As usual this day had an amazing collection of classic and pristine Ferraris on display, and it was great to be back at the spectacular setting of Walton Hall, this time thankfully with no rain! Highlights included an exceptionally rare Ferrari 250GTO in green.
This very early spring outing had been planned by the top guys at the Wheels in Motion wheel alignment centre and the Ferrari Owners’ Club. Basically turn up in your Ferrari and you got a free wheel alignment and geometry check using the latest state of the art equipment. As luck would have it the weather was very pleasant for the time of year so it was an ideal opportunity to take my newly acquired black Ferrari 348ts out for it’s first public event. With the weather being so unexpectedly good there was a big turnout, I was lucky to be squeezed in for a wheel check. I was a little apprehensive, as with my 348 having had 355 wheels fitted at some point in it’s life there could be potential for them not having been fitted and aligned properly. My worries were unfounded as the Wheels in Motion team found only minor, run of the mill, slight misalignments which would only affect the handling if I were doing any serious track days, so I’ll put it on my list of things to do. A big thanks to everyone at Wheels in Motion for all their help, free tests and hosting such a good outing.
This was a great event last year at the spectacular setting of Highclere Castle, so I was interested to see how the new venue of Newbury Showground would work out. Clearly the venues were very different with the showground less of a backdrop but offering a much improved circuit for the charity rides, which was the purpose of the day after all. The whole of the track could be seen whilst wandering through the display of parked Ferraris, the sight and sounds of the cars whizzing round was quite something. There was even an F40 giving rides, I hope the people who were lucky enough to get the F40 felt as honoured and excited as I would have been! Overall the day had a different feel to last year, due to the venue, but was still a good event, and the amount of money raised by the charity rides exceeded last year’s total, all in aid of the Three Shires air ambulance helicopter fund.
There has not been much luck for this event with respect to the weather for the preceeding two years. Last year the event had to be postponed due to flooding, and it inevitably rained on the rescheduled date too. This year the forecast was the uncertanty tinged “sun and occasional showers”. On the morning itself we awoke to glorious sunshine, so off we set on the fairly long drive from London to Walton Hall in Warwickshire. Even before we hit the motorway, dark clouds were gathering in the sky, and quickly “occasional showers” turned into a morning of driving through absolutely torrential rain! With the M40 being closed compltely at the exact junction needed for the event (presumably due to cars being unable to drive underwater) it was almost enough to make even a hardcore Ferrari owner turn back and head for home. Luckily my newly purchased TomTom One satnav saved the day and it calculated an alternative route through the countryside to avoid the closed motorway.
Our persistence was rewarded in the end, as on arriving at Walton Hall the clouds broke and the house, lake and lawns were bathed in sunshine. Thankfully only a few minor showers materialzed in the afternoon. As always everything was impeccably organised by the FOC (British Grand Prix on big screen, excellent!), and the turnout of cars was surprisingly good, though I’d guess not as many as last year at Broughton Castle. What amazed me was when we strolled round to the back of Walton Hall where there was a fantastic turnout of the really classic and priceless, rare cars, includingan ex Steve McQueen 250 SWB and Chris Evan’s £5.4million black Ferrari 250 California previously owned by James Coburn (Fistful of Dynamite always a fave film of mine). When you sit back and think about it £5.4 million is a lot of money, but after seeing the car I can safely say it was worth every penny Just a shame I had forgotten to charge my camera, so in the end I only have photos of it in general shots before technology let me down. As usual the concours cars were immaculate, of the 4 or 5 Ferrari Mondials present there was a very striking one in dark blue, unusual colour but I really liked it!
Given the unpredictable nature of the UK spring weather we were fortunate to be blessed with a beautiful warm and sunny Saturday for the first big national Ferrari Owners’ Club (FOC) event of the year. Blenheim Palace is situated in picturesque Oxfordshire countryside, and it’s dramatic grounds and architecture provided a yet another stunning backdrop for an impressive turnout of FOC Ferraris. Parked centre stage in the main palace courtyard was a historic mix of supercars, both old and new, including F40s, an Enzo, a yellow Daytona, three 250 SWBs (one confirmed to be worth around the £2 million mark) and an amazing 4 cylinder 500 Mondial racer from 1954.
There was a good turnout of Ferrari Mondials, as always, I was pleased to see again the Mondial cabriolet I had viewed when looking for my one over a year ago, good to see it had found a new home (hi J & J!). I also saw the sera blue Ferrari Mondial I had declined to look at back then due to it not being Rosso red, that colour, for me, seems compulsory for a first Ferrari. On inspection I regret a little not going to see it, and a glance at the odometer did indeed confirm a mileage of only 14k miles in 23 years!
Well summer is almost here (even though we had an arctic burst of snow at the weekend!), so I’m getting round to compiling a list of classic car and Ferrari owners’ club events I’ll probably go to in 2008.
