Ferrari 599 GTO

"From all the pictures I have, the change was made between 178700 and 178900."

Looking at the Dutch 599 GTO register I linked to, 179276 and 179280 still have thin spokes (both listed as 2010). In this registry, the first with thick spokes is the 179298 Zanasi Edizione, and the next car in the register has them too, the 179436 I photographed at Metropole. Funny coincidence that the first two with thick spokes are cars I already mentioned in my previous posts, and one of them I've actually stood next to (both listed as 2011).

I don't have full access to Exclusive Car Registry, so I can't see or filter for serial numbers there, so best I can do is the change was made between 179280 and 179298.
(Speculation: the change might coincide with a production date of January 2011, perhaps the contract with BBS ended December 2010?)

 

178901 with the thick spokes.
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Perhaps this car switched to black wheels at a later date and then got the thick spokes, or the wheels were always black but were replaced at a later date.

 

178900, 178904... also have thick spokes. But remember, the cars weren't assembled in SN order so you won't find an exact SN for the switch. Also, it's very possible that the switch could also have happen at slightly different time for different wheel colors. That's why I gave a range of SN between which the switch was made. My SN range simply wasn't big enough.

 

Fair enough. 178931 has thick spokes too.

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Just noticed this 599 GTO (UK plate WHO5 GTO) has an interior full of red carbon.



Any other special colors out there besides red and brown?

 

Haven't seen this plaque before (not that that is saying much). New car for sale at autoleitner, 6000 km, €995k.

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Brilliant, have not seen that clip before. Slightly off topic but someone should really try and get him to write a book, his experiences at Ferrari must have been incredible. We see a lot about Balboni at Lamborghini but Dario is a link between the Enzo era Ferrari and the more "modern" Ferrari. A vital part of Ferrari in my opinion.

I've read somewhere that he developed the GTO to be challenging to drive and not an "easy" car to drive. Likening it to the F40.....

 

Very cool, the plaque harking back to 60's Ferrari V12s!

 

Hold your prancing horses. A flat plane crankshaft V12? How exactly is this flat plane?

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From the press release:

ENGINE AND GEARBOX
The 599 GTO’s engine is directly derived from the 599XX unit implementing, however, the necessary modifications for road-going homologation. It thus complies with Euro 5 and LEV 2 standards. The 5999 cc 65-degree V12 engine punches out 670 CV at 8250 rpm with maximum torque of 620 Nm at 6500 rpm and there is a smooth, constant rush of power all the way to the redline with no loss of flexibility even at medium and low revs. This result was obtained by working on the fluid-dynamics and components to reduce internal friction and by adopting, amongst other things, the 599XX’s redesigned crankshaft. The car also has a racing-type intake system with a new manifold with diffuser-type intake geometry and short inlet tracts designed to improve power delivery at high revs and reduce losses. To maximise volumetric efficiency per cylinder, a connection between the two plenums at the front compensates for variations in the volume. This is how the engineers managed to achieve maximum performance at high engine speeds. The engine sound inside the car is carefully controlled to balance the intake sound with the exhaust, which features a 599XX-derived 6-into-1 manifold.

I think this is one of those examples of misinformation being repeated ;-) For example from here:

The GTO's power increase is largely improved via less restrictive intake and exhaust flow making one of the best sounds to come out of Maranello, especially due to the forced induction nature of todays super/hypercars. Other improvements include a new flat plane crankshaft design and extensive friction reducing carbon coating to all the internals inside the V12 beast making it 12% more efficient than the stand GTB's V12. All this along with a multitude of other enhancements made the 599GTO the fastest car around Fiorano, turning a time of 1:24 vs the Enzo's 1:25 lap time.

Or here:

The engine in the GTO is a 6.0L naturally aspirated V12 that develops 661 hp to the rear wheels, which is almost 50 more horsepower than the GTB. This extra power is achieved through better air intakes and exhaust flow, along with a flat crank that is stated to be 12 % more efficient.

There is no such thing as a flat plane (180-degree angle between crank throws) crankshaft on a 65 degree V12.

The press release on the 599XX merely states:

While based on the 599 GTB Fiorano with the same transaxle layout and engine type, this prototype is an extreme track car. Ferrari's engineers have carried out extensive work on the engine's combustion chambers and inlet and exhaust tracts. These modifications, combined with the fact that internal attrition has been reduced and the maximum revs have been boosted to 9,000 rpm, helped achieve the target power output of 700 hp at 9,000 rpm. Particular attention was also paid to cutting the weight of the engine unit components. This was achieved both by optimising forms - as in the new crankshaft - and adopting exclusive materials, as in the carbon-fibre used for the intake plenums. A new gearbox shift strategy cuts overall gearchange times to 60 ms.

 

Affirmative, geometry would not work out too well.

 

So it turns out Ferrari fooled me, they are not exposed carbon mirrors at all, perhaps that explains why few people specced them.



How do I know this? Found the carbon fiber option book on ebay, posting the photos here for posterity's sake.

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Note how the door handles and mirrors are carbon fiber-look.

Interestingly, I see no mention of an exposed carbon fiber hood, though I have seen one car with what looks to be an OEM CF hood.

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Errare humanum est. Please allow me to question you some more though.

Your novel V12 crankshaft design traces back to your opening post.

Though in another post, you mentioned something else.

Pray tell, kind sir, what are oleo-dynamic counterweights?

I know crankshafts have pressurized oil passages, I know crankshafts have counterweights, but what makes a counterweight oleo-dynamic? Please enlighten me

 

I'm currently going through all 164 pages of the 599 GTO Official Picture Thread and since delivery obviously lags production, delivery photos were still showing thin spokes until at least February or even March 2011. The first appearance of thick spokes seems to be a delivery in Vancouver in early April 2011, a car with black wheels. However, mid April someone posted pics of his car in the factory's finishing area a week before, with thin spoke grey wheels, which was then delivered in early June. The next delivery photos from end of June were also thick spoke black wheels. So that aligns with your suspicion "that the switch could have also happened at slightly different times for different wheel colors".

The first clear photo of thick grey spokes didn't appear in the thread until late September 2011. No indication of when it was delivered, but probably thick grey spokes appeared on the road in July/August 2011 versus April 2011 for thick black spokes.

 

The first photo showing thin and thick spokes at the same time, May 2012.

 

Noticed another GTO with HGTE tailpipes.

 

Made another video for Forza Horizon 3 (the first Forza Horizon game to feature the 599 GTO), where the cars are just as beautiful. Didn't go through all the paint options this time, as they are the same.

 

And the 599 GTO made its Forza debut in Forza Motorsport 4 at the end of 2011, where there was more specific information on the car (you hear Jeremy Clarkson say it's "a slightly softened, road-going version of the 599FXX"), with amazing close up renders. Where the Horizon cars have serial 000000, here it has serial 175094. Notice too how the engine startup and revving inside the car is an actual recording (unlike in my videos). I wonder how many people here on Fchat can truly appreciate the immense effort that went into creating this digital 599 GTO (and all the other cars in the many Forza games).