AMNE - Ferrari service

Success!

A three judge panel poked and prodded my car for about 20 minutes and in the end it scored at least 97 points to earn the Premio di Platino award.

That qualified the car to enter the Coppa Bella Machina judging, a nerve wracking 1 hour examination to show that the car is completely original and that everything worked. The judge had about 180 items in his inspection booklet, and it included taking him for a 4 mile ride. Every item is "pass" or "fail", if even 1 item is a fail you're out. You do have 1 hour to fix a fail item. One guy had his 430 jacked up so he could replace 8 screws missing from the pans underneath the car. He had to rush over to the paddocks to borrow a garage jack and the proper screws, but he made it.

I really want to thank Steve Oldford for his invaluable advice not only for my prep for this event, but since I have owned my 612. And also Dave Angeloni for his meticulous attention to my car.
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Tom, my car is the middle one, also see post 92. The black car on the left is a 599. The light blue on the right is a 2005 612.

 

Congrats, Paul!

 

Congratulations Paul...that is fantastic...and well deserved.
Steve and Dave do a fantastic job with our cars.
Enjoy the Win

 

Beautiful! Congrats on the trophies. Well deserved.
T

 

Ok, even I'm getting excited.

 

Paul congratulations on your award

 

End of the line. I can't take the 612 any further!

Put on just over 2200 miles so far.
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That's an awesome drive over the Overseas Highway in any car; must be sublime in a Ferrari.
T

 

Just visited Steve and Matthew at AMNE for the first time along with a friend who is interested in a Vantage. The hospitality was absolutely first rate. Excellent tour of the facilities and the stock and a nice bit of car chat.

Thanks, gents. I know you'll be hearing back from me for some work on the 456M and I'm pretty sure you'll be hearing back on the Vantage hunt as well.

Best lunchtime since winter set in 5 months ago...

 

Great photo Paul, and nice work representing New England.
molto bene!

 

An award that I will never be a contender for...and your driving it in the rain!

 

Back home!

The 612 perfomed flawlessly and fabulously. It was just sheer pleasure to drive the entire time. Unfortunately a couple construction and accident delays caused coolant temps to hit 210+ and oil to 180, and the stop and go's weren't kind to the clutch.

The whole trip was 4312 miles. I used 287.734 gallons of Shell V-Power Nitro+ for an average 15 mpg. My best mileage for unrestricted highway driving was 17.3 mpg. About two thirds through the trip I added a half quart of oil. Although at times I think I may have exceeded the posted speed limit , I never had interaction with the local gendarmes.

The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires performed very well. The tires seemed well planted on the pavement in dry conditions, and in wet conditions seemed to sipe away water so there was no sense of hydroplaning on the highway. I think these tires are soft because expansion cracks on the highway did not seem as harsh as with my previous P Zeros. The tires are quiet, although it was hard to tell over the roar of the V12.

Well I just had my annual service in March, and now it will have to be done again. Get ready Dave.

Thanks to all who responded to my posts. I appreciated all the congrats and well wishes. The entire trip was a blast!

And one last pic.

We decided to open up our summer cottage in Asheville before returning home.
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Thanks for sharing!

 

THAT is a house worthy of a Ferrari. Thanks for taking us along for the ride, Paul.
T

 

You guys really should have Biltmore of a cottage. Seems a mite cramped....