Only three Ferraris have borne the Gran Turismo Omologata designation in over 60 years, one every other decade, each a comet-like explosion of noise and brilliance and breathtakingly seductive styling with an impact that far outweighs what is always a highly exclusive production run. When Maranello dusts off the GTO moniker, the world blinks, sits a little more upright.
Today, 26 years since the last GTO appeared on CAR’s cover, I’m driving its successor, the 599 GTO, first on road, then track. I’ll have telemetry, a race engineer, men who fuss over my tyre temperatures and pressures, others who’ll pamper the 599 with cloths and expensive-smelling cleaning concoctions. I’ll also have an entirely empty Mugello race track. I hear it’s a fast track, Mugello.
The previous two GTOs – 1962’s 250 GTO and 1984’s 288 GTO – were, as the Omologata tag suggests, built to meet homologation criteria for GT racing and Group B regulations respectively. The 599 GTO flips the born-to-race philosophy on its head. This GTO – a development of 2006’s 599 GTB – will never race. Instead, it takes the track-only 599XX as its inspiration – an extreme, circuit-focused car that’s also based on the 599 GTB, but built in tiny numbers and sold to clients who drive at exclusive Ferrari track days for an all-in Rs 6.24 crore plus taxes – and evolves it into the nearest road-going equivalent.
The 2010 GTO is not really a homologation special because there’s ultimately no race series for which it’s intended, yet it does stay true to the GTO concept by thoroughly and obsessively re-engineering the foundations – the body, the drivetrain, the brakes, the wheels. All are different.
Just like last time around, it all combines to produce the fastest road-going Ferrari ever. Only 599 will be built, yours for Rs 2.06 crore with track tuition thrown in gratis for UK buyers.
What do you get for an extra Rs 63.4 lakh on top of the 599 GTB? Ferrari says the 6.0-litre V12 shares 95% commonality with the one in the 599XX. Compared with the 599 GTB, there are new pistons and con-rods, frictional losses are down 12%, and a new intake system optimises high-end response. There’s also a lighter exhaust system and a pair of six-into-one manifolds, which, unlike the 599XX, are burdened with a catalytic converter apiece, the cost of meeting Euro 5 emissions standards.
The carbon ceramic brake discs are unchanged, but the pads are more efficient Brembo-developed ceramics, with massive extra stopping capability yet no additional weight; the adaptive suspension is faster acting; the Michelin tyres are laterally stiffer and have stiffer treadblocks too, and, while the 20in rubber is wider all-round, the bias is skewed further in favour of the fronts, boosting grip and cutting understeer.
The gearbox remains an automated six-speed manual, not a dual-clutch unit, but the shift times are slashed from 100ms to 60ms – sounds minuscule, makes a huge difference. Finally, a crash diet means the GTO loses 100kg over the GTB, and puts on 57.8PS for an Enzo-bashing 670PS. No doubt about it, this is a very serious machine indeed.
I set my alarm for 6.30am, but wake at 5am and the butterflies and adrenaline conspire to keep my eyes wide open and worst-case scenarios flashing through my mind for the next 90 minutes. We leave the hotel at 7.30am and roll through Mugello’s gates soon after to be greeted by a brace of GTOs parked in front of a Formula 1-style motorhome. Ah, actually, make that a Formula 1 motorhome, one that’s needed quite soon. Sorry, Fernando.
