Newswheel @ Geneva: 599 GTB Fiorano

Newswheel staff :: 28 February 2006 :: Filed under Front engine sportscar, Ferrari, Ferrari 599 GTB, Europe & UK, Trade shows, US

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Humble pie, humble pie, humble pie…

Yup, the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (that track-derived moniker suffix was unveiled at the show today) is one of those cars that has to be seen in person to be fully understood. Verily as we waded through the sea of carefully buffed Eurotrash gatecrashers swilling about Ferrari’s stand (you were dead right about that Tom…) and caught our first glimpse of the 599, we instantly realised the error of our ways. The 599 is sex on wheels. Well, as long as you choose the right alloys…(spank your left mouse button for hugola images)

In short, there’s an athletic tautness, a chamfered leanness to the 599 GTB that the first PR images released by Ferrari utterly failed to convey. Where the old 550 and 575 coupes are a little portly from some angles, the 599 is wonderfully waspish, hungry and agile looking. Add in the aggressive efforts Ferrari has made to keep the car’s kerb weight under control (it tips the scales at around 1,600kg), the 620bhp cranked out by the car’s Enzo-derived 6.0-litre V12 and the resulting 385bhp per tonne power to weight ratio and we’ll eat our malfunctioning wireless networking adapter if this doesn’t turn out to be by far the finest front-engined supercar ever made.

OK, so there’s still a whiff of naffness about some of the detailing – and God be merciful if you plump for the star-design alloy option – but to see the 599 GTB first hand is to be utterly seduced.

And finally, a few choice 599 details:

The F1-esque helm, complete with chassis-mode toggle switch

The razor-sharp flying buttress

The obligatory prancing horse money shot

Top alloy design a wheely good choice…ba-da boom