Today was just pure Motorsport fever! I've never really hankered to go and visit Ferrari. Nor have I ever really been a big Ferrari fan. Today however was a super day, and one where you can't help but feel the passion and the thrill of these quite special road and race cars.
Our first port of call was the Museo Ferrari. It did what it said on the tin. A mix of Motorsport and road cars all presented very neatly and of course a wealth of red. The race cars are what really interested me. We went into the Hall of Champions which was a superb display of the most recent Championship winning cars. It was a real treat to see them all, along with race driver helmets and many of the trophies won by Scuderia Ferrari.
However, the real treat was a factory tour on a red bus! We boarded the bus and managed to 'bagsie' the whole front row. The cool outside temperatures we rapidly offset by the heated seats and the 31degrees Celsius the driver had set the bus temperature to. It was properly hot! Jumpers and coats off, we were then joined by our bilingual tour guide who did a superb job of filling our heads with irrelevant information, more rubbish for my motoring brain to be filled with, ready for the obscure pub quiz question in the future.
The bus departed and began with the disappointing message that no photos were allowed. We began by entering the main Ferrari factory gates, quite an iconic entrance. We took this photo later in the day.
Once inside, we drove past the offices, the design and concept buildings, the engine manufacturing department, paint shop, assembly and everything else including the famous wind tunnel too. We drove around avenues dedicated to all their Formula 1 champions, so that included crossing over via Kimi Raikkonen, via John Surtees and on it went.
The tour then improved somewhat further, when we drove down Via Ascari towards the private Fiorano test track. It was only a matter off weeks ago that Sebastian Vettel was here pounding round in a 2 year old race car, and now here we were, poddling about in our bus. After a 7-8 minute lap, we were then told that Schumacher has the lap record of the 3km circuit having completed it in 55 seconds! He must've been in a rush that day, or had left the gas on at home or something.
There is something special about Ferraris though, especially considering the soundtrack that accompanies a visit to the town. The rumbles and burbling engines that quickly rasp into a manic shriek. We had a 'traffic light' moment with a Ferrari that demonstrated this point well. Hugo revved eagerly in anticipation, the lights turned green, and for a moment I thought we were doing quite well. That was until the Ferrari pulled into second gear, floored the throttle and within a matter of seconds had disappeared. I churlishly declared "He won't get there any quicker"
So there we go, another busy day, lots done and all enjoying their day in their own way. I will though, view Ferrari with a different set of eyes when the new Formula1 season begins.
No comments:
Post a Comment