Tour the Ferrari Factory, a Creampuff's Guide

try looking on the ferrari owners site. i think that's where i saw it.

 

Leaving for the airport in two hours. Of course from Alaska, I don't get there for two days.

 

Finally downloaded from my camera Puff-Puff )
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Checking in from Maranello. Unbelievable trip so far. Don't worry, I'll download pics as soon as we get back next Monday. I got some pics of the new California without the disguises today but it still had some stripes on it to throw us off a little bit but it's FAR better looking in person than the pictures. The tour was great but I was genuinely surprised by the number of Scuderias in production. There was at least a dozen on the production line when we were there this morning.

There was also a vintage rally that went thru town today with lots of great old cars. The museum exceeded my expectations. The only thing missing was to see the F1 cars testig on Fiorano. You can hear the engines as they're testing the simulations but no cars on the track. Room 501 at the Planet is perfect. Looks right out onto the F1 buildings and the track.

Thanks to all who posted on this link since it was by far the most informational one we've seen. Stay tuned for pics when we return.

 

Some pics from Tuesday, sorry they're in with all my other Euro pics

http://www.collinsclan.co.uk/Pages/Cars/eurotour2008/index.html

 

Mark,

Those are some great shots!! Thanks for sharing them with us. I'm curious...what places did you stop during your trip? I obviously recognize Monacco. But what about the other places? Where is that underground waterfall?

Was the trip a part of a club event? Or just something a group of you decided to do. Is it an annual thing?

Sorry to ask so many questions...it just looks like a fun trip (and drive)

Bill

 

Hi Bill

I made a short diary which hopefully explains all


http://www.collinsclan.co.uk/Pages/Cars/diary08/index.html

 

Wow, I had no idea Piz Gloria was a real location!! Thanks for sharing your diary. That does help to answer where some of those pictures were taken.

By the way, I love your 599!!

Bill

 

Mark,

Thanks for the great pics and sharing the stories!!! I am super jealous of Europeans, that you can just drive a few hours and be in the alps, sooooooo cool!!!! Plus you can take the 599 to the factory or get factory delivery on your Fcar, BMW or Merc!

Love the pic with the top down and snow still on the ground, very cool!

I have made the trip thru Europe a couple of times and look forward to another visit as soon as the dollar gets stronger again, LOL!!


Robert

 

Wow....beautiful trip and photos! Thank you so much for sharing. Your 599 is gorgeous!

L.

 

Great pics Mark. A trip to the Ferrari factory is definitely on my list of places to visit in the future. Beautiful 599 you have too. I see you guys aren't afraid to rack up some miles on your F cars in Europe. I can't wait to do the same with my future F430.

 

Finally loaded the pics up to an album http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/album.php?u=29621

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread since it really made a difference in the trip. I want to get back again after they open the new production facility. If it's anything like the engine manufacturing it's going to set the standard for auto manufacturing. I was amazed at the different color combinations of cars that I saw there under development. Several that I would never have thought of but looked quite good. I was somewhat surprised by the number of people on the tour. It was so large they had the break us into three groups. I wanted to meet the other FChatters that posted here but after asking several people their names and such, I finally gave up.

My only real disappointments were the Cavallino Restaurant and not seeing any of the F1 cars out on the Fiorano track. Cavallino was easily the worst meal we had in Italy. I should have known by the number of people there and the fact that I had the cut my fish with a knife. Most restaurants in Italy are packed by 8:30 or 9:00 but there were five other tables there when we ate and the food simply wasn't worth going for. As bad as Cavallino was, Montana's was great and one of the best meals we had on our trip. The memorabilia at Montana's was far better as well. The big (and pleasant) surprise at Montana's was there are no menus. They simply come out and tell you what they made that day based on what they saw at the market. Great memorabilia and GREAT food.

We stayed in Room 501 at the Planet that overlooks the F1 facility and the Fiorano track. We could hear the F1 engines screaming away but never saw a car. I can only believe they were replaying the Canadian GP or something on one of the test beds. The Ferrari Galleria was incredible as well. The fact that you can walk right up to many of these treasures was impressive and many history making cars were right there for you to see.

I got several close up looks at the new California since they kept driving it back and forth by the painting facility when were were on that part of the tour. When you tour that part of the facility you can only look in from the outside (due to the chemicals in use) on an elevated walkway so we had plenty of chances to see it. There was no body cladding on it but they did have it mildly striped up. Luckily, I got some pics of it outside the plant since no cameras are allowed on the tour.

