Ferrari 296GTS: Simply Astounding
All About the Fastest Car we Ever Tested. By Far.
Standing in the dark at Indianapolis. No, not Indiana, at the Sarthe between Arnage and the Curves. Late on that Saturday night in the middle of June. You begin understanding the Le Mans orchestra. What sets the Hypercars apart. The Cadillac. Mad. That V8. The Porsches. Rough. The Gazoos. Well … professional.
Then the Ferrari. Guttural. Muted. V12. Add an animal electric shriek. Interrupted by turbocharger shouting. Screaming. Burping. The very crescendo emanating from deep within this street version. As it dispatches performance you never knew before.
Let me explain the V12. This Ferrari 296GTB. It has a 2.9 V6 Maranello calls the little V12. Its 120-degree vee throbs the V12 feel. Sounds like one too. A deep mechanical symphony. And its powerful. Wickedly madly wonderfully powerful.
Space Pod Stuff at Ton and a Half
296GTS specific output pegs between Chiron and Veyron. Yes. That strong, The numbers tell you. 818 HP. 610 from the 120° 2,992 cc Tipo F163 BC biturbo V6.165 HP from its YASA single-stator dual-rotor axial flux MGU-K electric motor. Oh, and 545 lb.-ft. At one and a half tons. Space pod stuff.
Anyway. The name harks to the original156. Real rear mid-rear engined Formula 1 Ferraris. They spawned the 206. It became 246. The Dinos. They grew into Magnum’s 308, then 328. Before Ferrari lost its model tags way.
Who knows what those numbers meant. Fine cars. All of them. But this? This is different. The name picks up history. The car steps into tomorrow. You’ll even drive 25 km on battery only. Deep city green zone legal.
296GTS is spacious. Even for fat big bastards like me.
Its low. But easy to get in and out. Even for fat big bastards like me. Once in, there’s a busy little steering wheel. Not much else. It has Mannetino and e Mannetino. You run the car from your thumb and fingertips.
The cabin adjusts to you. Feels spacious enough. No central screen. Your passenger has a little display. More to tell them how fast we’re going. Rather than download crap. Or something. It’s a driver’s car.
It gets going on the motor. Then the engine takes over. Quite a rush. No. One hell of a rush. Cut the bullshit, let’s get to the point. Tap it into Quali. Oh. My. God! Ever wondered Vader’s pod feels in warp speed? Well. Here it is. Mad!
Stop. Stand on Both Pedals. Slip the Left Foot Off…
Thirty years ago – can it really be! When we started testing, six seconds to sixty was epic. Breaking that with M3 was big. 550 Maranello took us into the fours. Just before the new millennium. M5 V10 went quicker, the RS6 faster still.
GT-R took us under four. 911 Turbo smashed three-point five. 458 Italia went quicker. 650S Spider took another tenth off and R8 V10 Plus had us the cusp of the twos. Then the AWD übercars arrived and M5 smashed under three seconds just before lockdown.
Had you asked where it was going in the late ‘90s, I’d be impressed breaking the fives by ‘25. But here we are. Ferrari claims 2.9 seconds. We were excited. Never in a month of Sundays did we expect a mid-two.
A Miracle Launch. Then… Warp Speed
Never mind how comfortably and easily it does it. Gently to start. No squeak. Nothing twists. No nonsense. You sense the car working it all out. A miracle launch. Then it feeds warp speed in on top of. Again. Oh. My. God!
For the record, the Ferrari 296GTS is by quite some considerable distance the fastest car we ever tested. The first sub-ten quarter mile we ever ran too. Suck on that for a second! The critical data is below, as always. Brakes? The best we ever had on the road.
I keep going back to how gentle the 296 is. But its enthralling to just drive it in Quali mode. Extreme. Used on track it’ll yield one lap, deploy electric the next.
Leave it be the Animal That Tames Itself
No need for these sunny splendid Cape roads. Punt it, you sense the animal within. Don’t turn off the stability. Leave it be the animal that tames itself. Gives just enough to keep it edgy, Never reveals it’s actually in control. Ferrari racing kudos. I suppose.
There’s good reason you think you’re at Le Mans. That one has the same V6 heart. This one’s more street hybrid harvests electricity. At an astounding rate on braking. Switches electric to hybrid to gas like a Prius on nitro. It can be muddled at middle speeds.
Breeding? You bet. Far from the beast F40, 296GTS is faster. And makes you feel like God doing it. Astounding to drive. Less fussy than a new C63. More composed than a top 911. And shocking easy to live with.
296GTS Sticks to Such Solid Principles
We stop. Watch it tick-tick-ticking in the swelter. Like a Ducati 916, old 458 is among the finest ever purist design renditions. So, it’s good grandson here sticks to such solid principles. The aero works. Has record downforce at 150 mph.
Astounding, 296GTS makes a mockery of tractive physics. Deceptively honest to drive. Astoundingly user friendly. Best still, the fastest goddam thing we ever drove. Has me awake late at night figuring what I should mortgage to own it… Stop it already!
ROAD TESTED: Ferrari 296GTS Engine: 818 HP kW 2.9-litre biturbo petrol V6 Motor: 165 HP axial flux MGU Torque: 545 lb.-ft Drive: 8-speed Double Clutch Auto AWD TESTED: 0-40 mph: 1.23 sec 0-60 mph: 2.57 sec 0-80 mph: 3.65 sec 0-100 mph: 4.82 sec ¼-mile: 9.8 sec @ 153 mph 50-75 mph: 1.78 sec 75-100 mph: 2.23 sec CLAIMED: VMax: 205 mph Fuel: 18 mpg / 47 mpg e
Images: Michele Lupini
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