Enzo's no slouch and not for the Maybach sofa set

What most impresses about the Enzo is the sound

What most impresses about the Enzo is the sound. Its engine booms like a shotgun and, during the full-on laps along the 180mph straight, it seems like the engine's running a poor second to the car.

Afterwards it rests in the pit lane like a king-size mattress, barely coming to waist height and over six-feet wide . . . only someone's taken out the stuffing and replaced it with a great hulk of metal, topped with a prancing horse and poorly disguised by what looks like cheap perspex.

Enzo production director Giuseppe Petrotta takes time out to guide us around like a proud father. He puts the Enzo's position in the Ferrari chronology in perspective: "New environmental and safety rules meant every year became more difficult to make that type of supercar. From the F50 production to today, we had to add 90-100 kgs of airbags and extra exhaust systems to meet emissions rules.

"Therefore, since we managed to get similar weight and more power than the F50, we've made a big improvement."

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The Enzo is in the £450,000 range in Britain. But the 349 cars which will be produced are aimed at current Ferrari owners and collectors. So far 100 have been made, with production ending in 2004. They wanted to avoid the "loadsamoney" brigade who buy the car just to cream a profit.

Powered by an all-new 60-degree V12 offers up 660bhp from its 6-litres, the six-speed semi-automatic gear change occurs at 150 milliseconds, controlled by Formula One-style paddles behind a similarly F1-style steering wheel that looks like a Christmas tree. Ferrari claims 0-60mph in 3.65 seconds and a top speed of 218mph.

Finally the options list is pretty limited. Choose your colour - red, yellow or black. After that it's what Ferrari decide.