I think I would have shot myself......

On a nice sunny Monday in May, 1993, I had the pleasure to take delivery of a new 911 at the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen. The following Thursday I began my first DE ever, at the Nurburgring. There were over 400 cars enrolled in the school including a group of about 15 from the Ferrari Club of Switzerland. In this group I met a nice couple who "pegged the meter". The wife was driving a Testarossa and the husband an F40.

The school ran on both the new GP course and the old Nordschleife. It began on Thursday and finished on Saturday, the day of the "final exam". For the final, the 20 or so instructors were positioned at various points around the course, and graded each student's line and speed as they passed by. During Saturday lunch, one could partake from the buffet or run practice laps before the final that afternoon. I was in the GP course paddock area talking to a few folks when the F40 driver left for a practice lap.

About 15 minutes later we could see a tall blue cloud rising and then following the length of the finishing straight on the Nordschleife. We later learned that the F40 driver missed a 4-5 up-shift and went 4-3 by mistake. The engine "hand grenaded" and left the most impressive cloud of smoke I'd ever seen.

I ran into the driver that evening at the "graduation" banquet, and offered my condolences. He was absolutely nonplussed by the incident and had already arranged covered transport of the car back to Maranello to have the engine replaced. His biggest concern seemed to be riding with his wife and listening to her all the way back to Switzerland!

Life is short, so enjoy the ride.

Cheers,

Fred R.

 

I only recently purchased a Ferrari and joined this community. Not all of life's best stories happened in the last 10 minutes.

Cheers,

Fred R.