Ferrari

We went to the Galleria Ferrari. The factory is not open to tours like Lamborghini's. It's only open to actual Ferrari owners, which we are not. The next best thing for us normal folk is the Ferrari Museum just a block away from the factory gates. Ferrari owns a HUGE part of Maranello where the factory is located. Most of the cities people either works for or is somehow connected to the Ferrari factory.

First we had to take a train from Bolgona to Modena which was about 25 minutes. Then we had to jump on a bus from Modena to Maranello which was close to an hour. Once we arrived in Maranello I know we had t get off on the 'Ferrari' stop. Just before we did, we passed over Ferrari's test track Fiorano, it's a crappy picture but it's all I had time for. They test all of the new road cars here as well as all of the Formula 1 and other race cars they produce. When we got off of the train we were greeted by a couple Ferrari's buzzing around the area.
The unfortunate thing was that we were here on Easter Sunday so everything in the town was closed. Only the museum and a couple gift shops were open so we didn't get to see people coming and going in and out of the factory. Maybe next time.
That's me in front of the legendary Ferrari gates. I peeked through the bars and there was a card swipe turnstile that everyone needed to pass through so there's no way of ANYONE sneeking in.
Then we made our way over to the Official Maranello Ferrari Store.
They have everything in here from Ferrari branded cologne, clothing. baby car seats, carbon fiber jewelery boxes, hats, flags, and so on. Everything is very nice and very expensive.
Here's an engine they had on display inside the store.
Elaina in front of a wall of die cast Ferrari models. If only I had more room in our luggauge.
After window shopping for a while we decided to make our way over to the museum now.
They have everyhting in there from original year one F1 cars to modern day F1 cars. They also have all of the major road cars along with engines and anything else you can imagine. Here's some eye candy.
Die cast models of every year F1 racer.
The last 6 F1 engines.
More cars, 24 Hour of Le Mans winner back in the day. This Ferrari was the reason why Ford made the GT-40.
2010 F-458. When cruising around town only the center exhaust pipe is used but when you floor it, all three pipes sing!
F-2008 F1 car
Ferrari F-40, one of my favorites because it was turbo charged with a fiberglass chassis!
Ferrari F-50, the first of the real aerodynamic road cars. It's said that over 150mph the car could essentially drive upside down in a tunnel it created so much downward force due to aerodynamics.
Ferrari Enzo (unoffically F-60), the latest and greatest Ferrari road car.
The Ferrari FXX, this is the race version of the Enzo. It's lighter, more powerful, and all around more aggressive in every way. They have all been sold at 1.5 million euro ($2.25m USD) and the owners don't even get to keep them. Once purchased Ferrari must store and keep the car for you. When we are ready to go racing or display it you call Ferrari and they ship it to you with an official mechanic who will tune it specificlly and if you haven't crashed it yet, when you are done they ship it back to the factory. "Hey wanna check out the 2 million dollar car I just bought but I'm not allowed to keep in my garage?!" No thanks.
Here they have the last 15 F1 engines on stands with it's matching chassis on the adjacent wall. You can see how the body and engine designs have really evolved over the years.
More F1 cars and a real F1 pit garage that is transported to every race. Every tool and tire is in the same place each race no matter where they are in the world racing. They supply everything.
Outside across from the museum there is a gift shop that actually owns a couple Ferrari's. Here you can "test drive" three current models the F-430 Coupe, the Ferrari California (it's a convertable), and the F-430 Scuderia (lighter and more power than the standard F-430). The prices are 60, 80, and 100 euro for 20 minutes around Maranello. 100, 130, and 150 for 30 minutes. 160, 180, and 210 for 45 minutes. Then grand daddy, 300, 320, and 360 to drive these cars for 1 hour in the local mountains that over look the factory! Any of these would have been nice but hey, we're in a recession!!!
After walking the Ferrari grounds we headed back to the Modena rail station. It's a small stop and I had to use the "facilties". I walked into one of the stalls and this is what I saw.
It's just a porcelin hole in the ground with gripped places for your feet to squat and a flush button up on the wall. We haven't seen anything like this before on our trip so I had to take a picture. Good thing I only had to go #1!

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