Well I just came back from a 2 day road trip to the land of Italian sports cars, Maranello and Sant'Agata. Since we all here are petrolheads I decided to share some details with you.
We started from Turin, where I'm living now, and headed to Maranello in our rented car, which takes around 3 hours. The Ferrari factory is a very secret place so visits are not allowed, however you can go to the museum, Galleria Ferrari. Vistis to the Fiorano race track are not possible either, but we managed to find a decent place for seeing it and spotted an Ferrari F1 beeing tested by the engineers. As expected, is very easy to see nice cars over there, but the cool thing is that you can drive them too. Starting from 60€, there are different companies where you can rent yours for few minutes.
I took a F430 Scuderia and my friend followed me in a Murcielago LP640, both of them stunning cars. After 10 minutes of driving we stopped and switched cars, for another 10 minutes. Even though you drive with a guy of the rental company as a co-driver, they usually allow you to floor it without hesitation, so we could feel the astonishing acceleration of those machines, which is something undescriptible.... we hit around 220kph in the streets of Maranello, not far from the city center, just amazing.... Everything was recorded with on board cameras. We could even have a drag race in a traffic light, bud sadly the gearbox of my Lambo automatically switched to neutral while waiting for the green light, and since the illumination in the dashboard is pretty bad in that car, I didn't realised, so my friend started flying in the Suceria while I was revving the V12 in neutral.... a bit sad. Apparently the gearbox goes to neutral after 10 seconds unless you keep the brake pedal pressed. Those two cars for 10 minutes each one and the video recorded in a DVD was for 145€. I know is not a bargain, but it's well worth.
I decided to try a F355 GTS with manual transmission afterwards. I didn't go that fast but I had a lot of fun just cruising around, shifting up and down, double-clutching... These new gearboxes we have nowadays with paddles are pretty fast, but a proper manual transmission is still x100 times cooler. One of my friends drove the 458 instead, 15 minutes 150€.
Later in the evening whe drove our rented Renault Scenic on the windy roads where they test the Ferrari cars. Excellent corners and great landscapes that we complemented with a delicious dinner in a restaurant on our way, tipical Italian food (no, it wasn't pizza and pasta, Italian cuisine is much more than that). I couldn't believe we were at a restauran'ts table talking about our experiences driving different super cars, just like in Top Gear
After such a nice day we finally went to the Maranello Village, a very cool hotel with great ambientation, the perfect place for a Ferrari fan that costs justs 30€ per night.
There's a very special feeling in Maranello that I'd like to describe... Lets say a forest for example. You can hear different animals or insects here and there, the sound of the wind, the leaves... all that is part of the forest, the ambientation that makes it feel so good. That happens in Maranello as well, but with cars instead... you can hear the engines roaring from far away, or passing by next to you... it really feels like they're living beings with souls, hundred of thems, running around the city. It's such a great feeling...
The next morning we headed to the Pagani factory, somewhere in Modena, where you can have a tour for 18 bucks. It's a very very small place since they only build 17 cars per year and they do it completely by hand, but you're allowed to see everything, with no secrets. We also had an unexpected suprise: Playboy was having a photo session with some chicks with the cars when we get there We also had the chance to say hello to Horacio Pagani, who was quite busy with some interviews.
The next step was Lamborghini territory, Sant'Agata. We had lunch in a restaurant just few meters away from the factory, with excellent food and very reasonable price. We enjoyed a great horse meat meal and some other proper Italian cuisine, everything was fantastic, including the service. Then we get to the factory, which has a small museum completely free with very nice cars like the Miura concept or the last Countach ever made. We then started the tour, wich is not that cheap. Since we all were students we paid 29€, but the standard price is 39€. We had a tour inside the factory with a guide who explained everything while visting the assembling line of the Gallardo and the new Aventador, another great experience.
But probably our favorite part of the trip came later, when we met Valentino Balboni and chilled out with him for a while, as well as taking pictures with him and the cars at the museum. I must say he's a really nice guy, just like he seems to be on TV. It was a pleasure for us.
On our way back to the car, we saw a small garage where they had a Citroen DS Pallas, the favourite car of one of my friends who came to the trip. We started talking to the guys there, who turned out to be ex-workers at the Lamborghini factory, and ended up having a spin in the Citroen and a coffee with them. Was amazing how friendly they were, I really appreciated their hospitality. For our surprise, we also had the chance to see some stuff they hide in the garage that we were not supposed to see... I'm sorry but that's all I can say
The trip was over, but on our way back to Turin there as private collection called Museo Panini. Is in a farm, kinda hard to find and free entrance. The old man has all kind of Maseratis from the 40's to the 90's as well as some other cars and motorbikes. All of them in perfect condition, never restored and still running. The value of that collection goes for sure above 100 millions of euro, and probably a lot more.
So it definitely was an epic road trip for us, and very inspirational for our thesis project, since we're studying car design in Turin and we're graduating this year
I might add some pics when I copy them from my friends, and if some of you is interested in doing a similar trip feel free to ask any doubts.
Thanks for reading!!
