A magical Meditteranean vacation - the Italy road trip COMPLETED - Page 16 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Wednesday 16 July – part three: a Disney appearance!
We then headed back down a level, and saw a recreation of Enzo Ferrari’s office…
… and then entered the hall of victories. My goodness, this room really brings it home to you how much success Ferrari have had on the racetrack. We would later find out that this was Enzo Ferrari’s true love. He only went into building cars he could sell to drive on the roads to fund this obsession, and wow, it has paid dividends. There were trophies galore in here, photos of all the Ferrari drivers to win the Formula One season for Ferrari, and the cars they did it in. You just couldn’t take it all in.
There was also a cinema, showing clips from movies and TV shows that had featured Ferraris. The ones I knew included the Charlie’s Angels movies, the Magnum PI TV show, and of course our favourite, Cars! It’s the bit where the Michael Schumacher Ferrari comes into Luigi’s and he keels over. Love it!
We met up with Raleigh and Mark about now, and said that we’d head out, as we’d pretty much done everything, and they still had quite a bit to see. They told us we had to see the display of a Ferrari in pitch dark, where you hear it rev up. We went to see it, and got some photos, but I think was definitely one where they enjoyed it more than we did, shall we say…
We headed for the shop, where Mari wanted to get a shirt for her grandson, but just about every design she liked, they didn’t have in a size aged 5-6, which was what she needed. Eventually she found something, and they wrapped it up in two gift bags – very good service, but then again, given the shirt had cost something like €45 ($57), in a way you’d expect great service.
I was anxiously watching the cafeteria during this time, as it seemed to be packed out, but by the time Mari had made her purchase, and the guys had turned up, it had emptied out, and we got a seat no problem. Everything here is Ferrari, including the trash cans…
Both Mark and I went for the mozzarella and tomato Panini, and very nice it was too.
As you can see, Mari got a beer, and you can now also see the great packaging of her gift…
Once we were done eating, the others all headed over to watch the people on the simulators, although I stayed put….
Mari came back, and then Mark and Raleigh were still watching it, so she decided she was bored – and that meant one thing… back to the shop! She ended up getting a hat for her grandson as well, blaming it on the guys for not being ready.
Eventually we headed outside, and there were quite a few more cars out there. It was clear there was going to be some sort of event tonight…
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Wow, that's a lot of trophies. The simulators looked pretty fun actually, did they enjoy it? I would assume so.
Expensive shirt - I hope he wears it like every other day!
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Well done with the Ferrari museum! Lot of detail and seems well done here. You're right about the packagind being so good and not surprised with the prices, considering it's Ferrari! I'm surprised Mark didn't do one of the simulators!
It's funny you should mention Michael Schumacher as he suffered a severe brain injury while skiing in the French Alps in December, 2013 with his 14 year old son. He almost died and was put into a medically induced coma, which he came out of in June. They said the helmet he was wearing saved him, but wearing a GoPro camera may have contributed some how to the accident. Not sure how? It could take him up to three years to recover from this. Michael is one of the top F1 drivers of all time and certainly part of the elite in his sport! I've watched Michael over the years and was amazed by his skill as a driver. I wish him the best in his recovery!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Well done with the Ferrari museum! Lot of detail and seems well done here. You're right about the packagind being so good and not surprised with the prices, considering it's Ferrari! I'm surprised Mark didn't do one of the simulators!
I wasn't surprised, as sometimes those things can mess with his head.
Quote:
It's funny you should mention Michael Schumacher as he suffered a severe brain injury while skiing in the French Alps in December, 2013 with his 14 year old son. He almost died and was put into a medically induced coma, which he came out of in June. They said the helmet he was wearing saved him, but wearing a GoPro camera may have contributed some how to the accident. Not sure how? It could take him up to three years to recover from this. Michael is one of the top F1 drivers of all time and certainly part of the elite in his sport! I've watched Michael over the years and was amazed by his skill as a driver. I wish him the best in his recovery!
I remember all of that, as it was the top news story over here when it happened.
Wednesday 16 July – part four: visiting the Ferrari factory and track
We waited in the shade for our tour of the factory and the race track, and saw one bus come back, but then the woman said it would be a different guide, so we retreated to the shade. Mark was worried about whether we’d all fit in, and we’d be at the back, so went to wait in the sun, but I wasn’t going to do that. As I knew I’d be inside for much of today, I hadn’t applied any suntan lotion, so I was keeping out of the sun as much as I could.
When the guide did turn up, Mari and I headed over, and so much for worrying about being the last on the bus. She called each group by name. The first group weren’t there, and mine was the second name called. We were ticked off and told we could get on the bus, so we snagged the front seats.
Now while that was nice for viewing, it didn’t help with anything else, as photography is strictly prohibited on this tour, and I mean strictly. About halfway around the factory tour, a Ferrari employee flagged down our driver and told us that there was someone on the left towards the back taking photos, and very discretely our guide went to have a word, and I clearly heard her ask to see the person’s camera/phone for proof they hadn’t taken any photos. I didn’t hear anymore after that, but you get the idea.
