To anyone thinking about taking the plunge on a Ferrari..

I appreciate that a Testarossa/TR/M is an unlikely first Ferrari, although mine was a Testarossa. But anyway; last Saturday was an errands day. I had to drive a child to a party out of town, buy groceries and deliver to an elderly relative; buy more groceries for home; deliver a box of magazines to a contributor; pick up child, drive home.

So I took the F512M, which is an ideal car for chores like this, having two seats and a handy footwell on the passenger side in which bags can be transported (because the Schedoni luggage is stored in the boot/trunk). It turned the chore day into a joy day, with a few opportunities for full-bore acceleration and for catapulting out of corners in second, my favourite activity in the M. I love the way you feel the rear load up as you mash the throttle, and the interaction from the suspension and steering. And the way that engine revs is astonishing. A few good corners and straights in the M is more memorable than three whole days on the road in, say, a F12, for me,

I had half an hour for a coffee and parked in front of an outdoor cafe and observed people go past. Teenagers took selfies, old ladies and kids examined the car, Chinese tourists took videos. This is in central London, a city which is brimming with supercars; on a regular day you'll see five Ferraris at least. As I drove off, a boy of around eight, cycling with his dad, stopped and gave me a thumbs up. This is a child of the Uber-era.

And when I got home after a day of fun, my wife was uber-grateful because, after all, I had been doing chores all day. Self-driving cars? No thanks.

A couple of pictures of my supermarket transport attached.
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Very nice car, enjoy it in good health. they don't make them like they used to.

 

supercars can be used for all kinds of chores and duties....
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Living the dream

 

Great story.
T

 

512 M in london, registered also in GB and LHD?
how can you pass others whenyou not see if it is free or not?
I once drove a RHD car here in germany and had big problem to overtake others

but great "shopping" car

 

Thank you everyone. The more I drive the M (it's my third summer now) the less she feels like a crazy wide midengined 12 cylinder Ferrari and more like a car of my era; there's a feel to many great 80s/90s cars which is quite distinctive.

Ross, I love those pictures, but I'm not sure polo quite counts as a chore..!

Romano, I've never had a problem with this, although I can see why it might be. I have driven UK RHD cars at high speed on the continent since I was 18, and owned and driven LHD cars here since my 20s. It's true that it's just not as convenient when you are overtaking repeatedly, but these days I seek out the emptiest roads I can, when I can (not this last time) and anyway there is a trick to looking out beyond diagonally beyond the front of the next car as you approach. And you can see under lots of cars from an M! And front seat passengers are useful too, as long as they are familiar with overtaking ability in each gear.

But ultimately if your aim is to overtake a lot then you'd be better off in a RS6 than any 512M..

It's also useful being able to get out on the pavement side when parking in town.

 

Great post. I drive at least one of my cars every weekend and nothing is more enjoyable. To have a car that is spirited, responsive and requires driver input without having to take it to track speeds is the greatest thrill of the hobby.

 

darius, hauling all the gear to and from the field and home may not be a chore but it still counts as a duty beyond the original spec of the f40

btw, i had my LHD 512tr in london for years without it being a problem - other than parking garage tickets.....

altho, there was that time in the car elevator in picadilly.......

i also 'moved' the 512tr multiple times between london and geneva and rome, and the car was packed to the gills with my luggage and other assorted stuff i needed to shift, and it did just fine.

 

A Ferrari can be a passport to all sorts of experiences. Many years ago I was at the Le Mans 24 hour race in my 250GTE. I had just arrived at the circuit and needed to collect tickets from the accueil exterieur. As I drove towards the ticket office I found that the road I wanted to drive down was closed by barriers and guarded by a gendarme.

When I asked the gendarme for directions to get around the road closure he politely pulled back the barriers and opened the road especially for me!

