FCHAT Meeting @ 11.Modena Motorsport Ferrari Track Days 2005

Hi Joren,

It was great to meet you. The drive back was unbelieveble, just going to and coming from the Nürburgring was already a dream that came through. The picture of Jacky Ickx and me which I had there signed by Jacky Ickx is now on my desk.

I really liked the book you had with you. I'm now going to look for one, because I saw so many beautiful pictures in it, which I never saw before.

See you

-Kevin

 

It's been a fantastic experience! These kind of oppertunities don't come along just like that and I have to thank the owner for trusting such a unique car to me.

It started Thursday morning when I arrived at his castle. We hadn't decided yet who would drive which car. I knew that the Vignale was more like a competition car with all the noise and close ratio gearbox but it was also left hand drive. The others were right hand drive and I had never driven a right hand drive car before.
Anyway, it turned out that the Stabilimenti Farina car had a bit of a problem with the battery so the owner decided he would drive that one. His trusted friend who takes care of his car collection would drive the more difficult Vignale so it was down to the Ghia and Touring. When the owner started the engine of the Ghia that was it: I really loved the throaty sound, very competition like! It turned out that it also has a close ratio 'box but I just love the noise.

So we set off to the Ring in convoy and I opened up the trottle for the very first time and it was heaven!

It was a bit difficult with the double clutching and the steering is very direct and doesn't self centre much. Also all the buttons for indicators, wipers etc are randomly scattered over the dashboard so that was not very ergonomic but it all added to the flavour of this experience.

You really get connected to this car. You are very much aware of the engine. Starting it alone is a little feast of itself. First you push the key all the way into its slot on the dashboard and hear the pumps ticking. Then you push the start button. You get this metallic sound for what seems like ages and suddenly the engine bursts into life. A few dabs on the gaspedal adds some nice music.

When you drive all kinds of sounds are produced and you almost feel like a locomotive engineer!

Changing gears with my left hand was no problem at all. In fact on the Autobahn it was quite handy to sit on the 'wrong' side as I could look over my left shoulder and see much more out of the rear window.

The reactions you get from other people are very positive. Especially because we were driving in convoy so a lot of cars slowed down to see what they were overtaking. We didn't go too fast. Allthough the Ghia has five gears it revs fairly high - between 4000 and 4.500 rpm. Occasionally I would rev it up to 5.000 rpm but not too long. We wouldn't want to stress the old lady too much, would we?

It still is quite quick for its age. Accelaration is good and I had no problem overtaking slower traffic. Just change a gear down, floor the pedal and off you go!

The cabin is quite roomy for two people but the luggage shelf is not that big. Also the boot (or trunk) is not very usable because the spare tire and fueltank take up most of the space.
It has two big sofa like leather seats. Because my back is bad I was afraid that the trip would hurt but it was surprisingly comfy, no problems. Maybe driving gloves would have helped with the small wood rimmed steering wheel but I only had these modern blue Sparco ones and that would have looked a bit silly.

At the Ring we were greeted with great enthusiasm by Ferraristi and friends and it's only just that we took three prices home from the concours d'elegance. I did a lap of the circuit after the price giving ceremony and that was the icing on the cake.

On our way home it started to drizzle a bit and the windscreen wipers are a bit useless but funny. There are two but each has its own button so I only used the one on the driver's side.

The problem with the battery of the Stabilimenti Farina got worse and eventually we had to call road side assistance to change it.

It was getting darker so I tried all the switches on the dash to find the headlight switch. Finally it turned out that you had to turn the starting key a bit further to engage the headlights. It really is something funny and special compared to modern cars!

When we made it home it felt like quite an achievement. It was very fullfilling and I'm looking forward to my next drive! I'm addicted to vintage Ferraris!

Ciao, Peter

 

Looks like one hell of a event. Too bad I had to miss it. I'll be watching this space for future events.

Amazing shot of those vintage Ferrari's taking in fuel.

 

Thanks Peter, great write up.
I'm very envious. I've driven all sorts of cars from 1909 Maxwell to modern Ferraris and everything in between...but never a 1950's vintage Ferrari. I nearly had the chance to drive a 250 Boano and an Ellena a few years ago, but there were problems with the cars and the weather turned bad. Oh well another time perhaps

Cheers
Simon

 

mmmmmmm.................looks like I missed something.....................

 

Nothing to add!!
100% agree!!