A thrilling 20-kilometre-plus drive through the Eifel Forest with its hair-raising hilly twists and turns. This is the old Nürburgring where the 599XX set a new record time of just seven minutes with Ferrari test-driver Raffaele De Simone at its wheel
The noise arrives long before the car. Like a howling creature charging unseen through the trees towards us, the sound – unmistakably that of an Italian V12 – makes the air pulsate with energy and anticipation. It’s a real time audio data trace; each prolonged strain of full-throttle, every up and downshift faithfully relayed, then left to echo around the otherwise eerily quiet Eifel forest like a 9,000rpm requiem for the ghosts of the Nürburgring. Louder. Much louder, then all at once the ‘creature’ is upon us, a thrilling shard of scarlet slicing its way through the Green Hell. As the 599XX flashes into view physics plays sensory tricks, the soundtrack – initially our only reference point – now seems strangely out of synch with the action taking place before our eyes. A split-second later, sound and vision are joined in unison as test driver Raffaele De Simone dances his creation between the cold steel barriers. And then in a blur of noise and colour he’s out of sight once more, charging on with total commitment, relying on cutting-edge electronics, advanced aerodynamics and good old-fashioned bravura to keep the 599XX balanced on the precipice where grip, traction, power and wicked lateral g fight for supremacy.
The tortured V12 exhaust note fades, leaving the swaying pine trees to whisper their approval. Back in the pit garage the stopwatch display confirms what the unforgettable spectacle suggested: a lap time of 6:58.16 and a new production derived sports car lap record for the 599XX around this legendary 12.9-mile circuit. For some manufacturers the Nürburgring Nordschleife is an obsession, a beast to be tamed at all costs. Ferrari’s relationship with the legendary circuit is different. With the luxury of its own private crucible of speed, the Pista di Fiorano, while others let the Nürburgring dictate the development criteria of their fastest cars, Ferrari prefers to use the Nordschleife as a means of validating the exhaustive work done at Fiorano and on the roads that wind their way through the rugged hills near Maranello. That’s not to say Ferrari hasn’t fought hard battles here in the past.
The Scuderia’s illustrious Formula One World Champion Alberto Ascari secured both his 1952 and 1953 driver’s titles at the Nürburgring, while another of the team’s great champions, Niki Lauda, still holds the outright lap record for the Nordschleife in its original 14.2-mile configuration. His time of 6:58.6 – set in 1975 at the wheel of his Championshipwining Ferrari 312T – makes him the only man to ever lap the full circuit in under seven minutes. That De Simone’s own record lap should be so close to Lauda’s is pleasing poetic symmetry. Such proud legacies make any official Ferrari activity at the ’Ring special and significant. However, despite De Simone’s record-breaking success, he and the 599XX came to lay the foundations for something arguably more important: a visit later in the year by the unique Corse Clienti customer test programme. The Ferrari test driver explains: ‘We planned this expedition to happen as soon as the winter snow cleared, but we were not looking for the record. At least not initially. Primarily we came here to test the performance of our newborn car on the fantastic and challenging Nordschleife. It’s what we do with all Ferrari road models at some stage in their development, but, considering we will have 599XX customers driving on the Nordschleife during the summer, we have all the more reason to do this. It’s an extreme car and extreme track, so we wanted to be satisfied that the XX pilots would enjoy driving their cars in safety.’ Ferrari’s XX and Corse Clienti programmes are well established, but it’s worth reminding ourselves how extraordinary they are.
PUBLISHED IN CARS, HOME BY RICHARD MEADEN ON 03.14.2011
Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)
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