 

thats helpful! i agree...many times, being in a ferrari allowed me to access things that otherwise would not have been possible.

was in reims on my way to calais once, needed a restaurant for lunch asap, but wanted something good...saw an interesting place on the michelin guide that was very close to my location, and just pulled in....it was spectacular but required jacket and tie and we were wearing shirts and polos....i pulled up, and the maitre d'hotel was standing outside getting some air, i asked him if we could come in....he looked me over, and said 'park the ferrari right here in front, and come on in'. the other diners were not impressed but we had a sumptuous meal !

 

Great, great stories...I wish we had a book of them..

Today was school sports day. School is a short but nice drive out of town. Whoever says these cars are impractical didn't know what they were talking about - easy to fit all kinds of sports kit plus a guitar into a F512M for the school run, so as long as the kid goes by bus.

The guy doing the parents' parking guides me to a special place so car can be alone in all its glory (and safe from other car doors). Which is great. Until. Having seen the activities, I have to leave during the outdoor prizegiving, to get back into town for a meeting. The only way out from this special spot is to drive directly behind the prizegiving podium, inches from the teachers' backs, in front of the whole school, during the ceremony.

I would have done it if it had just been me, and my wife was ready to make the video, but kids are cruel and I don't want mine living with that story for the next 7 years. So, I stayed, impatiently, and was late....but still don't regret taking the car. The sound and fury from 3000-5000 in third with the windows down...amazing. F12 would despatch that with a flick of the throttle.

 

Ross, your restaurant story reminds me of a time when the magic just didn't work for me.

My son used to row at Marlow (think River Thames, Buckinghamshire, England) and I would sometimes take him and pick him up in the 250. Well, the car park at the rowing club was very small BUT just across the road The Compleat Angler restaurant car park was large and usually pretty empty. As I got out of the car the restaurant Maitre d came across and asked whether I had reserved for lunch. When it was clear I just wanted to use the car park he politely informed me that parking was strictly for patrons only.

I wouldn't have minded but he was ITALIAN! You can't win them all.

 

terry, thats because he did not know what a 250 was !!! thats what you get for driving a super valuable car that is so subtle that it doesnt catch the eye of the unwashed !

 

Perfect stories here guys ! Thanx 4 sharing ! (old photo ... )
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I understand he has since been stripped of his citizenship.

 

Hello everybody,

I love all the stories and can't wait to join the club! Hopefully soon too! Hopefully a 512TR or F550 will be my first Ferrari! Looking at either.

Cheers,
T

 

a 512 TR and a F 550 are 2 completely different cars

 

Chris this is a very profound statement and speaks volumes about the continued relevance of the "real" sportscar for drivers in todays world.

Pity then that so many 2 door swoopy cars are egineered now to require less/minimal driver input, and spirited/responsive has been increasingly lost with searing accleration becoming the standout substitute spec.

 

When my chilldren were much younger the BBI did regular school dropoffs. My daughter was particularily fond of a morning wakeup blast and insisted that the day couldnt start before 100mph had been broached.

Interestingly this is the child who lives in city now and refuses to drive. Yet this past sunday when she was visitng and we needed to go get some food supplies from the country store she said she was happy to go with as long as we took a "fast" car.

One thing I noticed, the grey color could slip by most gawkers and parents, but the few kids who knew/reckognised what it was would suddenly light up as we pulled in.

My now 18 yo son has been on many drives with me, and we do a few club drives luncheons per year. No matter the distractions and pull of the 18yo lifestyle he is always keen to go on one of these day outings. Those times spent together are pricelss.

 

This is so true. In many new fast cars, you get there, without really remembering what happened on the way; or having to do much. I notice that incrementally with each generation of Ferrari V12s, also 911s, and others. The cumulative difference between generations is huge.

But then, would a 275 owner from the 60s say that about our cars?

 

I am looking forward to testing both! The TR is the car I've wanted for many many years!

 

I don't think so. The cars of the 70s / 80s are still very much mechanical and analog and without any of the computer generated driver correcting features and unusable power of today's cars directed by a dual clutch. You can still bury the pedal on a Boxer or TR, even if temporarily. No way to do that on something more modern.

