital display next to the bright yellow tacho, the dominant instrument in the well laid-out dash. The potential of the 6.0-litre (5.99-litres to be precise, hence the name) is brutal. Derived from the Enzo supercar powerplant, the 65-degree V12 can propel the 599 to 100km/h in a breathtaking 3.7-seconds on its way to a top speed somewhere beyond 330km/h. Punch it as hard as you are game and it will take a brave, or foolhardy, soul, to see the top end of the new Cambio F1 Superfast gearbox. At its most aggressive the shifts are down to 100 milliseconds, just half a blink off F1 times. At those levels there is no escaping the thumping violence of the shifts as the gearbox fights to keep pace with the howling engine. Switch the manettino back a notch or two, ease up on throttle aggression and the 599's sweet side re-emerges. Regardless of the choice of mode, the 599's magnetorheological fluid suspension system shines. The system, pioneered by General Motors in the current Corvette, utilises a particular property of MR fluid which sees it change density when subject to a magnetic field. Reading sensors throughout the chassis, the suspension's central processor varies the density and resistance of the fluid, reacting almost instantly to reduce body movement and maintain maximum tyre contact with the road. The result is an almost eerie sense of calm over the most uneven surfaces and a surefootedness that takes some serious exploration before limits are even approached. That sense of calm and control is assisted in no small part by the refined F1-Trac stability and traction control system. Derived, as is so much of the 599, from F1 development, the system offers a claimed 20 per cent increase in the grip quotient under acceleration during cornering. The car will still step out under extreme provocation, caught early and rather aggressively by the system in sport mode but allowed to drift a littler further with a more gentle correction in race trim. As an aesthetic exercise, the 599 GTB is divisive. The opinion on the look of the car can change as quickly as the angle it is viewed. Long and lean from the side, a shape dominated by creases and vents -- all with their purpose. The car sports no spoilers but its aerodynamic downforce is considerable, if subtle. At 300km/h there is 160kg of downforce, 50kg of which come from the distinctive "flying buttress" rear quarters. Apart from the track, the car was also tested on a 300km road loop to the north of Modena. Here the car showed it could be perfectly civil transport with the capacity for fun at a moment's notice. Even broken-up back roads did not phase the magentic fluid suspension while time on the open speed-limit autostrada gave the car the perfect opportunity to stretch its legs. The interior is Ferrari through and through. Individuality is a byword of the brand and there are countless combinations of trim colour, style, stitching and materials available. If you want it, Ferrari can make it. But with the covenant that personalisation will not involve mechanical performance enhancements, will not be illegal -- and importantly, will not involve anything outside the Ferrari philosophy. It wasn't specifically said, but there was a strong impression a lack of good taste in colour requests would also be discouraged. Very Italian, indeed.