10.6.07

After almost a decade it was great to be back in the Emilia Romagna region of Northern Italy and the opportunity to take a tour of the Ferrari factory, enjoy the Mille Miglia as it passed through the Scaglietti body plant and join like minded enthusiasts for the inaugural RM auction at Ferrari’s F1 logistics centre at Fiorano....

The Factory
Dominating Maranello is the Ferrari factory which is undergoing significant redevelopment with a budget of €200 million to upgrade every element of the production facility ( which currently produces 5,700 units per year of the 430, 599 and 612 models) and will include a new assembly shop opening in mid ’08.

With a total headcount of 2,800 (900 of which are devoted to the F1 programme) one of the factory’s current priorities is to build a new staff canteen to cope with the burgeoning workforce!

During my tour I was introduced to Romeo and Juliet, who although somewhat lacking in personality are the models of efficiency (as you would expect two robots to be) and work in harmony to fit valve seats to cylinder heads with the assistance of liquid nitrogen, whilst a walk through the trim shop revealed that each car requires four hides to produce the leather interior.

On the ground floor of the engineering building where noise levels were low, temperature a constant 22 degrees celsius and humidity 42%, were cars illustrating the varied history of Ferrari – a 166 Touring, 250PF coupe and the stillborn, controversial Indycar.

With a 2 year waiting list and emerging markets, (especially China and Russia) the company is increasingly aware of its heritage and continues to build its brand, culminating in the recent appointment of ex-Red Bull man Danny Bahar as Global Brand Director.

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“It is because of the Mille Miglia that the Italian automobile industry exists” – Enzo Ferrari.
Ferrari won the 1,000 mile sports-car race from Brescia via Rome to Brescia 11 times in its 27 year history, although for many the best known memory of this epic road race is the 1955 win of Sir Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson in the factory Mercedes 300SLR in a record 10 hours and 7 minutes.

Now a 1,000 mile, three day regularity trial over a comparable route, 375 crews assembled in Brescia for the start on Thurs May 17th and with Mariella Mengozzi’s (from Ferrari’s brand marketing team) help I was able to watch the surviving competitors pass through the gates of the Scaglietti factory on their return leg to Brescia.

On hand to present competitors with a memento of their visit were Piero Lardi Ferrari and Ferrari’s master coachbuilder Sergio Scaglietti, with a complete range of current road car production adjacent to a gold prancing horse and a silver globe celebrating Ferrari’s multiple world championships in F1.

The entry took almost two hours to pass through the checkpoint and on a warm Saturday evening in mid May, I saw more Mercedes SSK and BMW 507 V8s ( two of my all time favourite motors) than I feel I am likely to see in one place again.

Proof of how important motor manufacturers still perceive this event, there was factory presence from BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, Audi and Ferrari. Former Arrows and Brabham Grand Prix racer Marc Surer is a long-time BMW ambassador who drove their Mobile Tradition’s pre war 327, whilst Director of the Porsche Museum Klaus Bischof drove a 550RS and Mercedes fielded Jochen Mass in a 300SLR.

Normally Alfa Romeo Storica’s Disco Volante is a huge attraction but this year the most popular entry was Prisca Taruffi in John McCaw’s Ferrari 315S – the same car her father Piero drove in the race 50 years ago. Prisca is a respected Rally Raider and with the support of the Ferrari Classiche team she finished the event, handling the 360bhp racer with considerable skill whilst dodging the cameras!

RM Ferrari Only Auction
With an early start (to avoid the congestion created by the Giro D’Italia cycle race passing through Maranello) there was an excellent opportunity to view the entries for RM Auctions inaugural European, Ferrari only sale held in association with Sotheby's at the F1 Logistics Centre, adjacent to the Fiorano test track.

The significance of the event was not lost on Ferrari SpA as both Luca Montezemolo (President) and Jean Todt (Executive Director) were in attendance, with Todt staying for the duration of the auction.

All cars offered had been approved by the Ferrari Classiche programme, so buyers were assured that what they were bidding on was the real deal and not a replica! RM presented 33 lots with a broad spectrum of tipos, the earliest of which was a ’53 340/375MM consigned by noted US collectors John and Mary Shirley and the latest, Scuderia Ferrari’s 248 F1 car driven by Felipe Massa in last year's Hungarian Grand Prix. For those with more modest budgets there was the opportunity to purchase a sales brochure for a 250LM or Kimi Raikkonen’s race gloves.

Respected auctioneer Peter Bainbridge has been with the Blenheim Ontario based RM several years now and along with Max Girardo they kept the 1,000 strong audience entertained for nearly 4 hours of frantic bidding, which resulted in 32 cars selling for almost US$45 million and all to private buyers. The individual results are reproduced elsewhere but some lots are worthy of note ….

This was a dream start for RM in Europe – the combination of excellent organisation + well selected lots + good presentation = record prices and a clear indication that tipos with a limited production, complete history and excellent condition are increasingly sought by both established and emergent markets. As Peter Bainbridge said – “sold the RM way” is a phrase we are likely to hear more of very soon in Europe and for some of their competitors it's likely to be an unwelcome wake up call!

Thanks to Mariella Mengozzi from Ferrari and Terry Lobzun from RM Auctions who gave me the opportunity to experience the Mille Miglia and a special day in modern Ferrari history.

So the pasta is finished, the Barolo gone and I didn’t get chance to remove the Daytona “buck” from outside the Galleria or wish Luca a happy 60th birthday for August 31st.....

See you at Silverstone on June 8-10th!