We also were lucky to see a vintage rally coming thru Maranello on their way to Modena. There was one bright red car that I wasn't able to identify so let me know what you think it is. I love the newer Alfa Romeo's and there were lots of them running around Maranello. I wish Alfa would bring them to the US because that would be my daily driver in a heartbeat. When we drove by the entrance where they test drive the cars I had 430 Scuderia fever. There was a bright red one that was on us going around the Cavallino roundabout and then blew off on his test drive and a beautiful black one on our way back. The test drivers really push the cars hard and it's a blast to watch. I don't know how many Scuderia's are being built but I saw those two and counted 12 on the production line.

The shopping was the most fun of all (outside of the tour). The Ferrari store had some great stuff but the prices were a little on the high side compared to some of the other places. We were surprised that the Ferrari Store in Venice actually had more things than the Maranello store but both are clearly worth the effort. Our favorite was Hors Ligne. They had a great selection of items, VERY helpful and genuinely wanted to help you find the perfect thing. We even went back twice. While the Shopping Formula 1 store had a great selection of models, I found their staff to be incredibly rude and clearly didn't like Americans (or kids). We would have likely bought more but the lady that worked there was so rude that we finally left. Maybe we caught her on a bad day but I would never walk in their door again.

One last surprise was I read the book "The art of driving in the rain" that I picked up to read on the plane over. It's for sale at Starbucks and all the usual book stores. Great book but the writer clearly knows his stuff about racing and has a special place in his heart for Ferrari. I would definitely encourage everyone to read it and it has a great ending.

All in all, a fantastic trip but made 100+ times better by those who posted and shared where to go, what to see and do. I made it much better and THANKS!

 

you didn't catch her on a bad day. shes rude. and we bought a sweat shirt too! i agree with you about cavallino and montanas. it was funny at montanas because like you said, they just kept bringing out food. eventually we stopped, i think it was before the entrees, they didn't look happy, but we were stuffed.

 

Nice photos Monte. Looks like a great time. Lucky for you, the Alfa 8C is coming to the states. Check with FOW about getting one for yourself. Also, you should post those F149 shots in the California section.

 

Great trip blog and excellent pics. It makes me want to go on the same route. Thank you for sharing. Your 599 is just gorgeous.

 

Monte,

My guess on your mystery car would be a late 60's Bizzarrini IA3. I think Ed (Wetpet) took a picture of one at last year's Concorso Italia de Little Italy. I'm not 100% sure if that was a IA3 in Baltimore, but your mystery car sure does look like one. Check out this thread:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166418&page=2

Page 2 Post # 23. Yours looks like a racing version of that same car.

Any other guesses?

Bill

 

Oops, I forgot to add...."nice pics!"

Thanks for sharing them with us.

Bill

 

We stayed in Modena, and came back from the tour to find this in the main square...
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That's the group and I heard they were on the way to Modena so you hit the jackpot. I recognize the panel on the door since there was a dead Alfa that pulled over for a quick repair right in front of the factory gate that was carrying that on his door. Looks like I missed quite a few very cool cars.

 

Wow..........this is an amazing trip Mark...........fantastic pictures.

 

Beautiful.........thanks for sharing.

 

Hey how is the driving in Italy.

I see some of you guys went on the June 10th tour.

We are set up for september and will try to catch the Grand Prix in Monza the same week.

Planning on arriving in Milan, heading to Maranello, and Lake Como.

Have heard it may be difficult to get around without GPS, but just wondering if anyone can give us advice on where to stay other than the Planet and how hard it was to get around Italy by private car.

Off the topic, anyone know of a good place to Scuba dive near Milan?

thanks

 

to a certain extent i have to agree. specially if you get onto any small side roads, at night , in the rain. i probably would still get one though. another thing i mentioned before is to "fly over" the area in google earth first to familiarize yourself. Another good hotel choice is the hotel dumas in maranello.

strangely, i had the hardest time getting out of the airport and heading in the right direction.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187802-d202765-Reviews-Best_Western_Hotel_Domus-Maranello_Emilia_Romagna.html

 

Monte,

Sorry I missed you and also Mark... There were many more people there than I expected and I don't know what any of you guys look like! I did see a RHD 599 in front of the "welcome center" which I assume was Mark's but we must have been in different groups because it wasn't there when we came back to the entrance.

I really enjoyed the plant tour, the Planet hotel was good, and seeing that California drive by a few times was a treat. On the flipside, the galleria was great as far as F1 cars, but there weren't very many classic street cars- you see much more at events like the Cavallino. And the Maranello store is nice, but the Milan store is HUGE.

All in all a great trip! I haven't gotten home yet, but finally found some free wifi so I'm taking advantage...

Thanks to all who helped with tips on this thread, they really came in handy! When I get home, I'll try to post some photos of what we saw...