612 Scaglietti
Driving the 612 Down Under

Story by Barry Green

The 612 Scagliettis looking right at home outside the National Motor Museum, Birdwood, South Australia. Photograph copyright Edward Rowe.

January, 2006.
Australian newspaper columnist Phillip Adams once wrote of owning a Ferrari: "Turn the key and the giant exhausts emitted the thunder of Roman legions tramping through Gaul. Press the accelerator and you heard the roar of the crowds at the Coliseum.''

We can raise a `salutare' to that after seven superlative hours spent in a brace of 612 Scaglietti Ferraris, sweeping through South Australia's scenic Barossa Valley to beyond. It's an all-too-rare opportunity to drive any Ferrari, but this gilt-edged invitation came about through the new official Australian and New Zealand Ferrari importers, European Automotive Imports Pty Ltd of Sydney.

Vintage Red - the China 612 visiting Chateau Tanunda winery. Photograph copyright Edward Rowe.

The original plan was to enter the Classic Adelaide Rally, a tarmac event of worldwide interest, where in 2005 the featured marque was Ferrari with nearly 100 examples in attendance at a collective value of some $A35 million. But belated insurance problems caused EAI's amiable PR manager Edward Rowe to resort to Plan B - forget the rally and do our own thing. This translated to more driving time and much less restriction (read that as road speed!).

But first, back to the cars. One was painted a somehow subtle gold, the color named after actress Ingrid Bergman who was reportedly given a 375MM Superamerica in the same livery by her lover, film director Roberto Rossellini, in the 1950s. This 612 had optional 19-inch wheels (as opposed to standard 18-inch front, 19-inch rears) and carbon ceramic brakes.

Here and in the photo below, the 612 is seen weeping through the picturesque Barossa Valley. Photograph copyright Peter Watkins.

The other was decked out in look-at-me red and silver, complete with dragon motif and colorful signwriting as it appeared completing a history-making 24,000km promotional trek in the hands of some 50 motoring writers around China last year. This 612 was one of a pair that ploughed across deserts, through mountain ranges, down roads built only to accommodate trucks and four-wheel drives and into the record books when, at more than 5200m, they had scaled the highest altitude recorded for a two-wheel drive car. Incredibly, in 45 days on the road, the only problems encountered were two bent wheel rims. During the entire trip the Ferraris never even required an oil change, providing a testimony to the strength, durability and construction of a car that is designed for autostradas, not single lane mud tracks over the Himalayas.

Now, how about the name behind the name? For the uninitiated, Scaglietti was not a composer of musical masterpieces, nor painter nor sculptor. No, Sergio Scaglietti was a stylist and coachbuilder from Modena who created some of the most beautiful Ferraris in the 1950s and 60s. The present-day 612 was designed by iconic Italian studio Pininfarina and has borrowed its scalloped sides from Scaglietti's classic 375MM. Measuring 483cm long by 193cm wide by 132cm high, the Scaglietti (pronounced skahl-yet-ee) is the largest Ferrari ever made. But there's good reason - this metallic sculpture was designed and built to be a genuine four-seater, not a token 2+2.

The open road beckons to Victor Harbour. Photograph copyright Edward Rowe.

As such, it has 7cm more headroom and fractionally more knee room in the rear-seat area, plus 25-percent additional boot space compared with its predecessor, the 456M of 1993-2003. To prove the point, EAI's national service manager Lenn Kench - all 190cm of him - fitted comfortably in the back.

The 612 is nearly 60kg lighter than the 456M, with its aluminum chassis clothed in a handsome superleggera (superlightweight) body engineered in co-operation with Alcoa. It also has a lower centre of gravity by almost 2.5cm and is 54 per cent stiffer in torsion. The 5.75 litre V12 engine (derived from the 575M Maranello) has been placed behind the front axle to help establish the rear weight bias crucial to sports-car dynamic handling, making for a 46/54 split front/rear. Oh, and did I mention it has 397kW of power (that's nearly 540hp) and 588Nm of torque, enough to produce a 0-100km/h time of 4.2 seconds and a top speed a shade under 320km/h.

Without a get-out-of-jail-free card in our wallet, we will have to take the Scuderia's word on that, but let it be said the 612 goes as well as it looks. The performance sweet spot kicks in at 4000rpm and continues all the way through to 7250rpm, with torque peaking at 5250rpm. Feeding the big V12 enough road to keep it in this zone is another thing. But this is where enthusiastic use of the car's F1A paddle shift six-speed sequential gearbox is invited. An additional synchronizing cone on each gear makes for quicker, smoother shifts - just 0.2 seconds a throw.

Even with the active suspension set to Sport mode, the 612 soaked up SA's country road irregularities with unfussed ease, all the while maintaining that oh-so-important connection between driver and car the world has come to expect from Ferrari. Deliberate late braking failed to induce any hint of understeer and with the seemingly intuitive traction control on, oversteer was never an issue, just a prodigious grip like Tarzan's.

The 612's dynamics contradict its 1840kg kerb weight and steering response is, in two words, `absolutely linear' - each revolution of the wheel moves the rack exactly 64mm. And in keeping with its grand tourer brief, there's a raft of creature comforts and active and passive safety features.

All this for $A556,000 (starting price).

Okay, so there was one thing we didn't like about the Scaglietti - having to hand the keys back!