If it's all right with you, dear readers, I'd like to step out from behind the editorial "we" for a moment and speak from my heart. See, since I was a young lad, my two favorite automotive legacies have been the Porsche 911 Turbos and the front-engined, two-seat V12 Ferraris. I've drooled over the 911 Turbo from 993 to 996, then from 997.1 to 997.2; I fell in love with the 550 Maranello, then lusted after the 575M, went head over heels for the 599 GTB, and ran out of synonyms for exaggerated passion with the 599 GTO.

So guess how pumped I am for 2012, a year which will definitely see a replacement for the 599 GTB and will probably also bring the 991 generation of the 911 Turbo. Both models are far enough along in the development cycle that nearly production-spec cars are hitting the roads and racetracks in heavy camouflage—but not so heavy that keen-eyed observers can't pick out key details. Is that an FF-inspired grille on the Ferrari? Do those headlights look like the ones on the 458? Those quad tailpipes on Porsche are awesome, and it sounds so good...

Note: The Ferrari 599 replacement video's creator has disabled embedding, which is seriously annoying, but you can still watch it by clicking here.

[via YouTube]