Soldato
Can see myself in a 812 GTS at some point.
A return to form: Say hello to Banana MK2, the Italian Prancing Horse (Ferrari 458 Italia)
Can see myself in a 812 GTS at some point.
Dream car mate, a lot of cash at 350k but I can see them been the new F50 in 10-20 years, such a desirable car with the best V12 on the planet.
If you have not driven an 812, go drive one they are freaking incredible, short gearing, RWD and 800+ horsepower they are a lot of fun but quite approachable unlike the F12's that went before them.
Soldato
Dream car mate, a lot of cash at 350k but I can see them been the new F50 in 10-20 years, such a desirable car with the best V12 on the planet.
If you have not driven an 812, go drive one they are freaking incredible, short gearing, RWD and 800+ horsepower they are a lot of fun but quite approachable unlike the F12's that went before them.
Yeah that’s the thing, serious amount of cheddar! Front engine v12 with luggage space and a folding hard top. Can’t think of a more complete package
Hi there
So been a Ferrari owner continues to pay dividends with Ferrari hospitality been the best I have ever experienced.
They invited us to their Ferrari Racing days weekend at Silverstone, which Dick Lovett were covering the bill for and also included track time on the full GP circuit, of course I said yes.
We decided to go for just the Friday, as I had arranged to drop the car of the following day (Saturday) with Dick Lovett's bodyshop as unfortunately one of my rear arches has shown a very typical 458 fault, oxidisation so the paint was beginning to bubble around the arch, I decided to travel to this body shop for the obvious reason they are highly rated but have worked on several 458 triple layer paint cars and of course fixed several arches as it is quite a common flaw on the 458.
To make life more relaxed we drove down to Silverstone the night before and stayed in Horwood Hall hotel, I can highly recommend by the way, very nice and an outstanding breakfast.
Upon arriving at hotel we discovered it was clearly the choice of stay for several Ferrari owners, so of course we parked up in the same area, some photos:
Of course the photos are from the following morning as when we arrived it was dark and those photos are a bit grainy.
We then made our way to the circuit to sign on for the day and to get some food:
Upon signing on we then went and parked in the "owner drivers" section where Ferrari mechanics were performing safety checks on everyone cars, wheel torque, tyre pressures, tyre tread and visual inspections of brakes, glass and fitting toe eyes etc.:
Absolutely great service, my car got a clean bill of health and all OK to drive on circuit, we got two 35-40 minute sessions on track between the 488 Challenge practice sessions and also the FXX Clienti driving sessions and of course the god like 2007/2008 F1 car driving sessions.
Food and drink was fantastic, the simulator was good fun and we did a full walk of the circuit and the sound of the FXX V12 cars was insane, the 488 challenge cars unfortunately tend too just make was sounds like a whistle/whoosh noise and of course the owner cars, namely the 458 and V12 powered cars sound amazing, then the F1 cars, godlike but also ear piercing loud.
Walking around the displays here are some of the cars I grabbed photos off, the first one is a 1of2 pre-production car that seems never went into production, then of course the black car is the ugly pre-production LAF:
Now anyone who is a fan of Schumacher here is his 2002 car (reproduction - no engine) but it felt great to see this car in the flesh:
Post continued in reply post...............
So been a Ferrari owner continues to pay dividends with Ferrari hospitality been the best I have ever experienced.
They invited us to their Ferrari Racing days weekend at Silverstone, which Dick Lovett were covering the bill for and also included track time on the full GP circuit, of course I said yes.
We decided to go for just the Friday, as I had arranged to drop the car of the following day (Saturday) with Dick Lovett's bodyshop as unfortunately one of my rear arches has shown a very typical 458 fault, oxidisation so the paint was beginning to bubble around the arch, I decided to travel to this body shop for the obvious reason they are highly rated but have worked on several 458 triple layer paint cars and of course fixed several arches as it is quite a common flaw on the 458.
To make life more relaxed we drove down to Silverstone the night before and stayed in Horwood Hall hotel, I can highly recommend by the way, very nice and an outstanding breakfast.
Upon arriving at hotel we discovered it was clearly the choice of stay for several Ferrari owners, so of course we parked up in the same area, some photos:
Of course the photos are from the following morning as when we arrived it was dark and those photos are a bit grainy.
We then made our way to the circuit to sign on for the day and to get some food:
Upon signing on we then went and parked in the "owner drivers" section where Ferrari mechanics were performing safety checks on everyone cars, wheel torque, tyre pressures, tyre tread and visual inspections of brakes, glass and fitting toe eyes etc.:
Absolutely great service, my car got a clean bill of health and all OK to drive on circuit, we got two 35-40 minute sessions on track between the 488 Challenge practice sessions and also the FXX Clienti driving sessions and of course the god like 2007/2008 F1 car driving sessions.
