The
Ferrari 599 GTO, the fastest ever road car produced by
the Italian company, has arrived in Australia with the
first of just ten cars arriving for delivery from
January for the Australian and New Zealand market.
“The
Ferrari 599 GTO represents the pinnacle of Ferrari road
cars in every area,” says Kevin Wall, General Manager
for Ferrari in Australia and New Zealand. “The bald
performance figures, amazing although they are, do not
do justice to the remarkable breadth of abilities that
it offers. These range from being able to provide a true
racing car driving experience on the track, through
being the ultimate road going ultra supercar to having
the comfort and luggage space that quite simply would
not be expected in a car of this performance level.”
“In
short, only Ferrari could provide a car with the breadth
and depth of ability with which the 599 GTO has been
endowed, using Formula One technology and design that
has then been honed to perfection in the unique FXX
programme,” says Mr Wall. “The 599 GTO is the new
definition of the ultimate road car and the ten
Australian owners are able to look for to a truly unique
driving experience at every level.”
As
if the ability to demolish the run from zero to 100 km/h
in just 3.3 seconds and lap the Fiorano Ferrari test
track faster than any other road car was not sufficient,
one of the Australian Ferrari 599 GTOs has been finished
in a complete matt finish with the matt black body
colour contrasted with a central, lengthways matt white
racing stripe.
The
Ferrari 599 GTO is an exclusive limited edition based on
the 599XX, the advanced experimental track car, and can
be considered almost a road-going version of that mobile
testbed. The 599 GTO is reserved for just 599 clients
who seek the maximum expression of high performance
driving. The 599 GTO benefits directly from the
technological transfer from racing and set a record lap
time at Fiorano in 1’24”. The Fiorano lap time provides
just one indication of the potential of this car.
Just
as significant are the technical specifications – 670 hp
(500 kW) in a 1495 kg car represents a weight-to-power
ratio of just 2.23 kg/hp, and ensures a 0-100 km/h
acceleration time of just 3.35 seconds as well as a top
speed of over 335 kmh. Fundamental to the GTO’s
performance is the innovative approach to chassis
development which, for the first time on a production
car, saw the integration between a handling set-up tuned
for a level of responsiveness that is close to the limit
and highly sophisticated electronic controls. The result
is the almost complete absence of understeer and a truly
communicative chassis.
As is Ferrari’s policy,
every new Ferrari features new solutions for a road car.
Thus the 599 GTO is equipped with the latest,
second-generation carbon-ceramic brakes which are
lighter and offer better performance, new aerodynamic
innovations, such as the wheel doughnuts which increase
aerodynamic efficiency as well as improve brake cooling,
and a different tyre set-up with wider front tyres for
greater roadholding. The driver-car interface is also
new with the adoption of the Virtual Race Engineer (VRE)
which provides the driver with instantaneous information
on performance.
The 599 GTO’s more aggressive character is also apparent
in a number of styling elements that recall the 599XX
and from the powerful sound of the V12. The GTO (Gran
Turismo Omologata) moniker calls to mind the 1962 250
GTO, which swept the boards in GT racing categories in
the 1960s and is now a highly prized collector’s car, as
well as the 1984 GTO.
