Driving a Ferrari 599 GTO!

So I was just offered the keys to a limited edition, mind-ripping 660hp, Ferrari 599 GTO.  Ok...heavy breathing....try to not act like a giddy, adolescent far too immature and unskilled to pilot a $500,000 Ferrari -- check.  Stay cool -- check.  Coherently acknowledge the owner to accept keys -- Ok, that was definitely not coherent but I got the keys -- check. 

Everyone is sick of hearing the GTO badge history but I'll refresh those who may have been living under a rock, discovered the internet today, and immediately looked up my blog in the deep caverns of the internet stratosphere.  The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO is the most valuable automobile in history and the 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO is the first in line of the modern day Ferrari supercar; the predecessor to the turbocharged F40, the back-breaking F50, the mighty Enzo and the dumbly named, yet stunningly gorgeous LaFerrari.

So Ferrari, primarily famous these days for tacking their badge onto mugs, coasters and essentially all hot beverage paraphernalia, decided to tack the GTO badge onto a production Ferrari 599 GTB, beef up the performance, build a limited quantity and market it in a way only Ferrari can, naturally selling out all 599 units quicker than you poured your second serving of Lucky Charms this evening for dinner. 

Disclaimer:  I've never driven any one of the aforementioned GTOs, nor a standard 599 GTB.  As a matter of fact, I've never driven any front-engine V12 Ferrari.   I have absolutely no qualifications to review the 599 GTO or deem this car GTO worthy; not that I really really care if the 599 meets the minimum qualifications for GTO worthiness set by self-appointed Ferrari historians on the internet.   

I nervously fumbled the keys from the owner, trying to wipe the smug grin off my face as I approached the intimidating GTO.  Never sitting in a GTO, let alone riding in one, I carefully found myself in the driver's seat.  The GTO interior is carbon fiber mixed with alcantara overload. 

The red engine start button on the steering wheel is invariably cool.  Roaring the V12 to life, I carefully maneuvered the GTO out onto the highway.  First impression:  The GTO is absolutely massive.  Rather than mashing the pedal, subsequently putting the half million dollar Ferrari into a ditch, thus becoming an overnight internet sensation and a new meme caricature, I respected the GTO.  Well, and the owner was sitting next to me.

I quickly felt at ease driving the GTO, downshifting through the winding corners, upshifting on the straightaways with a casual flick of the wrist.  As I became more comfortable, the constant begging of the big V12 was uncontrollable; I obliged.  The sheer speed of the GTO is impossible to describe, impossibly fast.  I've driven fast cars before -- an F50, a 16M Scuderia  --  those were fast, but this was impossibly fast.  The GTO's speed blurred through the double digits, a chorus of symphonic V12 sounds.  Before getting into too much trouble, I backed off the throttle, flicked a quick downshift and the GTO was back in Beverly Hills cruise mode. 

Surprisingly, the 599 GTO didn't require my undivided attention.  No sweaty palms, either.  Thankfully, I guess, as I forgot my $209.99 Ferrari certified leather gloves.  Not to mention that sweaty palms would have inevitably ruined the finely stitched, alcantara wrapped steering wheel.

The GTO is a special car, undoubtedly cool and probably GTO worthy, whatever that means.  The problem with the GTO is that your rock-climbing girlfriend can casually flick her wrists to 60mph in 3.2 seconds -- 0.056 seconds quicker that you did because you spend every afternoon playing Call of Duty.  I don't know if it is the rock-climbing or her unreasonable intake of quinoa, but seriously, she has unbelievably quick wrists.

No doubt, the 599 GTO is a freakishly-fast Ferrari but after 2 days and several hundred miles, it had become boring.  Endless tunnel runs at 8,000 rpms are fantastically fun but the GTO didn't put me in that singular driving state of mind.

Back tracking a few years, my experience driving the Ferrari F50 was a top 5 moment in my life, yet it is a memory I can barely remember. I was so enveloped with driving the F50 that my mind was singularly focused on that specific moment in time.  I didn't even remember to grab each selfie angle for my Instagram!  The stresses in my life -- work, college finals, how I finished the last of the Lucky Charms yesterday -- were secondary to driving the F50.  To me, I believe that is the true nature of a supercar that is missing in the Ferrari 599 GTO.