SchwarzKapelle

2010- Born a new road legend, a GTO. From the family of 599, this is the apex of the Prancing Horse’s road-conquering and V12 evolution. It is the most powerful and ferocious road car produced by Ferrari. Called the 599 GTO, its 6.0-litre V12 pumping out 670 horsepower and sprint from 0-124mph in under 10 seconds, 3.35 seconds climb from 0-62mph and with the top speed of 208mph. Staggering. Ferrari 599 GTO is the third GTO built by Ferrari in their 63 years of road car building business. The first GTO surfaced in the year of 1962, equipped with 3.0-litre V12- Ferrari 250 GTO. In 1980s, Ferrari 288 GTO came into the limelight as the second GTO, built with a 2.8-litre 400 horsepower twin-turbocharged V8.

The car and the GTO badge it carries bring the iconic legendary status. GTO stands for ‘Gran Turismo Omologato’. Omologato means homologation. Basically, this car is the homologated version of the track-only, ‘super GT’ Ferrari 599XX. Does this mean this is the road-legal version of the high-end 1.4 million pound sterling development of the 599XX? Could be. The 599 GTO has the same sophisticated tyre technology and fastidious aerodynamic honing as the 599XX, as well as the catalytic converter. 599 GTO also inherited the smaller but more efficient carbon brakes, a thinner aluminium roof and bonnet, all manner of carbon aero and trim and new, and also a thinner glass. That’s just on the surface.

Ferrari 599XX is built with the most sophisticated, advanced technology a car ever had. Set up like a fly-by-wire fighter jet, it is devised dynamically far superior to a normal car with its electronic systems switched on. Called as ‘relaxed stability’ in Eurofighter fighter jets’ technology, the computer control intervenes constantly to maintain the aircraft trimmed in normal flight that is impossible to human ability. Manoeuvrability wise, it is way beyond compared to aircraft designed to be naturally stable.

The chassis agility is the same as those belongs to 599XX; the suspension design is integrated with ESP (electronic stability control) systems to ease and assist the driver into, through and beyond the apex of a corner. This mean the car can lap a circuit faster with the stability system turned on than it’s off. The set-up of the GTO is an F1-derived traction control system integrated with an electronic differential known as F1-Trac, the same technology applied in both the 430 Scuderia and the new 458 Italia-equipped with advanced ESP and SCM2 suspension control. 458 Italia uses magneto rheological dampers that could convert the viscosity of a fluid within a damper in reaction to a magnetic field, giving instant reaction to the road surface in a millisecond time. Sounds sophisticatedly-complex, this magneto rheological suspension systems eliminate all under steer, allowing the GTO to operate on and beyond the limits of adhesion.

Compared to the standard 599 GTB, the GTO has trimmed 100kg lighter and the power up by 50 horsepower. The gearbox is from the 599XX, achieving 60 milliseconds of shift times. Sounds ridiculous? Yes to someone who’s a Luddite (a person opposed to new technology) but it isn’t. Call it a staggering, stupefying revolution, paradigm shift of technology.