Ferrari Review : 2011 Ferrari 599 GTO

		Marc Gené doesn't speak "cool-down." We're on our in-lap, having just stormed Italy's wicked Mugello race circuit in the new 2011 Ferrari 599 GTO -- the fastest road-legal prancing horse ever built. But when you're an ex-Formula 1 shoe, winner of the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a Ferrari test driver, "take a cool-down" apparently means "message garbled." Gene twirls the GTO's wheel-mounted manettino control, switching from Race (light chassis-electronics intervention) to CST-Off (cancelling all traction and stability systems). And almost instantly we're sideways. Roaring into Mugello's second-gear, right-hand Turn One, the Spaniard tromps on the throttle, the big V-12 shrieks under his spurs, and we drift around the bend like J Lo riding a Tilt-A-Whirl, tail out all the way. "In my opinion, the best way to drive this car is in Race mode," Gene says over the intercom, downplaying the obvious ease with which he handles all 661 unbridled horses. "In CST-Off, you have to drive so concentrated, you know? It's very demanding." "Demanding," maybe. But as we power onward toward the pits, I can see Gené grinning right through his full-face helmet. Click to view Gallery An hour later, it's my face that's all-smiles. I've just piloted the GTO through a series of hot laps myself, and I'm blown away. The greatest sports car I've ever driven? Well, in this business such superlatives are not to be doled out lightly (professional detachment, you see). Yet given Ferrari's recent handiwork, frothing at the lips is becoming difficult to resist. Three years ago, after a drive through the rolling hills not far from here, I dubbed the GTO's forebear, the 599 GTB Fiorano, "the finest all-around Ferrari ever." And now comes this GTO -- lighter, more potent, more extreme in every way, but still completely civilized. Boys and girls, this car can lap Ferrari's private Fiorano race circuit in 1 minute, 24 seconds. It will leave the howling 458 Italia choking in its exhaust. It even beats the famed Enzo to the finish line by one full second. Combine such speed with the GTO's shattering V-12 scream, its sublime steering, the light-switch paddle shifters, the stupendous Brembo binders, those Laetitia Casta curves and...sorry, I'm too worked up at the moment to think of an automobile that tops it. Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/exotic/1007_2011_ferrari_599_gto_drive/index.html#ixzz0txh1HPnR