WHY? BECAUSE IT'S STILL THERE

It was in 1995 that we drove a Ferrari 512M from Maranello, Italy, to the sands of the Sahara. The story re-defined adventure drives and inspired a generation. Now, in Ferrari's V12 Purosangue, it is time to go back. Why? Because it is still there

- Ben Miller

FOR HOURS WE HAVE CRUSHED DISTANCE WITH speed, watching in reverential silence as vast landscapes, widescreen valleys between sky-scraping escarpments, slid inexorably from windscreen to windows to rear-view mirror. As coarse tarmac rushed beneath warm Michelins and the V12 cantered just off idle for hour after hour, the effect was hypnotic.

There was no traffic; no other life, even. Nothing to break the spell of this elemental place. Then, perhaps 20 minutes ago, the road turned and made straight for one of those escarpments. It then began to climb, soaring from scrub-flecked valley to cloudless sky in stacked coils of curves. Now the engine is awake. Now the spell is broken. We have traded lazy revs and barely-there inputs for 8,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) and great sweeps of the throttle pedal, a savage sonic barrage, and racing shift lights testimony to the 6.5-litre V12's reach and potency.

What is more, the rest of the Ferrari's powertrain-an eight-speed twin-clutcher with shifts like a GT3 car's and dexterous, apparently unimpeachable four-wheel drive-is offering no real counterargument to this hedonism. A gear-lever, three pedals, and just the one driven axle to manage? For better or for worse, the Purosangue cares not for such impediments to speed. The contrast in effort, on the car's part and mine, between now and just a few moments ago is, like the Ferrari's crimson paint against the scree, stark.

Three quick inputs have swapped Comfort/Soft for Sport/Hard and Sport ESC and now the Purosangue's brutal brand of athleticism is vindicating the decision to come here in spectacular style. Just as your brain grows uneasy, its calculations around speed and mass and the severity of the upcoming curves prompting a fast-swelling sense of fear, the Ferrari's composure crushes the nascent panic.