The Best-Sounding Ferrari Isn’t the One You’re Thinking Of

Ferrari has made a ton of excellent-sounding cars over the years. A couple immediately come to mind, namely the company’s 412 Formula 1 car of the 1980s and the F355 road car. But neither hold the title of greatest-sounding Ferrari. That award goes to something far more modern, neither a street car or a real race car: The track-only Ferrari F99XX.

The 599XX is a highly modified, track-only version of the 599 street car, optimized for circuit work by Ferrari’s Formula 1 team. There’s more aero, more braking, and a totally reworked suspension. The cabin is, of course, totally stripped save for a cage and a bucket seat.

Produced in incredibly low numbers for the company’s most prized customers, the 599XX doesn’t conform to any set of race rules, meaning engineers didn’t have to restrict performance for the sake of passing tech. Like the road car, it uses a 6.0-liter V-12, but here, it’s rated at 720 horsepower, with a redline increased to a crispy 9,000 rpm. 

This supercut of trackside video clips put together by the NM225 YouTube channel is all the proof you need the 599XX is the greatest-sounding Ferrari. The only thing better than the muffler-less flybys at full throttle are the barking downshifts from the six-speed paddle-shifted transmission. I could listen for hours.