Ferrari Mondial . Net

I had been looking forward to this event as it was the first one of the year. The weather was warm and this seemed to bring out lots of traffic on the M25. Finding the historic Brooklands circuit was also a little challenging, I was a first time user of a (borrowed) satnav system, and had to turn it off when we arrived at our so called destination…. a row of small shops in a village?! Anyway we somehow found the venue in the end after asking the gatekeeper at Mercedes-Benz world for directions. You would have thought the Auto Italia event organisers would have put up some temporary signs along the routes off the main motorways and A roads.

My other gripe was the parking stewards at the event were awful, on entering we were given a badly photocopied, ultra confusing map: it would have helped if it had some kind of “you are here” marker, or the steward point out where we were, then given us some instructions on how to get to the Ferrari parking (ie a simple “take the first left, parking on right”), and also some signs would have helped (eg at each junction car makers’ names with arrows pointing which way to go, or even a steward intelligently directing marques). I rolled into the event, went right (as did numerous other Ferraris) and ended up being told by a steward to park in a line of neatly arranged Fiat Coupes…. not very good for me or the Fiat Coupe owners club. After parking and having a wander round the event I finally found Ferrari parking with ample spaces left and was able to move, but the whole thing could have been organised a lot better to save hassle, and in total I had to move my car three times!

The event itself was not bad, if I hadn’t been moving my car around so much I’d probably have enjoyed it more, but there was a big plus point: it was the first event I’ve been to which had the modern ‘big three’ (in my opinion) Ferraris… yes there was an F40, F50 and Enzo all present (if only they had parked them side by side!), accompanied by a great collection of other Ferraris and Italian cars.

Photos from the day can be found here.

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.

The events diary list can be found here.

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!

We went to the Silverstone Classic on Saturday 28th July 2007, making good use of the two for one ticket offer from the Ferrari Owners’ Club. Thankfully the weather was warm and sunny, I even managed to top up my tan a little bit! The quantity and quality of vintage, classic and modern classic cars in attendance was amazing: pre World War 1 motorbikes, Bentleys, Austin-Healeys, Jaguars, Corvettes, Porsches and of course Ferraris! Not to mention all the racing cars that were not only on display, but also being driven hell for leather round the legendary Silverstone track itself.

Luckily we had applied for, and received, a centre parking pass in the FOC display area. It was great to be waved in straight through to the centre of the circuit by the stewards, and then guided into a parking space between two 355s by a man in a Ferrari uniform I have to say the Ferrari display was stunning, and all the cars immaculate, so in the end I was glad we had been out in the dark the night before polishing up the Mondial! The area was pretty much full, so I think this must have been around 80 Ferraris. The ones that stood out for me were: an original Testarossa, a great 512BB, the row of Dino 246s and an F40 parked side by side with an Enzo.

As mentioned above there were some fabulous cars brought by enthusiasts on display, there were so many it was hard to recall them all. I can’t even begin to name the really old (pre WW2) and classic vintage ones (how do they keep them in such good condition!). For me some of the more contemporary classics that stood out were: a white James Bond style Lotus Esprit, the legendary Jaguar XJ220, Lancia Stratos 80s rally cars looking resplendent in their Alitalia livery (I had the scale models as a kid!), a mean looking white Ford GT40, and many more.

Overall a great day, in fact there was too much to see in a single day, I think I’ll go for the weekend next year!

FrRawtoLyYw

* Update Aug 2007: Please read this post before calling Hendon Way Motors about Mondials

Here is a quick compilation of clips from the first weekendof me driving my Mondial, plus at the end there is a few seconds of footage from the Italian car day at Birch Park, Colchester 14th July 2007.
Thanks to C for compiling the video and muting all the boring talking bits :)

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News just in: the Ferrari Owner’s Club National Concours meeting at Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire, on Sunday 1st July has been postponed for the first time ever. This is due to the incredible amount of rain in the last two weeks, and the continuing
wet forecast . I was at Broughton Castle last weekend and it was getting pretty soggy already, but now the moat has overflowed, which means the whole surrounding terrain must be practically swampland! Not good for classic Ferraris, so it’s a sensible decision. The event will now take place on Sunday 23rd September 2007.

I’m currently sat in an internet cafe in the outskirts of Negombo, Sri Lanka. If you are reading this post it means that the time between the frequent power cuts has allowed me to make a post!

It’s hot here, 32C, but the real killer is the 90% humidity. It’s sunny during the day with a little cloud sometimes, and more often than not there is a tremendous rain storm during the nights.

Having a great time here, been swimming, walking on the beach and have been to see the baby elephants at the Pinnawala elephant orphanage. Shame to miss the Ferrari Owners Club meeting at Silverstone (and the world record attempt) but back later in the week to no doubt the usual rubbish English weather, and the miserable faces on the tube