Car for hire: Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

Hire a sport car: Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

The Ferrari 599 GTB was designed with several specific objectives in mind: to increase driving pleasure, to guarantee performance (courtesy of technology transfers from the F1 single-seaters), and to ensure comfort, ergonomics and safety.

The new Ferrari 599 GTB sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds and has a top speed in excess of 330 km/h. The car takes its name from the Fiorano circuit Ferrari uses to hone the performance of its track and road cars. 'GTB' stands for Gran Turismo Berlinetta, after the most famous Ferrari berlinettas ever built, and '599' is the displacement of the V12 engine divided by 10.

With the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Pininfarina designers wanted to explore wholly innovative lines. As ever, this was not an isolated process, but took place alongside optimisation of the car's exterior aerodynamics, which were designed to deliver cutting-edge down-force figures. The cabin too was given an original aerodynamic design.

The wraparound rear window is hugged by two flying buttresses, which channel air towards the nolder, adding a highly original (yet functional) twist. When it came to the rear of the car, it seemed time to depart from the now signature circular quad rear lights and low-fixed licence plate.

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The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is a strikingly sculptural car, its surfaces beautifully honed and modelled by Ferrari's designers and engineers. The design is so supple, in fact, that every angle brings something new to light. All of the freedom allowed in designing an extreme sports car was used here and the result is endlessly surprising. A balance has been struck in the interior between the car's sporty vocation and the intimacy that only skilled hand-crafting and detailed personalisation can achieve. The passenger areas of the car are trimmed in sumptuous leather while the driver area and controls boasts more high-tech detailing in carbonfibre and aluminium. In addition to the steering wheel and manettino, the central rev counter with a choice of red or yellow background and solid aluminium passenger controls,the new 599 GTB also boasts attractive new styling cues including a central grip to provide extra purchase for the passenger and new adaptive racing seats featuring carbonfibre side rests. The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano also benefits from an already vast choice of personalisation options available for every Ferrari model. Four areas are covered by this programme: Racing and Track, Exteriors and Colours,Interior and Materials, Equipment and Travel. The Racing options include CCM (Carbon Ceramic Material) brakes, four-point harnesses and a cockpit roll-bar while the Interior and Materials options include a new Enzo Ferrari-inspired carbon-fibre steering wheel with LED rev display which can be specified along with a special carbon-fibre trim kit for the door panels, instrument panel, gear stick surround and sill kick panels. Scuderia Ferrari shields, Daytona-style seats with perforated inserts, a satellite navigation system with display on instrument panel and much, much more besides are also available as part of the personalisation programme.

The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano's engine is a 65° V12 with a 5999 cm3 displacement that delivers a specific power output of 103 hp/litre. Its architecture was derived directly from the Enzo's. A further development of the same engine, this time for track-only use, was used on the recent Ferrari FXX also. The basic architecture of the Enzo engine was retained (block, cylinder heads, sump and combustion chamber geometries) while new components and subassemblies were designed to yield high engine revs, significantly reduce weight and optimise its distribution,and yield a more compact power unit.

The result is that the new engine is mounted in the mid-front position and delivers enhanced performance and reduced fuel consumption whilst complying with the very latest emission standards. The engine, known in-house as the F140C, has a completely different structure from the one that powered the previous generation of Ferrari 12-cylinder berlinettas, the 550 and 575M Maranello. It delivers absolutely stunning driving pleasure thanks to incredibly smooth power delivery and the wonderful signature engine sound.

The maximum engine speed - 8400 rpm (+900 rpm on the 575M Maranello, an increase of 12%) - is one of the highest achieved by a car of this displacement and in fact is comparable only to that of the Enzo. In other words, it sets a whole new benchmark in terms of sportiness and driving pleasure. The engine's specific power output of 103 hp/litre (13 hp/litre more than that of the 575M, +14%), is the highest achieved by a naturally aspirated engine of this displacement and provides further proof of the fluid dynamic efficiency of the unit. The latter is guaranteed under all conditions by chain-driven distribution and twin overhead camshafts per cylinder bank with hydraulic tappets and continuously variable timing on both inlet and exhaust cams to optimise torque delivery. The inlet tracts were also optimised too. Exceptionally smooth power delivery right across the range up to 620 hp at 7600 rpm (+105 hp or +20% on the 575M) guarantees easy handling and vehicle control at all times.

One of the unique strengths of the current Ferrari range is the F1-type gearbox. This was taken a step further in the design of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano resulting in the astonishing F1-SuperFast. The new gearbox's name encompasses the two key concepts behind its design: the fact that it is derived from the ultra-competitive world of Formula 1 and the faster-than-ever gear shifting times it delivers. In fact, it is one of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano's most innovative and exclusive features and is yet another world first on a roadgoing car. In traditional automatic gearboxes, the various operations involved in gear shifting are performed sequentially as follows: lifting off and declutching; disengaging, selecting and engaging the gear; letting the clutch out as power is fed back in. It follows therefore that the gear changing time should be calculated according to the time necessary to complete the three gear changing operations in sequence - the so-called acceleration gap - rather just as the time it takes to engage the gear. However, in a significant leap forward, the F1-SuperFast's absolutely innovative integrated engine and gearbox management programme allows the combined disengaging/engaging of the gears partly in parallel with letting the clutch in and out.

Technical characteristics - Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano