The Ferrari 599XX is a testbed for future technologies /
Photo: Max Earey
“Out of the three Ferrari XX cars, this
one is the most lairy. The one you really need to respect.”
“This one” is the experimental, track-only version of the
599 GT car, while the man issuing the warning is James Pickford, a former
teammate of Jenson Button, who now shows Ferrari customers – and the occasional
journalist – what the Italian marque’s cars can really do.
Introduced five years ago, the 710bhp 599XX is part of a
family of supercars that also includes the Enzo-based FXX and LaFerrari-based
FXX-K. Available only to select Ferrari customers, they give their owners a
chance to get involved in developing the technologies that will feature on
future Ferrari road cars.
But it’s all a gimmick, right? Actually, no. For example,
the 599’s rear lights were removed for the XX version so that air could be
channelled out of the resulting holes to improve aerodynamic efficiency. After
being proven on the 599XX, the system was included on the 488 GTB road
car, albeit with this having the holes alongside the lights rather than instead
of them.
My time in the 599XX will come as a passenger on the Goodwood
Festival of Speed hillclimb. “But I'm going to have to take it a
little easy,” Pickford warns. “This is a customer’s car and I really don’t want
to crash it.” Hmm, I can’t say I blame him given that Ferrari made just 29
examples of the 599XX.
While we wait our turn at the bottom of the hill, Pickford
tells me a little about his career. As a teenager he dreamed of racing in
Formula One, but when he found out that Button’s first F1 test came at a cost
of £1 million, he realised it was probably unrealistic, and instead went into
touring cars and GT racing.
Interestingly, Pickford has nothing but good things to say
about Button, whereas he says internal team politics later in his career
ultimately led to him quitting racing.
Our turn on the hill comes, and Pickford switches the
nine-setting traction control system to the off position to provide the
watching crowds with a suitably dramatic start. He floors the throttle, the car
slews sideways, and it’s still spinning its rear wheels by the time we reach
the motorway speed limit.
It’s immediately clear that the 599XX offers a much rawer
experience than Ferrari’s modern road cars. For starters, the lack of sound
deadening means it’s much louder, but it’s the type of noise rather than the
volume that really surprises, with the XX exchanging the smooth shriek of the
regular 599 for a hard-edged sound worthy of a Nascar racer.
The Ferrari 599XX is a testbed for future technologies /
Photo: Max Earey
By the time we’ve reached Malvern – the corner that’s caused
embarrassment to so many over the years – I know that Pickford’s definition of
“taking it easy” is quite different to mine. He brakes very hard and very late,
before turning in at a speed that seems certain to put us in the hay bales, but
the 599XX gets round with minimal drama.
Towards the top of the hill the car starts to slide around
more, as the wet-weather tyres its wearing begin to overheat, while the heat
from the V12 engine is just insane, overpowering the best efforts of the
air-conditioning. But the 599XX still feels more ciomposed than I was
expecting, and it's only on the way back down that the real lairiness returns,
with Pickford repeatedly slowing the car to a crawl, before flooring the
throttle and making smoke to entertain those watching.
My experience is over all too soon, but if you have a few
million that you don’t know what to do with, you could spend a lot more time in
a 599XX. Its successor, the FXX-K is already sold out, with many people trading
up to it from the 599. And that means examples of the 599XX are available to
buy used for the first time.
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/goodwood-festival-of-speed/11704729/Goodwood-Festival-of-Speed-2015-riding-in-the-experimental-Ferrari-599XX.html
by: Steve Huntingford
http://www.fzrestoration.com
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