Ferrari 296 GTS

Manners maketh man, but flaws make character, or at least that’s what we’d like to believe. Hold that thought…

So, we learned all about Ferrari’s mid-engined 296 GTB in coupé form earlier this year. Fast and fantabulous it certainly was, but it also felt a bit divorced from the driver; well to be accurate, it felt a bit poker faced when pressing on, as if it knew better and had done things to perfect your cornering attitude, but absolutely wasn’t going to tell exactly what things.

This time it’s different. For a start we’re on the wonderful Futa and Raticosa passes that wind sinuously through the Apennines over an area the American forces nicknamed the ‘UPS War’ when, in the winter of 1944, Allied armies became bogged down when resupply became an issue along these twisting roads as they fought their way up the spine of Italy.