The 599 GTB's 6-litre V12 is said to be a development of the Enzo's engine (and hence the Maserati MC12's, too), and produces 611bhp, giving performance that Ferrari insiders say is 'simply astonishing'.

The day before a recent evo visit to the Maranello factory, the test drivers had been out setting 0-62mph times - and the GTB recorded a 3.7sec, a scant 0.05sec slower than the Enzo. Now the engineers and aerodynamicists are hard at work ensuring the car achieves a top speed perhaps as high as 210mph.

Contributing to the GTB's fearsome accelerative abilities is the fact that it weighs 1612kg - 228kg less than the Scaglietti and 118kg lighter than the 575M. Its lightness is due to a combination of all-aluminium bodywork and a truncated version of the Scaglietti's alloy spaceframe.

As with its predecessor, the GTB keeps its engine as far back within that spaceframe as possible for a 'front-mid-engined' location, providing more even weight distribution to help with the handling.

The 599 GTB's design is the work of Ferrari's favourite Italian design house, Pininfarina, but the styling was overseen by Frank Stephenson, at the time Ferrari's design boss (and also the man responsible for the look of BMW's Mini). While paying visual homage to its predecessor - launched ten years ago as the 550 Maranello and one of Ferrari's most prolific models ever, selling more than 5700 examples - the 599 GTB also has a sharp-edged modernity to its lines and features a family resemblance to the 612 Scaglietti.

Despite its massive top speed, the GTB has only a modest lip on its boot-lid. A downforce inducing venturi-effect undertray helps here, but more interesting are the unique vents in the 'flying buttress' C-pillars which channel air travelling along the sides of the car through the buttresses toward the boot-lid lip, increasing downforce. The twin-spoke arms of the door mirrors also play a part in this process by keeping airflow tight to the car's flanks as it approaches the curved rear-side screens.

Although pretty much signed-off for production, the GTB is still undergoing detail changes (the positioning of the Pininfarina badges, for instance, and some pieces of interior trim) at the request of former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo, who was still at Maranello at the GTB's inception and who apparently still regards it as his baby.

Unsurprisingly, British Ferrari dealers are already doing a roaring trade in deposits for what could be the company's most compelling 'regular' road car to date.