It’s good to be a Ferrari owner. No, it’s really good. And not just because you get to drive one of the most iconic, most exciting, most intoxicating sports cars on the planet. You also get perks.
Lots of perks. Like being invited to take part in such VIP, top-shelf, red carpet customer events as in last weekend’s Ferrari Racing Days spectacular in Miami.
This four-day Ferrari love fest was a celebration of all things rosso red with more Prancing Horses than the Kentucky Derby.
Naturally, there was fabulous, all-Ferrari racing centered around around the Hardrock Stadium, home of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix two weeks earlier.
And Ferrari guests got to see all the action while luxuriating, being wine and dined, and totally pampered at the famous Casa Ferrari traveling hospitality mega-suite overlooking the track.
In addition, there was a private viewing of a secret Ferrari collection hidden away in Miami’s Coral Gables neighborhood, where Ferrari unveiled a new line of memorabilia. Then there was an A-list Saturday night party at Miami’s New World Center concert hall for the reveal of a new Ferrari 296 Speciale.
I was privileged to get a red-letter invite to all the Ferrari Racing Days festivities, which also included a special bonus; the keys to a brand new, baby blue, Ferrari Roma Spider convertible to drive for the weekend. Powered by a 612 hp twin-turbo V8, this $280,000-and-up bundle of joy is currently the first rung on the Ferrari ownership ladder.
It transported me to a nondescript glass door, right next to the Tesla dealership in Coral Gables, for Ferrari’s “Born for Speed, Reborn for Beauty” event.
The venue was the fabled Garage 26 collection, owned by Miami real estate entrepreneur and Ferrari racer, Tomas Cabrerizo who has amassed a spectacular collection of rarest-of-rare Ferraris that he displays in the marble-floored space.
We’re here to see Ferrari’s latest in its Collectibles series, where the brand is offering pieces of racing and prototype memorabilia to owners. Everything from the engine from Michael Schumacher’s 2000 F1 engine (yours for $280,000), to a F1 race car brake rotor ($2,000), to an F1 nose cone (price on application).
And these were not just spare parts in a box. Each was beautifully mounted and displayed by Ferrari’s design department, overseen by Chief Designer, Flavio Manzoni, who was on hand at Garage 26 to explain.
Me? I had my eyes on the exquisite V12 engine from a prototype La Ferrari, “exploded” to show the components, with the parts suspended on aluminum and Lucite supports. A true piece of art, its rarity was reflected in the eye-watering $330,000 price tag. Like all 13 pieces, it was sold by the end of the evening.
The Roma Spider whisked me north, rather quickly, early Saturday morning to the Miami Dolphins’ Hardrock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Here was the biggest collection of customer-owned Ferrari racecars ever assembled – probably more than 130 – that would be competing over the weekend.
Highlights included a privately-owned V10-engined Ferrari F1 racer, six of the rapid Le Mans-inspired 499P Modificatas, and no fewer than 25 FXX racers. Those and a rousing show put on by the Dolphins cheerleading squad.
There were also more than 100 customer-owned cars, that had gathered for morning coffee at Miami’s Perez Museum of Art and driven in convoy to the track, where they had got to do a formation lap of the 2.8-mile circuit.
Up in the huge Casa Ferrari, with its balconies overlooking the racing pits, guests could unwind in a pop-up Wellness Lounge where they could enjoy a spell in a pressurized oxygen chamber, buy pricey Ferrari gear, or simply binge on endless gourmet food and beverage.
Saturday evening was the big customer party at the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center Concert Hall in Miami Beach. After Perrier-Jouet champers and endless hors d’oeuvres, the silk was pulled off the brand new $500,000 Ferrari 296 Speciale, a lighter, more powerful version of the regular 296GTB. Max power of this hybrid supercar is now a staggering 868 hp. What a beast.
Few other brands come anywhere close to involving their owners as Ferrari does. And this Miami Racing Days extravaganza is just one on the calendar. Anyone for Japan’s Fuji Speedway in June?
