Ferrari will show two special 599s at Geneva: the HGTE is a sharper, more focused version of its 620bhp supercar, while the Laboratorio Tecnologico 599XX will be - in effect - a front-engined FXX. With even more technological advances.

The car you see here is the 599 GTB Fiorano equipped with the Handling GTE package, and is finished in a new, three-layer metallic red paint finish. It’s likely to carry uprated suspension hardware and software, run on special split-rims and incorporate much carbonfibre in the cockpit.

The 599XX, a track-only, highly developed ‘mobile laboratory’ for future road-car trends will be unveiled by Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo on the opening day of the Show, March 3rd, at 10:00. Finished in the darker metallic red of the Formula 1 F2008, it will incorporate some of the innovative aerodynamic theories discussed at the company’s Technical Innovation Seminar at Fiorano in 2007.

Plus, naturally, a mightily powerful V12.

It may well be that Ferrari chooses to release the 599XX to selected clients only, and run the cars as it does the FXXs: on a track-only, ‘arrive and drive’, Corse Clienti-managed programme.

Come 10:00 on Tuesday, all will be revealed.

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: Ferrari