 

Thought about this quite a bit.

The 275 owners complained about the daytona because it was too heavy and too much of a high speed straighline machine/truck. The daytona owners didnt warm up tot he 365 bb because it was "slower" and less useable. They had also yet come to appreciate the mid engined handling, not least because the tires were also crap. But all of these cars while different need care skill to drive and were full of the vicerla fizz bang that made ferraris so special. You needed to be a driver to use one.

The 512BBI was considered to have lost something in the move to FI, the testarossa was unversally hailed, but was stylisticaly challenegd and speed wise restored daytona performance.

By the time of the 512 Tr ferrari were back on form in that it moved the speed and handling envelope forwards.
You had handling and speed, plus alas weight.
What woudl a 275 owner make of a 512M.

I woud say that to drive a 512 m would be a totaly thrilling experience for a 275 owner, a car they woudl reckognise, the motor is great handlign and brakes in anotehr dimension yet still a totaly physical drivers car. They woudl appreciate the turn key reliability, ac that worked and even stereo, that all woudl be seen as progress without loosing what made ferraris great and a viceral special drive. Stylisticaly they would be dissapointed but hey its the future for 60s dude..

What woudl a 250 Gto driver think of a 288 or F40 they would have loved them a clear line of progression. The enzo and Laf woudl be lost on them as robotised cars which is what they are.

A 275 owner would really have loved a 355 which is really its modern lineal decendat, being light and lithe as opposed to a big car like a daytona or 512.

What I am fairly certain of is the drivers of the earlier car would be pretty meh with the 550 and 360 onwards cars. Because its pretty clear now that here is where the line got broken in the quest to make the cars "driveable". In fact I met many a 360 owner who sorely missed their 355 even thought he 360 had better performance.

Fearri and others lost something along he way. Progress can mean better handling, more power, better brakes more relaible etc, and it can also mean a more bland experince.

The only cars that seem to be bucking this trend are lotus who now make a throughly modern rendition of a classic british roadster, but one that works and has superlative modern performance, and porche with the recent introduction of GT3(manaual) and Gt4, two throughly modern cars, that have not lost the fizz and bang of cars of old, either mechanicaly or to drive.

The new Camaros and Mustangs are great too, keeping the brute force of msucle cars of old and bringing in modern/euro road course handling manners.

So basicaly two models at porche, lotus elsie/exige and some of the muscle cars in top spec.
And maybe the vette grand sport, although it seems to straddle the fence for me.

The rest really are what we think they are, robotised cars, that thrill with sheer speed but seem to lack so much else about what makes a sports car so special, unless you count ersatz exhaust noise and hey look at me styling as and "authentic" part of the formula. Thes e moderns might as well be amg wagons, well thats what they are in 2 door swooppy clothing.

I'll add in one modern that really may have it going on in the classic Italian way, yet is throughly modern, and thats the new hurrucan perfomante. Yes its a paddle, but is NA looks great, souunds great without being fake, it has all the Italian flair and by what we read is a completely realized package in terms of steering brakign engine etc. Apparently its fun at road speeds. One other attribute, in the modern world a car must be able to cope with traffic, have ac that works, and can only really be fully expolited on track. Unlike so may cars of old the performante shines here.

Progress in theory could have brought us cars that were turn key reliable, yet had viceral motors, worked in traffic, yet were engaging at road attainable speeds, and could run hard all day on track. Fearri hit that formula on the nail with the 250 swb.

Today if its italain its perfomante.

Now imagine a 458 bodyshell, 599Gto motor and yes a stick with manual steering. Maybe not the fastest ferrari ever but probably the best. Or put another way a F50 that does not look like melted plastic. Apparently it will never happen.

The aston V12 vanatge, thats your modern rendition of the classic front engined v12 Italian, what would a 275 owner make of that.

 

The TR is stylistically challenged? Gosh! Anyway, as a Londoner I can't think of a worse place to drive it except perhaps at 4am. I try to search out emptier roads. It's an exhilarating experience each time.