Sometimes fortune, or the people who run Ferrari in Australia, smile upon us. It doesn't happen often and why the hell should it? Like they need our help selling the world's most desirable cars. Actually, "car'' is almost a misnomer for something so rarefied as the AUS$600,000 plus 599 GTB Fiorano. A Ferrari might be identifiably of the same species as, say, a Fiat, but so too is a capering thoroughbred and a mule. The Fazza has evolved so far beyond what's normally synonymous with "car'' that you feel a whole 'nother noun is needed.

For our part, we needed no reminder that the fourth estate is completely superfluous in transactions involving items badged with the prancing pony. Even so, we were informed that this car has already been sold to a party who was prepared to pay through the nose rather than fret for the three to four years to which the 599 waiting list has extended. This served wonderfully as a means of focusing one on the perils entailed in the "task'' of piloting this singular sled along rain-slick back tracks up to the Hunter Valley.

A race-bred 6.0-litre V12 powering the rear wheels would not normally be one's chariot of choice, given the biblical weather, which has blessed the region with entirely new bodies of water. Yet to drive at perhaps five-tenths, as I did, was still to flounder for apt words. Not all, it must be said, are enamoured of Frank Stephenson's eye-firmly-on-the classics design. But what's indisputable is the 599's sheer presence -- both visual and aural. Sleekly muscular with flying buttresses and underbelly splits rather than plainly declasse wings or spoilers, when fired up it rends the still of morning like ... well, a FerrariV12. The specially-devised shade of Rosso Monza, more rose than traditional Testa Rosso, becomes it wonderfully. Even if you do just see her passing by, the 599 will surely strike some chord within you.

Finally folded comfortably into the cockpit behind that long and wide bonnet, the starter button on the hugely tactile steering wheel depressed, we trundle not a little tentatively out of Ateco Automotive's Homebush garage, nerves steeled against the Sydney traffic. As always on wet days, this seems to both triple in volume and halve in speed -- just the environment to sample a supercruiser capable of getting to 100km/h from standing in a mere 3.7 seconds.

But here's the thing; the 599 is not only as amiable a tourer as you could wish for, it's also extraordinarily driveable in the daily grind. Buying this Ferrari need not mean having an S-Class or a Quattroporte on the side. Once you become used to the generality grazing you with their stares, the 599's something of a doddle. Lots of glass makes for vastly better all-round vision than in, say the Alfa GT we had last week.

Auto mode is fine hereabouts but once the straights begin to stretch and the corners curve invitingly, you're whipping up and down through the six ratios via the tiller-mounted, twin-shifting paddles -- left for down, right for up. It's the usual arrangement for two pedal manuals, but the appearance belies an altogether more sophisticated practice.
 

The manettino knob permits the selection of five settings that affect response of the gearbox, throttle, damping and can -- in ultimate-doing-330km/h-at-Fiorano mode -- switch off all safety measures bar ABS and EBD. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the low-grip snow and ice setting, it removes first gear and restricts revs.

We were able to use the intermediate rain mode, moving into sport as the sun broke through. In both of these the pace is stunning. You needn't play with the launch control to make a neck-snapping move of the mark -- simply plant the loud pedal and let it go all the way to 7600rpm redline before it grabs the next gear up for you. The 599 exults in this treatment, emitting an otherworldly howl as it reduces what seemed a relaxed and comfortably long straight into a sort of grey blur, providing the chance to marvel at the power and sureness of the 20-inch carbo-ceramic brakes.

Often -- all too often for the sake of your licence -- you will be tempted to blip it back a gear or two simply to revel in the sensorially heightened sensation of sound and speed. Though hardly daring, given the car's daunting provenance to push envelopes, the 599 corners with what must surely be perfect balance, the 20-inch unidirectional tyres providing a last, and massive, insurance against any slippage. The Enzo-based, 65-degree V12 sits before you but is mid-mounted, the drivetrain sitting entirely between the axles.

Having enjoyed a day of this, envy seems churlish. But I am envious of the colleagues who have had the chance to enjoy the Gran Turismo Berlinetta experience on track. That said, aside from its awe-inspiring performance, the 599 is a simply glorious grand tourer, capable of reverting from attack weapon to amiable cruiser as seamlessly as it changes gear. On this day the 599's miracle was that for a few glorious hours it made one forget the utter futility of driving any tasty car in this country with its lousy roads, untrained drivers and cash-grabbing governments. One simply revelled in its purity of vision. Sublime. The 599 is sufficient incentive to move to Italy simply in order to drive it properly.

* Former Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies publicly professed his admiration for Britain, exemplified by his admiration for Queen Elizabeth II, and famously described himself as "British to the bootstraps". During the 1950s , Australia's ardour for Britain and the monarchy faded somewhat, but Menzies' did not. At a function, Menzies famously quoted Elizabethan poet Barnabe Googe, "I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die,” a quote that has become irrevocably attached to Menzies.

by Paul Pottinger / This article first appeared in The Sunday Telegraph