By now it’s a tradition that the Ferrari Club Nederland organizes the Ferrari Sprint Meeting. Every autumn it’s on a Saturday in September on which the Ferrari owner can play with his toy, guided by professionals.

Starting with a cup of coffee and a slice of currant loaf the participants and invitees could chat a bit, in the meanwhile checking who was there and what car they brought. The start was planned for approx. 10:00 am with a short briefing for the drivers and there were some strict rules for this day: no smoking whatsoever, no speeding whatsoever (!) and no trespassing and various other things. Although it was a bit misty the sun was out but these conditions weren’t that ideal for nice photos.

The whole day was meant for everybody to have fun and the organizers created different classes. There were the Classic cars like the beautiful 250 LM and a 250 GT Lusso. Then the 308s, 328s and 348s with the Mondials and next the modern cars like the Marenellos and Modenas, but they also differentiated between drivers who were participating for the first time, drivers who had done this before and finally drivers with a race licence. This way there was fair play between all the participants.

From the beginning everyone seemed to have a good time. The start was halfway down a runway to the end of it. There the course made a left turn and the drivers had a chicane of pylons. After that a turn left and right followed by a straight piece of approx. 650 meters ending in a sharp turn right and directly turn sharp left (here was really some competition…) followed by a sort of “Parabolica” - along some containers and sheds- and a straight with a pylon-chicane and the finish in a left turn. I think it was a nice track with all elements of a racetrack for everybody.

All drivers did their runs and watched the others do their runs and all this was interrupted by a very nice lunch. The afternoon was filled with some quick runs in each class and I could watch the competition between a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and an F50… the MLE mostly in front.

Around four o’clock all cars were manoeuvred into a temporary paddock on the main straight on the other side and everyone who earned it received their prize in the hospitality tent. There was only one lady driver to collect a prize and the Ferrari 250 LM was awarded “the most beautiful car of the day”, with a very proud owner. After the ceremony and the announcement concerning the continuation of this sprint event next year, everybody was wished a safe drive home, which I did in a Pino-Green Ferrari 250 GTE, which was quite an experience !