Ferrari 599 GTB

The 599 GTB Fiorano is Ferrari's most stunning achievement to date.

"Cop! Cop! COP!!" screamed my co-driver, frantically pointing at a yellow Fiat Punto with revolving lights on the roof. Reflexively, my right foot came off the throttle pedal, and as we shot past the Punto, my heart sank as I realised that it wasn't a police car after all, but merely a low, common maintenance vehicle.

Had I waited just a second more before lifting, I would almost certainly have crossed the magic 300km/h barrier for the first time, giving me barroom bragging rights for all eternity. As it turned out, the trip computer later flashed up a top speed of 'just' 293km/h.

Let me say that The Highway does not condone this speed. But in my defence - and in the interests of objective road testing - I should point out that I was sitting in the driver's seat of the new Ferrari 599 at the time, and such is its utter brilliance that a monkey could pull the glorious triple-hundred on a clear stretch of Italian road from the same vantage point.

The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, to present its name in full splendour, is a direct replacement for the 575M Maranello, and offers the same front-engine/rear wheel-drive, two-seater format, but in latter-day Ferrari construction, which means an aluminium chassis for sufficient weight savings to make its body 18 percent lighter than that of its predecessor, and yet 34 percent stiffer. And a relentless focus on aerodynamics.

At 300km/h, where most cars would generate plenty of lift (if they could get to those speeds), the Ferrari's body musters 160kg of downforce. Which is why it feels so nicely planted at 293km/h.

Look closely at the C-pillars, and you'll see buttresses instead of actual pillars. These were put there by designers, only for the aero people to find that they contributed 50kg of downforce on their own, without adding drag. It's as if the laws of aerodynamics were specifically written for the 599.

The laws of physics, on the other hand, seem to sit uncomfortably with the Ferrari. Powered by a more softly-tuned version of the Enzo's 6.0-litre V12, the 599 is just stupendously quick. When you floor the throttle, you'd better be prepared for the explosion of sound and acceleration that happens. There's simply no describing the engine note, either, except to say that a thousand women scorned could not produce a more impressive noise.

In numeric terms the Ferrari despatches 200km/h in under 11 seconds, but in seat-of-the-pants terms the 599 requires a mental recalibration of how you perceive the sensation of gathering speed. If you somehow find the road to keep the throttle pedal buried to the dizzying 8,400rpm redline, the experience is bound to leave you wide-eyed and white-knuckled every time.

The six-speed paddleshift gearbox matches the violence of the engine blow for blow, too, with gearchanges as quick as 100 milliseconds hammering home with such aggression that your body receives a thump with each step up and down the ratios. And while the optional carbon-ceramic brakes on our test car required a mighty shove on the pedal to rein the Ferrari in from mighty speeds, they lacked nothing in terms of fade-free efficacy.

As much as the performance tests the fortitude of your stomach however, the ride is compliant to the point of being soothing. The Ferrari has active dampers which react to the road's surface a hundred times a second, varying their stiffness all but instantaneously in response to the undulations they encounter, and the result is suspension performance that makes the 599 seem to float hovercraft-like over the road.

It's on a winding road that it all comes together: the insane acceleration and unflappable cornering poise contributing to an experience that is best described as an orgiastic climax of speed, and one that you can stretch out for hundreds of kilometres at a time.

I don't think I've even driven anything so planted, so poised and so able to deliver big lateral G-forces around corners, and above all, so able to do it so fast. The 599 delivers motoring with a rage that makes it the perfect driving tool.

Note that I said perfect 'driving tool', for the Ferrari isn't exactly flawless in other respects. Though the cabin is spacious for two and sumptuously appointed, the build quality on our (admittedly pre-production) example was iffy at best. And if you want the Ferrari for high-speed travel, it's worth noting that wind noise builds up pretty substantially at speed, so much so that normal conversation becomes impossible above 200km/h.

Mind you, that's no fatal flaw, for if anything I actually wished for more noise in the cabin. That way, I might not have heard my nervous companion's cop warnings, and touched the triple-hundred in the end.

Tech talk: how Ferrari's 599 flatters to deceive
Enhanced Manettino - a wheel-mounted switch manages engine, suspension and gearbox settings to turn the Ferrari from ultra-safe cruiser to track demon. 'Race' mode allows small tailslides, and is as hardcore as it should get on the streets

F1 Superfast - paddleshift gearchanges are either slurred for smoothness, or delivered in 100 milliseconds. For perspective, the 612 Scaglietti needs 250msec, the F430 150msec, and the F1 racing car 80msec

F1-Trac - oh, for a dollar each time traction control saved our skins! Uniquely, the Ferrari has a predictive, F1-derived system. A battery of sensors and algorithms work out how much grip the tyres should have, then curtails engine power proactively

Active dampers - the 599 has a 'Magnetorheological Suspension System', consisting of dampers filled with magnetic fluid. They respond ultra-quickly to vary their stiffness, and Ferrari's software maps ensure flawless road contact with a smooth ride.

Technical Specifications

MODEL Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (A) ENGINE Engine: 5,999cc, 48v V12 Max Power: 620bhp at 7,600rpm Max Torque: 608Nm at 5,600rpm TRANSMISSION 6-speed semi-automatic TOP SPEED over 320km/h 0-100km/h 3.7s