First, you head out along the road, and you’re taken past a giant Ferrari store, and are then shown the restaurant opposite that Enzo Ferrari used to wine and dine his guests at. I stuck to the no photography rule, but as we passed this way on the way out, I managed to snag these photos then:
Then opposite we entered the factory site. We learnt that Enzo Ferrari had started with just 15 employees, but that had grown and grown since. We saw various employees wandering around, and what stunned me was how all the guys were in jackets, albeit some of them in jeans and tennis shoes, but they all had jackets – and in this heat! We were shown the management offices first, and five little windows all together in the entrance building, which marked where Enzo’s original office was, that you saw the interior of in the museum.
We learnt how every street in here is named after famous racing drivers and Enzo himself, although our guide explained there’s no Michael Schumacher street in here, it’s actually at the race track that we’d be visiting next.
We then drove down the main street here, and there are stunning buildings on either side, where different elements of the production process take place. What I loved was that it wasn’t just a case of “let’s build a factory”, they actually created beautiful buildings. In the design and innovation place, they involved a Japanese designer, who introduced elements of water inside, as it’s supposed to soothe you and create a calming working environment. I think it might have a slightly different impact on me though…
We also saw their wind tunnel building, which was again stunning, and as our guide explained, unlike any other, as usually they’re just inside an ordinary building, but here they put the building around the wind tunnel, if that makes sense? I managed to find an image of it online, which will explain it better than I can put into words… This one gives you a bit more perspective on the site. You’ll see how massive it is…
We also went past their staff restaurant, and our guide explained this is one perk that employees get. They also get free school books for their children, although I guess they don’t get free Ferraris… Mark did jokingly say there weren’t many Ferraris in the car park, but I’m guessing the employees don’t earn enough for one of those…
Speaking of which, apparently the cheapest in the catalogue starts at around €200,000 or $252,600, and from ordering to delivery, they take between nine months to a year. A lot of that is to do with the fact that they are custom built once the order is placed, and as you’d expect for that amount of money, they do a heck of a lot of testing to ensure they’re perfect. I liked the fact that the final test is putting the car through a giant car wash to check the finish, although I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if it isn’t perfect?
We saw a number of Ferraris being tested, and one we saw is apparently the hybrid that Ferrari is currently working on, so that was very cool. I can’t begin to imagine how neat it would be to work here, although I guess if you test drive cars every day, the novelty may wear off after a while…
We headed out of the complex, and over to the track which Ferrari used to use to test its Formula One cars. We first saw a new building they’re working, which will be used for testing, as apparently they can only test using wind tunnels and simulators now. It’ll be impressive when it’s finished, just like all their other buildings…
We then headed down the road towards the test track, and up until that point, I wasn’t sure we’d actually get to do this, as the website has loads of warnings on it that they can pull this right at the last minute. They didn’t, and the gates glided open to let us inside, and almost straight away, we saw Ferrari cars racing around the track, because as part of the build, they also test their cars out here. I think we must’ve seen two or three race round while we were there. I think this is about a three kilometre track, if I remember right, with bends to test every element of a car, and of course it was also designed for Formula One cars, when they were allowed to test them. This has been open since 1972, and apparently they’ve amended and added things in that time, such as a long straight section that Michael Schumacher requested.
It was very cool, and we then drove past some of the buildings they have here, where the engineers work on the cars. We also saw a coach all being loaded up with Ferrari suitcases, which was quite funny. We think they might have been off to the German Grand Prix, as apparently that’s taking place in about a week’s time.
When we got back to the museum, there were even more cars out, and they were also covering up some of them, which was fascinating to watch.
We headed out a few minutes later, leaving them to their event this evening. I hope it all went well. Mark had asked our guide what the event was, but all he’d managed to get out of her was that it was for their clients…
By the way, I've only just realised I didn't add any photos into this instalment of the factory of the ones that are available online, so here are a few to give you an idea of what we saw:
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We would later find out that this was Enzo Ferrari’s true love. He only went into building cars he could sell to drive on the roads to fund this obsession, and wow, it has paid dividends. 
There were trophies galore in here, photos of all the Ferrari drivers to win the Formula One season for Ferrari, and the cars they did it in. You just couldn’t take it all in. 
It’s the bit where the Michael Schumacher Ferrari comes into Luigi’s and he keels over. Love it! 
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Lot of detail and seems well done here. You're right about the packagind being so good and not surprised with the prices, considering it's Ferrari! 
It could take him up to three years to recover from this. Michael is one of the top F1 drivers of all time and certainly part of the elite in his sport! 
We were shown the management offices first, and five little windows all together in the entrance building, which marked where Enzo’s original office was, that you saw the interior of in the museum. 
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