1000 miles in the GTO some thoughts.

this is going to sound a bit corny... but yeah, i felt as is if i could 'feel' and hear the drive, the experience of owning one, as you were giving the rundown thanks much!

 

Great write up, I felt like I was really there with you. Will look out for the article.

If this car had a 1/4 tonne less weight and center lock wheels it would be up there as my current dream car (and I know if Ferrari had really pulled out the stops, i.e. if it was really destined to race it would have been that much lighter too, guess they didn't feel after what they already technically achieved...).

Whatever the reasons it still sounds and looks just incredible!

Enjoy in rude health!

 

Thanks for the write up...I can't wait til the snow thaws up here in Jersey and I can run mine a bit too.

 

Thanks for sharing mate.

 

A great writeup. I'm looking forward to an early spring and lots of quality seat time in mine in the months to follow.

 

Thanks!! Looking forward to seeing your amazing car in evo magazine!

 

Really great review, it really is amazing how alive the car feels in race mode but perhaps unlike the regular 599 the GTO is more hardcore more of the time, yes it can cruise but you are aware of the monster that lurks.

Looking forward to the EVO article, just hope they didnt send the Porsche man to write it.....

 

fantastic report, thanks!



QUOTE=dan360;140254848]Managed 1000 miles last week in the GTO down in FL - picked it up in Miami, drove to Key West, then back up to Naples, across Florida and then north up to Daytona for the race weekend. I was with the Evo magazine guys, so those of you that follow the magazine will see an drive article about Daytona featuring my car.

Here are some reflections on the car - albeit limited by there not being such an extensive selection of great driving roads in FL Thanks to the guys in FerrariChat Florida for pointing me in the right direction so that I wasn't just on 45mph speed limit dead straight roads! However even 45mph speed limits are probably an improvement on driving conditions in New England right now.

For me this car remedies the problem I always had with the regular 599, it is clearly a sports car for the road, rather than falling between that and GT car which the regular car does, not quite being resolved as either. Perhaps its mainly the tire sizes on the front, but the car feels totally different to a regular 599.

Auto mode behaves dramatically differently between sport and race modes, if you leave it in auto and drive in race mode, it won't take 6th gear till circa 75mph.

Race mode is very usable on the road in "regular" driving - the 458 really can't be driven on the highway in race mode - it drones and is irritating, and enormously quieter in sport mode. The GTO while clearly quieter in sport is very manageable in race. We did the majority of the 1000 miles in race. Race does give you a fairly large amount of leeway - the car feels very alive when you get hard on the gas, clearly it won't suffer fools, so perhaps this is the first Ferrari for a while that may require real skill to drive fast.

It certainly has no noticeable understeer in it, I'm looking forwards to getting it out on the track this spring.

The virtual race engineer is fun, but possibly a red-rag to a bull - although its pretty tough to watch it if you really test out the bottom end of the throttle pedal, as you really want to be looking out the windscreen when you do that. When playing with the screen, I didn't seem to be able to get the trip page up (the default with range, avg speed etc on the 612 and 599). Must be missing something, as I can see all the other pages, vehicle status etc. There doesn't seem to be a TPMS page anymore, which I kind of liked for tire temperatures and odd since the 458 has one.

I was disappointed that the super racing seats weren't available in the US despite being available on the 458 here. However the stock seats are nice, and very adjustable, I didn't spring for memory or heated seats - the heated seats on the 612 are rubbish, so I figured I wouldn't bother.

Ipod integration really works and works with my iphone, blue tooth actually worked also and was much better than my last 599, not sure if they've specced a better microphone perhaps?

The divider in the trunk is finally of a decent strength to survive something being placed on top of it without breaking it, it also folds in half so you can use the extra space more easily than in the 612.

I specified pretty much all the extra CF bits (apart from the rocker panel since I prefer that in body color). The front splitter is a lovely piece although I fear to discover how much it costs to replace it after grounding the front at some point. I particularly like the small trim piece that goes all along the side of the sill of the car. After not being a fan initially of the matt finish, after living with it, it has a lovely feel of quality to it. The paddles are lovely to hold.

I don't regret letting the 458 go in exchange for the GTO despite the rather ludicrous price differential. Whatever Clarkson has to say, personally I find the GTO to much more alive than the 458, for me the 458 only becomes super impressive when driven at 9/10ths on track, when the wondrous chassis comes to life, the rest of the time its almost a little "too good". The GTO feels tremendous on the road even when driven gently, it has a huge sense of occasion. I don't think it will be as accomplished at 7/10ths plus on the track compared to the 458, simply because of the weight, but I'm certainly going to see what its like there!

Perhaps that's a rationalization of a 0.5M car, but since these are emotional and not rational purchases, its the emotional bond we form with them that makes it worth it.[/QUOTE]

 

Dan, thanks so much for the amazing sense of this car you have shared with us. Your communication skills are quite advanced.
Look forward to seeing you at NJMP sometime after the weather breaks. A good friend is still waiting for his to arrive. His will be Rosso Mugello with silverstone stripe. Your two cars would look amazing together.
As a photographer I am thrilled at the many beautiful and varied liveries people have chosen for this elegant car.
Again thanks for sharing with us.

Bob

 

Great write up. I'm glad to see that you are as impressed with the car as I was when I got it (and I'm still impressed with it).

Wait until you get it out on the track. You will even like it more.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

M

 

How does the telemetry kit work? I see there is a Rec button to start the acquisition but what about subsequent download and analysis?

great write up very informative

 

EPIC WIN

 

Great share, thank you.

 

Can you post more informarion about this telemetry System in

 

Can you post anything more on the VRE - Virtual Race Engineer ?

 

Fantastic writeup. Thanks for sharing!

 

Dan, awesome article in EVO on your car(there is a thread here somewhere but I couldnt find it), just finished reading it and to me it really is the first article I have read that captures the magic of the GTO.

Thanks for making such a great article possible!