Thank you so much for this thread. Living the dream!! P.S. I was wondering how you met Balboni at the factory and then saw him at Pagani as well. At first it looked like you had planned all that to begin with! Thanks for the detail.
Haha yeah not planned at all. When we were in the museum, I saw my friend talking to some old guy who had his back turned. As I approached it dawned on me who it was. We had a very nice exchange and conversation with him. My friend asked him how he was enjoying retirement and he said something like "No, no, can never stop working." It was really kinda weird seeing him just walk around the museum and mess around in the gift shop. I mean it's Valentino Balboni for crying out loud. But it was like he was the janitor. And yeah, later after the Pagani tour he came up again with several Lamborghini employees and what turned out to be a "customer." Again totally nice guy. Amazing. And yet, I didn't ask for an autograph. Kicking myself over that one. Oh well at least I got the picture!
Good write up. The N24 is an experience that is difficult to reduce to words. We can't imagine not being there each year. Walking around on the starting grid alone is worth the trip. Glad you got the experience in the pits and looking down from on top of pit lane. It doesn't look like you were able to get out into the forest. That's a whole additional layer of madness and fun... Something to look forward to next time. Photo coming out of the Karussell. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am almost speechless Andrew!! Thank you for sharing your experience with us and Mr. Jim has always been very gracious too me and I look forward to meeting him one of these days. The scenery around there is so distracting. Gregg
What an awesome trip. It looks like it was a blast, congrats on a great trip. And thanks for the pics.
fantastic post, I´ve been to almost all the places mentioned but after your post i feel like copy your trip as soon as possible ............ sorry about the Stelvio, also a must, but You can save it to next time .... thanks for sharing !
Great trip, nice story, thanks for sharing! Reading your report and watching your photos just gives me the idea again how "small" the world sometimes is, or at least seems to be. As I live over here, I know a lot of the places you pictured, and just a few weeks back I was travelling the roads down to Italy. And the orange MP4/C12 you pictured (as the black Z4) is from Dörr Motorsport, my BMW Dealer north of Frankfurt. Since 2 years they are also McLaren dealer, the only one in the world with a racing team. A couple of years ago, there chief technician still worked on my normal car... Great stuff!
Congrats on the experience, and for helping the charity event in the first place. I hadn't heard about the V8 hotel, so I'll have to check that out or get Uncle Sam to station me in Germany again!
Thank you! Yes the hotel was great. Definitely a great place to stay. The dealerships attached to it are amazing. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free
We'll be here wit P 4/5 Competizione Wayne Carini to be the Master of Ceremonies for the 9th Annual Americana Manhasset Concours d'Elegance
Thank you very much! Since that trip I have been to Jim's garage and rode in P 4/5, and also went to Quail where I was able to see P 4/5 and P 4/5C together for the first time. Headed back to the Ring for this year's Nurburgring 24Hr. I'll post a thread about that trip as well. Jim and company have always been amazing each time and I am extremely thankful to have gotten to know them over the past three years.
if my health goes well will be joining you please let me know where and how to bid. where did you stay?