Ferrari Club España: Dreams are born in Maranello

October 2, 2020

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Ferrari Club España: Dreams are born in Maranello

“Bear in mind that a Ferrari, buying a Ferrari, owning a Ferrari, is the dream of many people” … I am in the middle of the desert. No, I have not traveled to the moab desert, no, I’m not dreaming either. Or well, in a way yes, in a way, I am putting myself in the shoes of the owner, the owner, of one of the 16 Ferraris that are a few meters from where I am sitting, I am trying to imagine how it should be the day you buy your first Ferrari. That day. That night before, I imagine that without being able to sleep … “What does it feel like to buy your first Ferrari?” I ask Felix. “It is the dream of many people”.

Felix, Felix buget, is in front of Ferrari Club Spain, is sitting with me, sharing Friday afternoon. We are at the entrance to Hotel Aire de Bardenas, in the Bardenas desert, in Tudela, Navarra, on an afternoon in which at sunset, when we left the hotel, there was 16 Ferrari togetherready to embark the next day on a journey that will finally take them to the Montjuic spirit.

“Felix, you must ask, what do you think of the name LaFerrari?”

Is soon. There are still only 4 cars outside the hotel. A Ferrari 458 Italia looks perfect red under a small roof. At his side, a more discreet Ferrari 550 sharing shade with Italia and a little further to the left a Ferrari 430 and a Ferrari 599 turning its back on us. The heat is pressing, the mosquitoes huddle around the bumpers of the horses and the dust of the desert accompanies us, covers the cars, covers us. To get to the hotel, a dirt and stone road through which minutes before we did not believe a Ferrari had passed. “They have raided it so they could get to the hotel,” an employee tells us.

“I like the name of LaFerrari, it is the car that Enzo had thought …”

“I like the name of LaFerrari, it is the car that Enzo had thought, now, what is going to happen with the name of the next one? LaFerrari 2?”… Talking about the LaFerrari was obligatory, it even decorates a Club Ferrari sign on the hotel door and Félix does not hesitate to warn us that the all the LaFerrari production is already soldAlthough that, and with more details about the marketing process and the units that will be in Spain, is something that we will give a good account of in a future article. Your question about the name of Ferrari’s next supercar exactly matches the question that McLaren Chief Designer Frank Stephenson asked himself when we interviewed him.

We talked about the presentation in the Geneva Motor Show of the LaFerrari, from the impressive number of journalists crowded around the LaFerrari minutes before its presentation. “The presentation of a new Ferrari is always something spectacular”of course, in addition to the name, he likes the designHe likes the LaFerrari line. Needless to mention the passion for the brand.

“It is above the competition”. It doesn’t occur to me to refute it with any stupid technical argument. We are talking about Ferrari, it is a religion, a religion with thousands of devotees, it is the greatest exponent of car passion that exists, it is a religion that I profess, although unfortunately, I am not as practicing as some of the members of the club that are beginning to walk through the hotel hall. In the sandy parking lot behind me, there is a certain 458 Italia that would convince the most pagan with just a glance.

“Each new Ferrari is an impressive technological leap”, Felix seems to agree very little with all those discordant voices that have arisen about hybridization at LaFerrari. “The evolution from one model to another is very noticeable”, also warning us “There will be a national presentation soon for clients with the LaFerrari”. But there are not only good words for the LaFerrari, there are also good words for the McLaren P1 and for Luca di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari, “el capo”. Felix is short on praise but concise, a “Luca is doing really well.” followed by an approving face, they are more than enough to see its consonance with Montezemolo’s work.

There are about 300 members in the Ferrari Club España

And from the LaFerrari to the little one at home, to the Ferrari California. “I don’t like it, but it must be recognized that it is the most docile Ferrari” and that certainly has its audience. There is no shortage of members in the club with a Ferrari California in their garage, with the 458 Spyder … of course the classics are not lacking, “some Daytona” or the most recent ones, in the absence of representation of the LaFerrari, the Ferrari F12 berlinetta and the Ferrari 458 Spyder. And it is that according to Felix, Don Buget points out, the Ferrari Club España is made up of about 300 members and normally, at each club outing, at each cavalry meeting, there are usually about 50 members. Today there will be 20 Ferraris, but in Barcelona, during the celebration of the Spirit of Montjuic, the number will increase.

“Any convert from other sports car brands?” I ask. “”Many”, I rephrase the question “Many converts from Ferrari go to the competition?”. The face of someone who has an anecdote about it and shoots. “I remember a member of the club who sold his Ferrari and bought a Lamborghini Murcielago. He ended up selling it and buying a Ferrari again, it seemed too heavy, too difficult to enjoy … “. We also ask about the cost of maintenance, a question of the most common for lay people. “Have you seen the amount of boats, yachts, moored? cleaning a boat, the cost of mooring … is much more expensive, and there are more boats than Ferrari, in addition, they are not cars that move every day “.

It is still early days, only one more Ferrari has arrived in the parking lot. Its owner passed by our table, with the keys to his Ferrari still in hand, he offers us a drink while the chat continues. It is time to say so far to Felix, we want to visit the Bardenas desert, the largest desert in Europe, to take advantage of and take a photo session with the car that accompanies us.

A couple of hours later, we went on to say goodbye to Felix. And if the farewells are bitter, here it was seasoned by a beautiful Ferrari parade. On our return to the hotel, in the parking lot, new Ferrari arrived. A F430 Scuderia, another 550, a California, a 360 Spider … and even a Maserati Quattroporte invited to the cavallinos dance.

Data sheet

Motor 6.2 V12 Atmospheric
Power 740 hp
Maximum torque 690 Nm

0-100kmh 3.1 sec
Maximum speed 340 km / h
Weight 1,525 kg

The desert, the sand and the sound of V12 of a Ferrari F12 berlinetta

Felix welcomes us again, accompanies us and we meet Oriol Roteta, from the official Ferrari and Maserati dealership in Barcelona with whom we once again had the opportunity to exchange many details of the LaFerrari How do you buy a LaFerrari? We will tell you soon. But in addition to Oriol, he was also with us Gadea maier representing the watch firm Hublot, firm with a close relationship with the brand, allowing us to see the two Ferrari editions of the Hublot big bang for 2013.

The sun is beginning to fall in the Bardenas desert, but we still had one more surprise. While we finished photographing some of the cars that little by little had been filling the parking lot of the Hotel, while we said goodbye, this time until another day of Felix, a cloud of sand and the gaze of some of the Ferrari owners already parked revealed that something was approaching. In the background, on the horizon, entering the access road to the hotel, A Ferrari F12 berlinetta arrived well accompanied by a third Ferrari 550 and a Ferrari 328 GTS that put the pleasant acoustic note of the vintage flavor of the brand. The picture, the sand that they raised in their wake, the roar, the look of the Ferraris crossing the road … there could not be a better farewell.

The owners of the Ferraris would stay grooming their mounts, gently removing the dust from the road, the mosquitoes that had decided to become part of the bumper during the journey. Meanwhile, greetings to the newcomers and reunions from previous outings with the club. Without a doubt, passion was breathed. Without a doubt, Ferrari is, above all, passion. Dreams That tradition … that history … “Bear in mind that a Ferrari, buying a Ferrari, owning a Ferrari, is the dream of many people” Felix would say to me in the early afternoon, a few minutes after we had shaken hands for the first time. Leaving the hotel, looking once more out the window, I did not see only one F12, a 430 Scuderia, a 458 Italia … I saw the owners of those 16 cars cleaning them, also taking photos, greeting each other and sharing the common passion for this institution of motorsport that is Ferrari. I saw, in short, a good number of dreams come true.