- Few pics and info added
Galleria Ferrari, Maranello
Pagani Factory, Modena
Museo Panini, in a farm somewhere between Modena and Bologna
Lamborghini factory and museum, Sant'Agata
We started from Turin, where I'm living now, and headed to Maranello in our rented car, which takes around 3 hours. The Ferrari factory is a very secret place so visits are not allowed, however you can go to the museum, Galleria Ferrari. Vistis to the Fiorano race track are not possible either, but we managed to find a decent place for seeing it and spotted an Ferrari F1 beeing tested by the engineers. As expected, is very easy to see nice cars over there, but the cool thing is that you can drive them too. Starting from 60€, there are different companies where you can rent yours for few minutes.
I took a F430 Scuderia and my friend followed me in a Murcielago LP640, both of them stunning cars. After 10 minutes of driving we stopped and switched cars, for another 10 minutes. Even though you drive with a guy of the rental company as a co-driver, they usually allow you to floor it without hesitation, so we could feel the astonishing acceleration of those machines, which is something undescriptible.... we hit around 220kph in the streets of Maranello, not far from the city center, just amazing.... Everything was recorded with on board cameras. We could even have a drag race in a traffic light, bud sadly the gearbox of my Lambo automatically switched to neutral while waiting for the green light, and since the illumination in the dashboard is pretty bad in that car, I didn't realised, so my friend started flying in the Suceria while I was revving the V12 in neutral.... a bit sad. Apparently the gearbox goes to neutral after 10 seconds unless you keep the brake pedal pressed. Those two cars for 10 minutes each one and the video recorded in a DVD was for 145€. I know is not a bargain, but it's well worth.
I decided to try a F355 GTS with manual transmission afterwards. I didn't go that fast but I had a lot of fun just cruising around, shifting up and down, double-clutching... These new gearboxes we have nowadays with paddles are pretty fast, but a proper manual transmission is still x100 times cooler. One of my friends drove the 458 instead, 15 minutes 150€.
Later in the evening whe drove our rented Renault Scenic on the windy roads where they test the Ferrari cars. Excellent corners and great landscapes that we complemented with a delicious dinner in a restaurant on our way, tipical Italian food (no, it wasn't pizza and pasta, Italian cuisine is much more than that). I couldn't believe we were at a restauran'ts table talking about our experiences driving different super cars, just like in Top Gear
After such a nice day we finally went to the Maranello Village, a very cool hotel with great ambientation, the perfect place for a Ferrari fan that costs justs 30€ per night.
There's a very special feeling in Maranello that I'd like to describe... Lets say a forest for example. You can hear different animals or insects here and there, the sound of the wind, the leaves... all that is part of the forest, the ambientation that makes it feel so good. That happens in Maranello as well, but with cars instead... you can hear the engines roaring from far away, or passing by next to you... it really feels like they're living beings with souls, hundred of thems, running around the city. It's such a great feeling...
The next morning we headed to the Pagani factory, somewhere in Modena, where you can have a tour for 18 bucks. It's a very very small place since they only build 17 cars per year and they do it completely by hand, but you're allowed to see everything, with no secrets. We also had an unexpected suprise: Playboy was having a photo session with some chicks with the cars when we get there
We also had the chance to say hello to Horacio Pagani, who was quite busy with some interviews.The next step was Lamborghini territory, Sant'Agata. We had lunch in a restaurant just few meters away from the factory, with excellent food and very reasonable price. We enjoyed a great horse meat meal and some other proper Italian cuisine, everything was fantastic, including the service. Then we get to the factory, which has a small museum completely free with very nice cars like the Miura concept or the last Countach ever made. We then started the tour, wich is not that cheap. Since we all were students we paid 29€, but the standard price is 39€. We had a tour inside the factory with a guide who explained everything while visting the assembling line of the Gallardo and the new Aventador, another great experience.
But probably our favorite part of the trip came later, when we met Valentino Balboni and chilled out with him for a while, as well as taking pictures with him and the cars at the museum. I must say he's a really nice guy, just like he seems to be on TV. It was a pleasure for us.
On our way back to the car, we saw a small garage where they had a Citroen DS Pallas, the favourite car of one of my friends who came to the trip. We started talking to the guys there, who turned out to be ex-workers at the Lamborghini factory, and ended up having a spin in the Citroen and a coffee with them. Was amazing how friendly they were, I really appreciated their hospitality. For our surprise, we also had the chance to see some stuff they hide in the garage that we were not supposed to see... I'm sorry but that's all I can say
The trip was over, but on our way back to Turin there as private collection called Museo Panini. Is in a farm, kinda hard to find and free entrance. The old man has all kind of Maseratis from the 40's to the 90's as well as some other cars and motorbikes. All of them in perfect condition, never restored and still running. The value of that collection goes for sure above 100 millions of euro, and probably a lot more.
So it definitely was an epic road trip for us, and very inspirational for our thesis project, since we're studying car design in Turin and we're graduating this year
I might add some pics when I copy them from my friends, and if some of you is interested in doing a similar trip feel free to ask any doubts.
Thanks for reading!!
- Few pics and info added
Galleria Ferrari, Maranello
Pagani Factory, Modena
Museo Panini, in a farm somewhere between Modena and Bologna
Lamborghini factory and museum, Sant'Agata
I hope you had proper steak at Maranello