Italy's Dark Horse...

In Germany, as previously blogged, we had the opportunity to tour the BMW Welt which highlighted the engineering prowess and precision of the German automotive machine. In Italy, they have auto’s too, except, they use them differently.

Germans want a car that drives nice and will last until the apocalypse is over….and they have built cars that most certainly will do both. Italians however, want a car that can outrun god and look sexy doin it…. should that occasion present itself….and they too have it. It’s called a Ferrari.

Since I can remember, the Ferrari F40 and Testerossa were like pinups to me…except way hotter. Each with a styling that made them seem like something beyond what the rest of my matchbox cars were. These were not just “cars”.  They were symbols. They embodied something that at the time I did not quite understand but knew it was there.

The Ferrari Galleria and Factory in Maranello, Italy  was added to the itinerary because I felt that it would be a personal travesty to skip over the place where Ferrari’s are born en route to Florence …and so we went.

The galleria was very different from the Bimmer hall. The Ferrari Red was everywhere, inspiring race sounds blared …. And throughout the exhibits that showcased the companies motorsport legacy, its trophies, drivers and chronology of cars, you felt that there was a very strong sense of nationalistic pride. The Ferrari is Italy to motorsport. Yes, Italian’s have Lambo, Bugatti and Alfa but my god when you consider the accolades achieved in motorsport by one company, the others just don’t compare. The cars symbolize Enzo Ferrari’s pursuit to build the best sports cars in the world.

I saw the original racer from 1951…the F40 and even met my latest pinup…the 599xx GTO. Heart pumping, goose bump inducing and a whole bunch of amazing cars that were built to go fast and look unreal doing it…the Ferrari Galleria was awesome.

On our way out we whizzed by the factory which unfortunately was not open to tours but it was cool to see the outside of the wind tunnel nonetheless. We also caught a sneaky view of the Fiorano test track through an inconspicuous hole in the fence we discovered. Saw a few 430’s lapping it up which I think is a nice way to any any day.

Thanks for readin bout my dreamin,

adam