Hi Everyone, This is going to be the first of many posting. A little bit of background... My wife and I are both turning 40 years old this year, and decided we needed to do something appropriate to celebrate. So we purchased a 550 (sight unseen) in the UK (we live in Canada) and are planning on doing the following trip in it: Visit Silverstone - my Godson is racing a 308 GT4 in the Pirelli Maranello Challenge double header race. Go to France and watch the 24 hrs Le Mans race. Continue south and drive over the Milau suspension bridge (a la Top Gear) Follow the riviera into Monaco for lunch Continue into Italy, and head towards Modena Trips have been arranged to visit the Ferrari & Maserati factories Currently working on Lamborghini, Pagini & Ducati factory trips Then heading North to take in the Stelvio pass (the best road in the world according to Clarkson...) Mont Blank tunnel into Switzerland. Into Germany and a bit of Autobahn fun. Booked evening lapping at the Nurburgring for a few laps. Back to the UK and to Heathrow airport to fly the car back to Canada. This is going to be the trip of a lifetime and we are both so excited! The fact that we have yet to drive the 550 just adds to the anticipation. The car is currently at Rosneath Engineering in the UK having a major service and any required fettling to make it ready for the trip. This is going to be a 3 week adventure, and as we don't physically have the car with us, I'm struggling to find out the measurements of the trunk. We will likely need all (and more) of the trunk space, so does anyone have any measurements of the luggage capacity so that we can pack accordingly? I'll be posting pictures / video as we go. Cheers, Steve Image Unavailable, Please Login
That sounds like its going to be a great trip. You might try posting in the Canada section and see if someone with a 550 can let you test fit your luggage. I'd be happy to but I'm a bit far from you.
Have fun - use soft bags only - if its anything like a 575 (it will be) - then there's a lot of space in the half wheel well under the boot floor - there's also much that gets missed in the very outside edges of the wings - one large and one medium bag plus a bit more will fit in the centre section Another tip recently given me is shirts and underwear can be very cheaply bought so throw away and replace dirties - much cheaper than hotel laundries (& very Jack Meacher !)
cogratulations , enjoy your trip. The 575 luggage compartment is quite large. Enough so to fit a set of golf clubs . You will easily fit 3 reasonable size overnight bags. There is also the rear luggage shelf where you can fit a medium sized luggage bag.
The shelf is indeed huge but there are both security and safety arguments against using it unnecessarily
Fantastic trip idea, kudos for doing that. I disagree that the trunk is large. I have been on long trips with my brother many times, and we make it work but it is not a huge amount of space. Two medium sized hold-alls will fit, and then there will be some space on top for flatter cases. Trunk size, nett, is 190 litres if remember correctly. It is good enough for two people for two weeks but don't overdo it, and rather pack in more smaller cases than fewer larger cases. Onno
What a great way to tour Europe! My dream vacation is to drive a Ferrari from Nice to Rome. You have plenty of room in the Maranello for two and all of your luggage. This trip is exactly what this car was designed to do.
Just scroll right down to "550 luggage set" and you will see what can fit into the car with the right bags.
Thanks for the feedback - this is indeed going to be a trip of a lifetime! We are used to motorbike trips, so are used to traveling light. We are using the pictures of the official luggage to get a sense of the type / rough size of bags that will fit. We are thinking a couple of soft duffel bags with a suit carrier either draped over them or on the parcel shelf. We also need to pack light on the way out as someone wants to do some shopping in Milan as we pass through....
Sounds like a great adventure, so here is some of the info you requested. In my opinion the trunk is fairly large. It is apx 16" in depth, 18 " from rear to firewall and about 64" wide although it is not square, tapers a little toward the fenders. There is also a sub trunk where the tool kit is stored that has some usable space. it is 26" x 15" and is mostly available with the small tool kit etc. A good place for oil, flat fix and maybe hold a couple of cosmetic cases. And finally don't forget that big rear deck with the two big leather straps !!! Those are there to hold additional luggage. My Factory set are 20" wide, 16" deep, and appx 5 " thick . That is times two. you can find a lot of room back there and cinch the straps down and do some Grand Touring" . Hope this is the dimension info you needed, and yes, soft side is the way to go so you can work around the curves, CD changer etc.
Fantastic way to live! Can't wait to follow this thread. We visited Maranello last year; if you want any tips send me a pm. In a nutshell; dinner at Montana; lunch at Cavallino. Reservations for both - get a few photos of your car in front of the gates. congrats on a beautiful car! Kevin
Thanks Kevin. Just had confirmation of factory tours at Ferrari, Maserati and Pagani. 11 days to go and counting...
Great idea. I just finished a trip from Modena via Venize, Cannes (at the film festival), Monaco and home to Stockholm . The Garmin took us through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and then Germany. Make sure you are on the Autobahn when there is little or no traffic. The 550 is awesome to drive at top speed, and you should take the oportunity to do it... We found not many appropriate stretches to do so. Not before north of Kassel. Space-wise, there was not a problem to carry enough luggage. Do you have a Ghibli Cup?? )
Hi, The plan is to be at Silverstone on the 16th, but if that plan changes we will try and get to Blenheim Palace for the Club event. Packing is coming on well and thanks to the advice from here I am sure we will be good. As far as owning a Ghibli Cup, we were fortunate to have owned 2 of the 26 RHD ones when we lived in the UK and only sold the last one when we emigrated to Canada. They are amazing cars and at the time (1997) had the highest specific output of any production car in the World - 175BHP / Liter, which was pretty good for a 2 liter V6. The 550 had a shakedown run yesterday of a few hundred miles and I'm told it is running beautifully. Only 4 days to go and I get to drive it myself for the first time! Can't wait!!!