Food and drink was fantastic, the simulator was good fun and we did a full walk of the circuit and the sound of the FXX V12 cars was insane, the 488 challenge cars unfortunately tend too just make was sounds like a whistle/whoosh noise and of course the owner cars, namely the 458 and V12 powered cars sound amazing, then the F1 cars, godlike but also ear piercing loud.
Walking around the displays here are some of the cars I grabbed photos off, the first one is a 1of2 pre-production car that seems never went into production, then of course the black car is the ugly pre-production LAF:
Now anyone who is a fan of Schumacher here is his 2002 car (reproduction - no engine) but it felt great to see this car in the flesh:
Post continued in reply post...............
Continued..
We were then taken for a tour of the garages to see the 488 Challenge cars which were practicing on the Friday, qualifying Saturday and racing on Sunday. Due to visiting friends and family we skipped the Saturday and Sunday, which seems a wise choice as the weekend was a lot busier.
Pictures from some very nice cars in the garages including some F1 cars which were also driving on circuit, unfortunately one did crash but the driver was OK.
These cars were absolutely incredible to see and to watch the mechanics working on them.
Post continued in reply......
We were then taken for a tour of the garages to see the 488 Challenge cars which were practicing on the Friday, qualifying Saturday and racing on Sunday. Due to visiting friends and family we skipped the Saturday and Sunday, which seems a wise choice as the weekend was a lot busier.
Pictures from some very nice cars in the garages including some F1 cars which were also driving on circuit, unfortunately one did crash but the driver was OK.
These cars were absolutely incredible to see and to watch the mechanics working on them.
Post continued in reply......
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geez that FXX Evo pure sex.
So I've written about how amazing the event and hospitality was, but not my time on track, unfortunately I have very little video or photos on track as no passengers allowed and as it was full GP circuit I was not particular fast as I have never driven the full GP layout, but here I am waiting to go out, not a bad traffic jam to sit in if you ask me:
So how was the 458 on track?
In short mental, my first lap was spent warming up but as its a 3+ mile circuit I soon got upto speed and unfortunately I cannot name the corners but I turned into a corner which all of a sudden tighten up and lets just say my bottom also twitched as I was turning in slow and gentle whilst trying to very gently press the brake as I fully expected to run wide but the resulting action was a car with such an incredible front end with such incredible turning force that the g-force on my body was almost painful, the car just turned in, at the apex the backend went a little light and it let go but between my own corrective lock and the computer the slide was progressive and quite tidy. I can see why people like Silverstone, the corners are very fast, though many are unsighted and I was struggling with this somewhat backing off when I could have stayed flat. As the session progressed I got brave enough and I kept my foot flat using the whole circuit and wow, just simply wow the car was planted and when it was at the limits it was nothing but beautifully progressive.
In fact on track the steering comes alive with feel, the whole car is absolutely full of feel and the car feels like a proper lightweight race car, you really start to feel the pedigree in the car, the engine has power absolutely everywhere and so many of the corners are beyond 100mph, on the longer of the straights I managed to push slightly over 150mph, around 154 if I remember, this was the one and only time I got the exit of the corner and stayed flat right and left the braking pretty late, I was generally seeing around 144-148mph due to messing up as the Silverstone has so many corners, myself having very little knowledge of the track its almost easy to get lost.
The car simply blew me away however.
Unfortunately when it came to the second session I had two issues, I got in the car to find my windscreen had developed a massive crack, then we remembered in Scotland a stone chipped the windscreen just below the wiper arm, which we forgot about, well Silvertone circuit reminded us, which goes to show the cornering forces involved. I pulled onto circuit with just over 1/3 of a tank of fuel remaining thinking I will be OK, well about 15-20 minutes into my sessions my cars was telling me off, no fuel no fuel, so we cooled off and ended the session early as I did not want to be that person killing everyone else's circuit time because of running out of fuel.
Whilst my car is down South at the bodyshop, the dealership has agreed to collect my car from bodyshop where they will fit me a new windscreen, wait for it at a cost of £3608 fitted, thankfully my insurance has confirmed they will cover the bill less the £100 excess.
Ferrari hospitality is second to none, we have now had several trips and weekends away at the expense of Ferrari and the dealership, who remain excellent. It is a real shame our trip to Italy and the Ferrari test circuit got cancelled for the SF90 launch due to Covid and we do hope Ferrari will be organising trips to Italy again in the future as visiting the factory would be an amazing experience.
Looking forward to getting my car back and I shall upload some videos we got of my car and the F1 cars lapping the circuit.
So how was the 458 on track?
In short mental, my first lap was spent warming up but as its a 3+ mile circuit I soon got upto speed and unfortunately I cannot name the corners but I turned into a corner which all of a sudden tighten up and lets just say my bottom also twitched as I was turning in slow and gentle whilst trying to very gently press the brake as I fully expected to run wide but the resulting action was a car with such an incredible front end with such incredible turning force that the g-force on my body was almost painful, the car just turned in, at the apex the backend went a little light and it let go but between my own corrective lock and the computer the slide was progressive and quite tidy. I can see why people like Silverstone, the corners are very fast, though many are unsighted and I was struggling with this somewhat backing off when I could have stayed flat. As the session progressed I got brave enough and I kept my foot flat using the whole circuit and wow, just simply wow the car was planted and when it was at the limits it was nothing but beautifully progressive.
