I woke up Sunday morning to find that throughout the northern half of California, the heavens had opened their floodgates, just to ruin the greatest day of every year. After many phone calls and much coercion from Spencer, friend and fellow Car Fanatic, I decided to go but only after hearing him say, "It'll be like LeMans; the rain will just make it all the better". We arrived at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, greeted by sunshine and what can only be described as a corral of race-prepped Ferraris, old and new, all itching to flex their Italian muscles, and destroy a few eardrums in the process. The first sign from heaven was this car (at left), being chased by another of it's kind, who had previously decided to rev for about half an hour in the pits just to shout at everyone about it's greatness. And you can see why..
. The 512 BB LM may very well be the sound of angels having arguments about whose halo is the shiniest, but nontheless, it's all the better seeing two of them duke it out at Infineon Raceway. Next in all the excitement, came the "Owners Lap", which meant only one thing: A car lot full of 200+ Ferrari's ranging from F430 Scuderia's to the Enzo, emptiying onto the track and strutting their stuff as loudly as they could.
The next bit of fun began while we were perusing the 1954 Maserati 250F near the pits when the owner invited us, a couple of teenage car-nuts, to have a seat. Little did we know that 250F #4 was formerly driven by the great Sir Stirling Moss, who famously won the 1955 Mille Miglia and set the course record in a Mercedes 300SL. We left feeling that our hind-ends had been blessed in some way by the former presence of one of our greatest racing heroes. Maybe that is the essence of the Ferrari Challenge; to expose enthusiasts to three days of seeing their most cherished race cars, old and new, up close, on the track, and driven the way they were meant to be. Maybe the point is to give us all a taste of the driving glory associated with the legendary Prancing Horse. There is something to be said for the wealthy people who don't just let their old racecars sit in temperature controlled garages but take them out and not just drive them, but thrash them, to stuff their foot into the car of their childhood dreams and remind themselves and the car, how great they really are. If the car is built to go fast, it should go fast, as long as it stands on four wheels. For people like me, a 16 year-old, absolutely yearning to hear the sweet sounds of Italian Exotics and to get his hands on such driving magic, the Ferrari Challenge really is Heaven on Earth.
.jpg)
.jpg)
