Track and feel good

If I was ever in the unlikely position of being asked to specify the perfect two-day break, there is a fair chance that my reply would involve the words “private jet”, “Ferrari” and “Monza”. So, it didn’t take a great deal of thought when the nice man from the Ferrari press office phoned to invite me to the press trip for the launch of Fiorano Ferrari—a new owners’ club concept for Ferrari GB customers.

It was only a few weeks later, as I sat in the pit lane happily strapped in to a roaring F430 that it struck me that I had never even sat in such a powerful car before, let alone raced one around one of the fastest circuits in the world. Well, there’s nothing like learning by doing. Or so I thought. As I sat there staring at a monsoon-style down pour bouncing off the tarmac, I tried desperately to recall a single detail of the 20-minute briefing from earlier in the day. Everything, from hold ing the steering wheel correctly to getting the right racing line and using braking and acceleration to keep the car on the track had been covered.

At the time it all seemed to be in very sensible, plain English. Now, it seemed not a single one of these points had lodged in my memory. Thank God for the experienced instructor sat next to me. So it's no wonder that nerves gave way to mild panic as I eased the roaring V8 out on to the track and the instructor said something like “Relax, it’s only a car”. Only a car? This beast is capable of almost 200mph and of hitting 60mph from a standing start in just 4 seconds.

By the time the first corner had come and gone in a blur I was caught up in a terrible quandary. The idea of track driving is to go around as quickly as possible, but I wanted to savour every minute behind the wheel. “Who knows when I’ll get to drive another Ferrari?” was my predominant thought as the instructor issued a near constant stream of “speed up”, and “put your foot down”.

The locals call Monza “the Temple of Speed”, and I was probably committing some sort of sacrilege—luckily it was raining so hard that no-one was out to watch it. Or so I thought. Part of the reason for the Fiorano Ferrari track days is to improve your driving. Hence the instructors, who very kindly suggested that I not think too hard about giving up my day job. Still, it was lunchtime and I was soon in the more familiar surroundings of a buffet—at last a chance to show that I was good at something.

But the rain had stopped and I was due out any time now in another car—this time a 360 Challenge, the racing version of the equally lovely 360 Modena. Less powerful than the F430, but weighing some 300kgs less, this felt more like a racing car and thus felt more at home on the track. Sadly, I felt about as home on the track as a granny in a Corsa on the front row. With a different instructor, equally keen on exhorting me to “give it some welly”, I finally relaxed, gave it all I had just as I came out of the Curva Parabolica and—for a moment at least—I felt like the real deal.

Or so I thought. But part of the reason for the Fiorano Ferrari track days is to improve your driving. To do this, the cars are fitted with sensors and monitors. Once back in the pit lane technicians are able to examine all the details of each lap, pinpointing where you deviated from the perfect racing line, where gear changes happened or didn’t happen and what speeds were reached at which points. This blow-by-blow dissection of my laughable performance on the track left me somewhat demoralised and eager to get out and have another go. At least the next time I strap into a track-ready Ferrari, I'll be ready.

What is Fiorano Ferrari?
Named after the companies home test track, Fiorano Ferrari is a scheme established by Ferrari GB partly to help Ferrari owners get the most out of their cars and largely to help differentiate Ferrari in an increasingly crowded supercar market. Membership, which is free for a year with the purchase of any new Ferrari in the UK gives owners access to a range of track days, events, factory tours and driving experiences. Although intended to build brand loyalty, it’s also—in the language of Ferrari at least—about getting customers “closer to the private, inner world of Ferrari”. There are two levels of membership. Rosso is free to all new customers for a year. But it is with the upgraded, Corse membership that things get really interesting. Corse members are given unlimited access to all Fiorano Ferrari track events. Better still, members are able to drive their own Ferrari on some of the finest racing circuits in Europe under expert Fiorano Ferrari instruction. Corse membership costs £4,400 in year one, with an annual renewal fee of £1,760. Rosso membership is free to new Ferrari owners or costs £1,900 in year one for existing Ferrari owners, with a renewal fee of £850.