Limited run

The 599XX is a second off FXX pace, has 700bhp and weighs 1,330kg. There's just one downside - you can only drive it when Ferrari says so. Click through the gallery for the full story...  

Money, they say, won't make you happy. But it will get you much better toys, which make you happier. And Top Gear can't think of much better toy than this 599XX. A properly cranked-up gentleman-racer variant of the most complete supercar in the world.

The only slight dirty little fly in the Rosso Corsa ointment is that the 599XX will only ever be a toy, because this headbanger is not a road car, and never will be. Nor is it a full-on raceable competition car. It's being sold with the same caveats as the Ferrari FXX: track-use only as part of a development programme run by Ferrari itself. Basically, you pony-up 1.1million euro and become a Ferrari test driver, with one of only 15 599XXs thrown in as the world's most impressive track-day car-cum-garage ornament.  

For that shall we say, fairly unsubtle sum, you get to become part of the Ferrari ‘family' and have Ferrari technicians forensically dissect your lap times to discover just how rubbish your driving really is, while they gather myriad data about how to improve their future high performance cars. A new system called ‘Virtual Car Engineer' provides a screen in the car that provides a real-time indication of the car's efficiency, and therefore where you're going wrong. There will be no place to hide. As with the FXX, you'll get to play at 15 of the world's most famous circuits over a period of two years (with the car run by the Ferrari mechanics) and possibly contribute to the scientific development of future technology.

But that all seems a bit by-the-by when you take a look at the spec of the 599XX - this is not a brief tweak and some fancy spoilers. Although the 599XX is based on the 599 Fiorano, the engineers have been playing silly buggers with virtually every aspect of the car. The headlines are impressive enough, with the re-engineer of the Fiorano's V12 now producing 700bhp at an eye-popping 9,000rpm.  

They've managed the power and fizz increase by reducing internal friction and shaving weight from internal components so the car revs more freely, and then adopting a flurry of exotic bits'n'bobs for the rest - the intake plenums, for example, are now made of pure carbon fibre. And what hasn't been wrought from unobtainium has been deleted or made lighter: there are Lexan windows, no power motors for any of the interior accoutrements, a significant lack of the comfy stuff. 

The gearbox has also been re-engineered, and free from the comfort and useability constraints of a road-biased car has now dropped shift times to just 60 milliseconds - much less than the proverbial blink of an eye.  This thing will be brutal. But Ferrari still reckons that it will be quite a different experience to the FXX - more a GT racer than the F1-commitment of the Enzo-based car.  

Customers will, Ferrari hopes, spend more time in the car when it doesn't try and bite your head off quite so hard. Then again, even though no performance times have been published, the 599XX weighs just 1,330kg (some 330kg less than the stock car) and laps Ferrari's Fiorano test track within one second of the FXX and 10 seconds faster than the road version. This should not be considered a ‘soft' option.   

Probably of more interest to Ferrari is the aerodynamic package that includes some real-deal features that might have more direct technological trickle-down than the lonely drip from the rarefied heights of F1. A new system called ‘Actiflow' can increase downforce or decrease drag depending on conditions thanks to a new porous material in the diffuser (it looks like pumice stone) and two fans in the boot that channel airflow from under the car out through two vents replacing the rear lights. You may think this stuff is unlikely to make it to a road car, but the grilles in the rear of the 430 Scud that vent the high pressure from inside the wheel arch (reducing rear-end lift) come directly from a system used on the FXX project. It's nearer than you think.  

The rest of the aerodynamics are more traditional, but no less effective: the combination of big spoiler, winglets, a flat underbody and other tweaks mean that the 599XX produces 280kg of real downforce at 120mph and a not-inconsiderable 630kg at 185mph. There are even F1-derived ‘doughnuts' which partly cover the carbon brake discs and wheel rim, smoothing the airflow around the wheels and helping regulate the brake temperature. Slap on the standard slicks and you'll be good to go.  

Ferrari is being canny here. The FXX project demonstrated that they could get a partial bankroll for R&D by the very people that are likely to buy their future cars. The people that get involved in the 599XX programme (as with the FXX) are likely to be very passionate about their driving and therefore better than average, but they also provide invaluable information about how a high-end Ferrari customer wants their car to feel. Japanese mega-rich people, for example, prefer totally different things than customers in North America or Europe. 

The only other thing to remember is that if you buy into the 599XX programme you can't just sell the car. Ferrari has first refusal on the sale, simply because you're not just buying a vehicle, you're buying into a development package. Ferrari wants to make sure it knows exactly who gets to influence future product. Nice work if you can afford it. 

Words: Tom Ford
Photography: Joe Windsor-Williams