CHIAVARI, Italy - Ignoring the long line of cars and trucks backing up
along the busy road, the police officer standing under the traffic light in
front of the gates of the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy, holds up a white
gloved hand, blows her whistle and energetically waves Robertino and me into the
Ferrari compound.
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| Welcome to Ferrari |
This is Ferrari world headquarters, the home of
Ferrari S.p.A and the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One racing team. This is where
the cars are built, and the racing and automotive business is managed.
The Public Relations Director comes out to meet us
and escorts us into the factory. It’s obvious from the minute we walk in that this
is not an ordinary automotive factory, which seems right, as Ferraris are not
ordinary cars.
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| Imagine Working on a Ferrari an Being Paid for It! |
Robertino, my
photographer, starts setting up his photo equipment and I can see the Public
Relations Director is starting to get nervous. There are many sections of the
factory that are off limits to visitors. He calls for an assistant to keep an
eye on Robertino, and then concentrates on figuring out what automotive secret
I might be looking to uncover as he tours me around the facility
It’s a singular experience. The factory isn’t open to
the public and unless you bought a Ferrari recently or have one on order, you
can’t get in. I doubt NASA’s security system is this tight.
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| Countdown Clock is Ticking - No Time to Fool Around |
Out of the corner of my eye I can see the outline of
prototype car bodies that have been hidden under large tarps to keep them away
from spying eyes like mine. And some sections, like the space age Research and
Development Center, and the Wind Tunnel, where the aerodynamics of Ferrari cars
is tested, are completely off limits to visitors
In spite of Ferrari’s
never ending quest for speed, no one here seemed to be in a hurry: not the
mechanics or assemblers or the seamstresses who calmly sit and hand sew pieces of
leather that will be fitted into the interiors of the cars. It’s tutto calma,
but not too calma. At some of the work stations there large countdown clocks
that tick down the minutes until whatever part is being worked on, needs to
move on to the next station.
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| Ferrari Workers Get Around the Compound by Bicycle |
Dressed in tee shirts with identifying Ferrari logos and white gloves, the
workers go about their business, careful to never touch any part of the
car with an ungloved hand. It’s a family affair, fathers work next to their
sons, mother’s work next to their daughters. Aunts, uncles and cousins all work
here too.
The cars in production have already been sold. They
carry identification papers from the day the first bolt is put into place to
the day the car is delivered to the customer. A wait of six to nine months is
normal, it often takes much longer.
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| Okay, if You Insist, I'll Take a Red One |
After the factory tour the PR Director walks
Robertino and I back to our car and gives us directions to the Ferrari Museum,
the Galleria Ferrari. As the compound gate slowly starts to swing open we can
see that the traffic light has turned green for us. A nanosecond later the
policewomen’s whistle blows, her white-gloved hand shoots up in the air, and
cars screech to a halt as she waves us out and on to the road. For one small
moment, Robertino and I, journalist and photographer, are treated like the King
and Queen of Jordon, the Sultan and Sultana of Dubai, and all the other rich
Ferrari customers who have passed this way. It’s nice.
Galleria Ferrari is just five minutes away. It’s a
big building full of Ferrari memorabilia. One entire floor is dedicated to the
racing cars driven by Gilles Villeneuve, Froilan Gonzales, Rubens Barrichello,
Michael Schumacher and other Ferrari greats. And if you ever wondered what
Ferrari model Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, Mick Jagger, Placido Domingo, and
Robbie Williams owned, well they are all here too.
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| Ferrari Museum |
Experimental models are displayed on the upper floor,
including the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina and the F50, along with previous F1
racing cars, engines, F1-type gearshift paddles and other technological
innovations developed by Ferrari engineers.
And for those of you who can’t resist the urge to
jump behind the wheel of a F1, there are driving simulators just waiting for
you to slide into the seat and listen for those magic words: Gentlemen, start
your engines. Robertino was in heaven. It was only because I had an appointment
to tour Enzo Ferrari’s house at the F1 test track in Fiorano that I managed to
pull him away.
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| The Ferrari House at the Fiorano Test Track in Italy |
The Ferrari F1 test track is just a few miles from
Maranello. As we turned down the road that leads to the track entrance we knew
the cars were running. Even from that distance we could hear the tantalizing
whine of the F1 motors. About one hundred fans were lined up along the fence,
drawn there like safety pins to a magnet, hoping to get a glimpse of their
favorite F1 driver.
When the drivers are working they stay at the Ferrari
house, which is on the same property as the track. This is not Enzo Ferrari’s
main house, this is just the Ferrari track house. After a day of whizzing
around at break neck speeds, drivers, engineers and managers sit and watch the
tapes on the large screen TV in the living room, and analyze their
performances.
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| Enzo Ferrari's Conference Room |
Right next to the living room there is a big
conference room where Enzo Ferrari held court. He would sit at the head of the
long wooden table like a Renaissance prince, looking out at his drivers through
the dark sunglasses he always wore.
The walls of the conference room are lined with
photos of F1 cars, while the display cases below hold a large collection of
miniature F1 cars. All Ferrari red of course. The bedrooms are upstairs.
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| Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988) |
Even if you are not a racing fan, or a car person,
you have to admit it is a pretty impressive empire. In 1898, when Enzo Ferrari
was born, people were riding around in horse drawn carriages. Henry Ford had
just resigned from the Detroit Edison Company to concentrate on developing the
automobile. When Ferrari died in 1988, at the age of 90, the world had been
turned upside down; man had traveled to the moon and back, and everyone and his
brother had a car.
In his lifetime the cars the Ferrari engineers built
won more than 5,000 races throughout the world and 25 world titles. The story
of Enzo Ferrari and the history of auto racing are intertwined for he, more
than anyone else, including Bugatti, Bently, Rolls and Royce made auto racing
what it is today, and in Ferrari Land they never forget it.
Note: There are now group tours of the
Ferrari factory. I would have included the name of the tour company except the reviews are not good, and I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was recommending it.
