Ferrari 599 GTB Test Drive 2009
FERRARI 599 GTB Test Drive
Ferrari of San Francisco, California, USA
Mill Valley, California, May 2009
Ferrari came to the San Francisco, California, Bay Area and AllCarCentral.com was there.
RED FERRARIS, RED WINE, AND RAIN
So what is so new about Ferrari coming to the Bay Area? They have always had a dealer there and ran races at the Sonoma race track, now called Infineon Raceway. So what was the big deal? Well for one thing, As noted above, we were there to record it.
"The Galleria Ferrari Photography Exhibition And Cocktail Reception"
The series of events started with a night party at Mill Valley Ferrari dealership with red Italian wine and red Ferraris to highlight the India tour of the Ferrari 599 GTB. Ferrari billed it as "The Galleria Ferrari Photography Exhibition And Cocktail Reception Featuring images from the Ferrari Panamerican and Magic India Discovery Tours"
Ferrari Racing Days
The next part brought out the racing machines. These cars went back to the 1940's and featured the latest Ferrari F430 Challenge cars for three days of hard racing at Infineon Raceway.
The best part was having AllCarCentral.com invited to do a test drive of Ferraris new V12 road car, the 599GTB.
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti & 599 GTB
Choices...Choices...Choices!
Ferrari of San Francisco, 2009
The final event for this fantastic display of Italian power and design was the invitation for AllCarCentral.com to have a go at actually driving one of these new V12 cars, which are billed as the most powerful Ferrari. Ever! Actually the invatition presented an interesting choice, as both the 599 GTB and 612 Scaglietti were available but only one could be driven. I choose the 599 GTB and never looked back.
My Car awaits me
Ferrari 599 GTB, Ferrari of San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley, California
To meet me, was a fine young man hired by Ferrari to keep all the driving honest, safe and interesting. Tony Brakohiapa, racecar driver and instructor with the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School at Infineon Raceway, gave me a rundown on the controls in the cockpit and instructed me to push the starter button.
Can I say this car is nice? Everything is in the right place. Power everything, windows, AC, seats, auto rain detection on the wipers, and so on. I only had to push on the two pedals on the floor, turn the wheel in front of me and flip the little paddles on the wheel with just one finger to make real excitement happen. The car does all the rest. No problem. Before we moved forward Tony pointed out a set of indicators on the wheel that selected sport driving, normal driving and a mode that addressed the needs which rain driving demanded. Tony wisely stated that the selector was to be left in the 'rain' mode.
The 599 GTB is a road car. It is easy to see out of, to move around the driveway, to move through traffic. The trunk is large and there is ample room in the cabin for coats and packages that come with living life in a day-to-day fashion or driving through out the day. High performance cars usually need high concentration on the driver's part to operate. The 599 GTB, however is there to serve the driver. Moving this car around is like moving my wife's daily driver. Until. Until that is, as Tony instructed me to flick that small paddle on the left side of the wheel, twice.
A Real V12
Ferrari 599 GTB, Ferrari of San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley, California
The Song of Maranello.
Enzo Ferrari was the composer of the real national song of Italy, and it can only be properly played by a V12 Ferrari Engine.
A silky smooth explosion of forward velocity is the reward of downshifting and right foot pressure. Pure pleasure is the sensation. This is not my wife's daily driver or any of its contemporaries. This is a super class Ferrari ready to serve.
Ferrari 599 GTB sn 164285
Ferrari of San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley, California
The Race on the preceding weekend was 3 days of rain. Ok for watching the slipping around on the track that provided some exciting racing but when I pulled into the Mill Valley Ferrari dealership, the light mist that was falling was not making me feel warm and fuzzy about getting behind all that power and pulling out into the Marin Peninsula traffic in the wet.
Ample room to bring home many cases of Italian or Napa wine.
Ferrari 599 GTB, Ferrari of San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley, California
My loop around Tony's carefully chosen roads ends way to soon and we are back at the dealership. But The Song of Maranello will forever be with me. Buy one of these and take your mate shopping. It will do the job, hold the packages and more.
Ferrari of San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley, California
"The Galleria Ferrari Photography Exhibition And Cocktail Reception Featuring images from the Ferrari Panamerican and Magic India Discovery Tours"
This series of events included a night party at Mill Valley Ferrari dealership with red Italian wine and red Ferraris to highlight the India tour of the Ferrari 599 GTB. Ferrari billed it as "The Galleria Ferrari Photography Exhibition And Cocktail Reception Featuring images from the Ferrari Panamerican and Magic India Discovery Tours"
Ferrari of San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley, California
Ferrari of San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley, California
Ferrari of San Francisco, CA
Mill Valley, California
Alfa Romeo 8C/35
Ferrari Racing Days Infineon Raceway 2009
Sonoma, California
The next bit involved Ferraris of several year/models running along side Alfa Romeos and Maserattis in the historic car races that ran over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Mixed in with the older car races were the Ferrari F430 Challenge cars that made up the main event.
Ferrari Racing Days Infineon Raceway 2009
Sonoma, California
The Ferrari Challenge race is always a hard fought race but this year the three days of rain made the spectator thing even more exciting, as well, I assume, as was the actual driving.
Ferrari Racing Days Infineon Raceway 2009
Sonoma, California
Ferrari Racing Days Infineon Raceway 2009
Sonoma, California
Ferrari Racing Days Infineon Raceway 2009
Sonoma, California
Ferrari Racing Days Infineon Raceway 2009
Sonoma, California
Ferrari Racing Days Infineon Raceway 2009
Sonoma, California
Ferrari Racing Days Infineon Raceway 2009
Sonoma, California
All Cars • • Racing • • VINTAGE • • Shows • • Gallerys • • Contact