Ferrari 599 Review
Published: 14th October 2007
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano F1
The point is that if you are lucky enough to own a 599 GTB Fiorano, you know that it has a 6.0-litre, V12 engine under the bonnet, that it will ‘do’ 0-62mph in a mere 3.7 seconds and, where legal, can achieve a top speed in excess of 205mph, therefore, there is no need to prove it.
The 599’s engine is heavily based on the unit used in the Enzo but with some new components to reduce weight and make it more compact. It doesn’t have a turbo and so the grin-inducing noise is one of sheer brute force and specifically engineered to be music to the ears. This engine produces 620PS at 7,600rpm and the torque tops out at 608Nm at 5,600rpm, although 90 per cent of that is available at 3,500rpm, so there’s plenty of pulling power at slower speeds.
The 599 GTB comes with a choice of two drive formats; a 6-speed manual or the F1-SuperFast automatic, complete with steering wheel mounted paddles, which is what was in the test car.
F1-SuperFast means that the overall time for the system to change gear is just 100ms - a shift-time time that has been gradually reduced in recent years and is now a lot closer to the 50ms of the F1 racing cars. This is achieved through clever electronics engaging and disengaging the gears slightly before the clutch is let in or out, when the rotational speed of the input shaft approaches that of the output shaft. It is said to provide a smoother change but there must be a knack to it, as I still managed a slight lurch through the lower gears in auto, although it was better in manual mode, when the driver controls the change point.
Like the F430, the 599 was fitted with the so-called ‘Manettino’. On the face of it, the Manettino is simply a dial on the steering wheel, opposite the red ‘start’ button but it controls various driving functions according to the setting selection. In ICE mode, the paddle-change is disengaged, performance is very limited and the CST Stability and Traction Control system is at its highest setting.