In fact on track the steering comes alive with feel, the whole car is absolutely full of feel and the car feels like a proper lightweight race car, you really start to feel the pedigree in the car, the engine has power absolutely everywhere and so many of the corners are beyond 100mph, on the longer of the straights I managed to push slightly over 150mph, around 154 if I remember, this was the one and only time I got the exit of the corner and stayed flat right and left the braking pretty late, I was generally seeing around 144-148mph due to messing up as the Silverstone has so many corners, myself having very little knowledge of the track its almost easy to get lost.
The car simply blew me away however.
Unfortunately when it came to the second session I had two issues, I got in the car to find my windscreen had developed a massive crack, then we remembered in Scotland a stone chipped the windscreen just below the wiper arm, which we forgot about, well Silvertone circuit reminded us, which goes to show the cornering forces involved. I pulled onto circuit with just over 1/3 of a tank of fuel remaining thinking I will be OK, well about 15-20 minutes into my sessions my cars was telling me off, no fuel no fuel, so we cooled off and ended the session early as I did not want to be that person killing everyone else's circuit time because of running out of fuel.
Whilst my car is down South at the bodyshop, the dealership has agreed to collect my car from bodyshop where they will fit me a new windscreen, wait for it at a cost of £3608 fitted, thankfully my insurance has confirmed they will cover the bill less the £100 excess.
Ferrari hospitality is second to none, we have now had several trips and weekends away at the expense of Ferrari and the dealership, who remain excellent. It is a real shame our trip to Italy and the Ferrari test circuit got cancelled for the SF90 launch due to Covid and we do hope Ferrari will be organising trips to Italy again in the future as visiting the factory would be an amazing experience.
Looking forward to getting my car back and I shall upload some videos we got of my car and the F1 cars lapping the circuit.
Yep stunning, somehow they sound even better than they look. The cost, 5 million for the privilege.
Soldato
Amazing day out especially as it was at their cost not yours!
Do you think that's the sort of treatment you'd get by buying any Ferrari from any main dealer or is it a combination of DL being excellent and you having a 'newer' model?
Do you think that's the sort of treatment you'd get by buying any Ferrari from any main dealer or is it a combination of DL being excellent and you having a 'newer' model?
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or get around 10 of you at 500k eachYep stunning, somehow they sound even better than they look. The cost, 5 million for the privilege.
but yes what a motor that is.
and fair play to ferrari too for putting the day on.
Ferrari do not seem selective, in the grand scheme of things they have had 150k out of me, its my only Ferrari so far, I also know of people who have spent sub 100k and get the invites also, but saying that Dick Lovett seem the best of the dealers, I am also sure that someone who has spent millions will get even better treatment too. But they have blown me away, and speaking to people who have a lot more experience in the supercar world who have or had several marques they all say Ferrari does the hospitality the best.
My local Stratstone dealer has also invited me to Oulton Park weekend, which of course won't be as a big or as prestigious as Silverstone and I know the track time was £600 which Dick Lovett covered, whereas Stratstone wanted £200 of me to attend which to be fair is still very cheap but it does show the difference in dealerships where some will cover the full cost and some want some money towards it. But in fairness all Stratstone have had from me is a service and extending the warranty.
On a whole though they all seem very good, very customer focused and they really take pride in keeping all Ferrari's of all ages in good condition and on the road, they want the cars to be driven. You only have to walk into a Ferrari dealership to feel the levels of pride they have in the marque as most dealerships also generally have a large of selection of older cars on display too and they now all run several programmes helping owners to keep older cars in great condition by funding towards repair bills etc and free breakdown cover for life.
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Possible stupid question.........do you not have a front number plate? 
Soldato
Possible stupid question.........do you not have a front number plate?
Oops! Must have fallen off, officer
Possible stupid question.........do you not have a front number plate?
I don't bother running one.
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Ah right, was just curious if there was some exemption or something. 
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lol if you can afford a car thats not going to hurt you .. but kudos to the insurance company .. btw @Gibbo what is the insurance on that a yr ?Thank god for insurance
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a lot less than you may think
Around £850 with ManningUK, I went with them due to recommendations which is now paying dividends as many owners have had to pay for their own windscreen replacements due to small print get out clauses, this also includes track cover but if I crash on track the excess is 15% of cars value to get it repaired.
Ah right, was just curious if there was some exemption or something.
I am just naughty, simple fact is there is no location for a plate so it looks ugly, there is one on the back and so far no police has taken offence, I am sure at somepoint I will get a slapped hand and a £100 fine, but until then I will take my chances.