Attended a interview with him last night and bid on an auction for a few of us to have breakfast with him tomorrow. If there are any interesting questions anyone may have I could perhaps ask? Unfortunately I cannot ask anything to do with MS current health and situation, someone asked that at the Q&A session last night and for privacy reasons he cannot comment. His story was fascinating to listen to, one of the questions I am going to ask is how involved LDM was in the F1 team.
Sure! But doesn't Adrian Newey still claim to do it on paper?....... Just kinda got me wondering. Have a great breakfast, Cheers, Ian
What is his 'dream' formula in F1? What is his idea of perfect balance between aero and mechanical grip? When will he design Ferrari a championship wining car again?
Yes, when is he back at Ferrari and when that happens, will he be full-time? We just cannot wait for that moment in whichever shape or form.
RORY must be in his late 70's now, he came out of retirement for Michael back in the 90's, not sure he would want to come back now, although I'm sure he would kick ass! Thank him for the years of great cars he gave Ferrari!
Rory is currently working for Ferrari assisting in the design, he spends a few months a year at the factory and at the talk last night he mentioned he is currently working on 2017's car and is quite excited about the new regulations. Good news is someone asked him if he would ever consider working for another F1 team, the short and clear answer was "NO", its very clear he has a big passion for Ferrari. Probably a lesser known fact is he received one of the first F430's off the line.
I´d like to ask him hundreds of questions, but I´ll keep it simple. As I think FIA asked for his input in the design of the current regulations: Is he happy with the current Formula? If the answer is NO, how would he deal with the things most fans don´t like right now: engine noise, lack of overtaking without DRS help and drivers that can´t push for fear of wasting his tyres and running out of fuel.
What a morning! There were only me and 5 others at the breakfast so it was great to talk on such an informal way with him. He is very down to earth and humble. He has a very special affection towards the F2004 and of course Schumacher who he describes as being unbelievable to work with. 2017 is going to be interesting he thinks in terms of new rules and the opportunities they present. We spent quite a bit of time talking about the old days, for him one of the most unbelievable designers is Mauro Forghieri in the sense he could design the entire car from engine to chassis and he designed great cars. What perhaps is not well known is he was involved in the bringing the F1 trac traction control system from F1 to the road cars starting with the F430, he used to test the cars at Fiorano and on the road and there were quite a few amusing stories of some scared engineers when the system didn't work as intended at low speeds during the early development phase, cars very sideways. His first Ferrari, a 360 Modena, the tyres were worn out in 5000 km's. He loves cars and loves driving. He didn't rate the rudimentary traction control system in the 360 at all. He spoke a bit about his role developing the chassis for La Ferrari. His best F1 driver of all time, Jim Clark, who he happened to meet and have a beer with in the 1960's shortly before Jim was killed, after Jim its Schumacher.
Ask him one word he would use to describe himself. and I always liked this list of questions: What is your favorite word? What is your least favorite word? What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? What turns you off? What is your favorite curse word? What sound or noise do you love? What sound or noise do you hate? What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? What profession would you not like to do? If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Jealous! S