Imagine walking into your local bookstore, you see a compiliation magazine of the best Ferrari articles from Evo and Octane magazine to celebrate 60 years of Ferrari. “Great!” you think, and as you have a few minutes to spare you have a quick flick through. Loads of cool stuff in there, comparisons of an F40 to an Enzo, reviews of 275 GTBs, Testarossas, etc, then you notice at the back there is an index of every Ferrari road car ever made. Naturally you would probably look up your own Ferrari in the index to see what they say about it. Then imagine that as you are reading the brief summary for your Ferrari you notice something quite familiar about the photograph, you can’t quite place it, as you look closer you recognise the driver… it’s YOU! And it’s your car!
That’s the strangely surreal situation I found myself in after spotting the above publication at the shops. There I am on page 255 proudly representing Ferrari Mondial QV / Cabriolet QVs from 1984 – 1986 (oh and earlier Mondial 8s too). I can see myself driving in the original picture, and also clearly recognise my passenger. It took me a while, but I worked out the photo must have been taken as I was leaving the Silverstone Classic 2007.
So fame at last! More importantly, does anyone know if I’m entitled to royalties? I’m guessing the Silverstone Classic ticket probably has terms and conditions that you may be filmed or photographed on their land and the copyright remains with them, or some legal get out clause along those lines…
ps It’s not the most factually accurate index of Ferraris, check out the top speed of the Mondial 3.2 / Cabriolet, 188mph?! Faster than the Testarossa, umm I don’t think so (it’s more like 155mph)! Plus the top left photo of a “308″ is surely a 288 GTO? Hmm good to see they proof read these mags before going to print!
The postponed Ferrari Owners’ Club UK National Concours meeting finally took place at Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire on September 23rd 2007. Originally planned for the 1st July the castle grounds had been flooded due to the incredible amount of rain in the preceeding weeks which had left half of the UK under water.
Anyone hoping for an Indian summer style september Sunday was greeted with a cold, grey, drizzly morning, the rain did intensify around lunchtime, but thankfully held off after that. Despite this there was a great turnout of Ferraris, and Broughton castle is a fantastic backdrop to showcase the cars. Highlights for me included the usual F40s, an F50 which was a first for me, a Bugatti Veyron appeared just as I was leaving (damn! The relevance of this must be that the Ferrari owner’s club originally started life 40 years ago as the Ferrari and Bugatti Owner’s club) and to top it all a pristine 288 GTO turned up… wow! There were also some lovely classic 250/275s on display, I took lots of photos, I will have to put them on a photo sharing website or something when I get the time. In the meantime check out my videos from the event on YouTube.
This was a day organised to raise money for the Three Shires Air Ambulance service, and aimed to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event. As ever the location was fantastic, with Lord Carnarvon’s Highclere Castle and surrounding grounds providing a dramatic backdrop for the assembled Ferraris, which had turned out in numbers despite early morning gloom and showers. Taking pride of place were two F40s next to two red Enzos. Verdi Ferrari also had an area where they displayed the legendary black Enzo. Thankfully the rain held off and gradually brightened up as the day went on, allowing the classic planes flyby to take place: WW1 biplanes in formation, a mesmerizing Supermarine Spitfire, and to end the day the last flying Lancaster bomber all swooped low over the crowd. The queue to have a ride in a Ferrari (for a donation to the air ambulance) was constantly big throughout the day so hopefully lots of money was raised. All in all another great day, well done Thames Valley Ferrari Owners Club!
This proved to be a great day at Groombridge Place, which is tucked away in the hilly Kent countryside, not far from Tunbridge Wells. The fine weather from the week stayed with us and Sunday was scorching: blue skies, blazing sun, and it must have been getting on for 30C. After enduring some mind numbingly slow traffic on the M25 Dartford crossing, and through Tunbridge Wells itself, we knew we had found the grounds of Groombridge Place as we descended a windy country road to see a huge Ferrari logo banner, courtesy of the Kent Ferrari Owners Club.
There was already around 20 Ferraris present, with more trickling in every few minutes. There must have been another 20 or so turning up over the next couple of hours, but by the time the gates were open to the public there was already a great display. There were some fine Mondials, 308/328s, 348s, 355, 360s and a really mean looking racing spec F430 complete with giant Atari logos. A fully restored Dino badged 206(246?) also turned up later in the day. I saw a Mondial 8 for the first time, they look identical to the Mondial QV from the outside, but the layout of the central button column and dashboard is completely different! With a reasonably priced bar, a members only FOC marquee showing the Grand Prix on a big screen, and a free BBQ for drivers kind enough to bring their Ferraris you could not ask for much more… and I haven’t even mentioned the grounds of Groombridge Place itself, the maniac stunt plane demonstration, the Brass and Caribbean steel bands, or the huge balloons that were slowly inflated behind the parked Ferraris. Overall a really enjoyable Sunday!
Just a shame I had forgotten to charge my camera, so in the end I only have photos of it in general shots before technology let me down. As usual the concours cars were immaculate, of the 4 or 5 Ferrari Mondials present there was a very striking one in dark blue, unusual colour but I really liked it!
