Instant Exhilaration

It takes just six bends along the magical Panoramica Zegna road at the wheel of the Ferrari 296 GTB to send a shiver of delight right down your spine and to put a big smile on your face. The number six is a symbolic number; in reality the exhilaration is virtually instantaneous, and you soon find yourself wishing that those bends would just go on and on.

Why? Because there are six cylinders in the 296 GTB’s new engine, the very first V6 that the marque has ever put inside a production car, opening up an entirely new segment for the Ferrari range. Anyone even slightly puzzled by the idea of a Ferrari powered by such a ‘small’ engine should be reminded that Maranello’s Formula One cars also sport a six- cylinder. 

Any lingering doubts will certainly be chased away by the vital statistics of this new power unit: the 2,992cc V6 unleashes 663cv of its own, and this is coupled with a 167cv electric motor that brings total power output up to a massive 830cv. 

However, the very fact that it is a six-cylinder, with that revolutionary 120-degree angle between its banks, means that it is light and compact. With a very low centre of gravity into the bargain. For anyone fortunate enough to get behind the 296 GTB’s steering wheel, this all instantly translates into breath-taking power and go-kart shout-out-loud exhilaration. 

Even at first glance, the 296 GTB positively exudes agility. It has the shortest wheelbase in the Ferrari range, instantly evoking some of the most glorious SWBs from the marque’s illustrious past. Its muscular tail too is reminiscent of the legendary Ferrari 250 LM, albeit dressed in exceptionally contemporary clothes and underscored by a big central exhaust. The car’s lines are unsullied by any aero appendages, further enhancing the purity of its design and its sense of compactness.

To test out its adrenaline-fuelled agility, we threw the 296 GTB into action along the Panoramica Zegna, an extraordinary serpentine road carved into the Piedmont mountains and teetering 3,000 feet above the flat plain of the Po Valley that stretches out below as far as the eye can see. 

The road was built at the behest of Ermenegildo Zegna, founder of the illustrious woollen mill, to create a tourist route through an oasis of rhododendrons, azaleas and hydrangeas. Back in the 1930s, it was a huge feat of engineering, hewn from the rock by men wielding picks and explosives, following only the curves of the mountains and their own pure instinct. 

Instinct is also the first thing you feel when you hit the accelerator in this car. The 296 GTB instantly inspires enormous confidence – it is so responsive that, uncannily, it seems to anticipate both the road and the driver’s intentions. Simply put, it does everything you want. And it gets more eager with every corner because of its combination of apparently boundless power and dazzling torque.