My first adventure - THE Ferrari trip

Hola gente!

So as I said in my previous post, my first carventure (just made up this word) was to Ferrari. One random October evening I found the museiferrari on Instagram, and acknowledged its existence in surprise. I know, literally everyone who knows at least a little about Ferrari knows that they are in Maranello, but now we are talking about a person (me), who didn't know Red Bull was an F1 team before last October, so give me some slack. :D

Anyway, the next day after this discovery, I was bored on the train to work, when the thought hit me that I should check where Maranello is exactly. Well, it is pretty close to Bologna, so I went down the rabbit hole on to check how much plane tickets would be to Bologna (this whole thing with F1 is just one big-big rabbit hole with a million intersections, btw) - and I picked the next weekend to check prices, because well, I was free. I think it was the smoothest operation of flight checking ever, because the first dates that I entered gave me really good prices, so I started to think about actually buying them.

20 minutes later I arrived to work, I had a short meeting with my boss, who saw that I was under the weather (still back to the emotional trauma stuff), and for some reason, he thought that if he gave me a sneak peak into the results of my personality test I took the week before, it would help me. Well, it did, but probably not the way he expected. The thing he wanted to show me was that my decision-making was rated 3/10. Without context, this is not much data, but the way I understood what it meant was not a flattering one and I immediately went to "I'll show you how good and quick of a decision-maker I am, you stupid test!" and after the meeting, I bought the tickets. 

This is how I found myself in Bologna the next weekend, also quite accidentally with a friend, because we booked the same flight. We had different agendas, so after the first night, we parted ways and I set out to my Ferrari adventure. I'm that type of person who would plan everything meticulously (and even if I don't plan that is "planned spontaneity"), so I figured out everything in advance. I even bought all the tickets (meaning the combo ticket for both museums, simulator ticket, factory + track tour, shuttle between Modena and Maranello), which had its advantages and disadvantages.

I started my trip with an unpleasant surprise: I missed my train, because I got the wrong information and was waiting at the wrong platform - this meant that I also missed the shuttle to Maranello, therefore I would also miss basically the factory+track tour and my time for the sim. It turned out that I was not the only one, because a Polish couple also made the same mistake. 

I was internally screaming, and seriously contemplated crying, but literally there was not time to be wasted like that, so we all booked new train tickets, then I called the shuttle to wait for us - they couldn't, so we ended up agreeing that we will just take a taxi, the 3 of us. It was a great idea, which I didn't think of before, as I am sooooo used to budget trips and not being able to afford a taxi (and also, this is just principles: why would I pay X times as much for a taxi, when I can get there perfectly fine with public transport much cheaper).

So we took a taxi, and when I got out, and saw that F1 Ferrari in the literal grid of metal, and all the pent-up frustration left my body and I was just so happy and excited to be there and see everything and learn about stuff! This was really the beginning of my journey, so everything was new to me. 

First, I started with the gift shop, because I had a bit of time before my sim booking. I wanted to celebrate the feeling I felt so I picked out the thing I liked the most - the limited edition 2023 Las Vegas merch cap. It was the weekend of the Vegas GP, so very suiting, and honestly, when that merch came out, I fell in love. Of course, I got the Carlos edition, because I think some weeks before I also realized that he might be the winner of the "who should be my favorite driver" contest. It was the most I ever paid for a cap, (and really, it was that expensive that normally I would rather cut my hand off than pay this much, but I was euphoric, so I blame it on that) and baseball caps don't even look good on me, except for this - this one does, so I tend to think it was worth it (see previous post for me in the cap).

Then I did the sim, which was a disaster. I had fun, but in hindsight, nobody really explained what I should do, besides using the pedals - it was my first time ever not only on a sim, but literally on like any kind of car videogame type of thing, so I didn't know that I was supposed to follow the racing line and break when it's red. No wonder I crashed in every 2 seconds. But it was also very realistic, like the break was properly hard, the chair was moving, and even though I of course couldn't feel any G force, besides the normal one, I still felt that I was thrown around a lot. 

Apparently sims are my happy place

Afterwards, I walked around the museum and loved it. There are a lot of Ferrari models on exhibit - and at that point I didn't know anything about them, but the F40 was instant love. 

I laid eyes on the F40 and it was love...

I really liked the room with the championship winner cars and trophies and tiny car models - I felt the magic there, so no wonder that is the picture with which they always advertise the museum. And now, you can even book that room in Airbnb. God, that would be a dream, but the budget currently doesn't allow me to endulge myself in such luxuries.

The factory and track tour was the next on my agenda, and it didn't disappoint. We couldn't go inside the factory, so basically just looked at the buildings from the outside, but it was very informative, I remember that it was the first time I heard about the existence of wind tunnels (great stuff, I learnt a lot about them from the F1 Explains podcast), and I also had the fleeting thought to try to find a job at Ferrari. Unfortunately, I'm neither a driver, nor any kind of engineer, so I put this on hold for the time being...

Every time they show this place in DTS or any video, I'm in a shock that I was there.

The track part of the tour refers to Fiorano, which was the first track ever that I visited (I know it's just their private one, but doesn't that make it even more special?). We went around a little bit, got showed stuff, and did you know that they test literally every single car on this track to make sure it works okay? Well, now you do! :D Also, don't paint a Ferrari pink, because you will be blacklisted and never be able to get another one. You can paint it any other color.

I also checked out the Ferrari Flagship store - and I'll be honest, my thought was that they should stick to designing cars. :D Though, I've just seen their Miami inspired collection and wow, it is something else!

Unfortunately, at that point I didn't know about Ristorante Montana, which is a must visit place, so I have to go back - which is fine, I would want to go back anyway, and check out everything again, now that I have a bit more knowledge and I would also know to follow the racing line in the sim - I'd also prefer not to go alone the next time (applications are open :D).

So after everything, I took the shuttle back to Modena, where I stayed, but there was no time for anything else that day (I mean I watched the Vegas race, which I missed and I absolutely loved it - except for Carlos getting the unjust penalty). Did you know that Modena's color is yellow and that's why it is the background of the prancing horse in the Ferrari logo?

The next day, the adventure continued in Modena in the Enzo Ferrari Museum. Honestly, I liked it less, because it was just a bunch of cars, and then also the house where Ferrari lived. I also met some Hungarian guys, whom I'm sure were surprised when a random woman just greeted them in Hungarian in the middle of the museum. There was also an immersive video, which I quite liked. And to be honest, at that point I had no idea about how engines work - still now, I only have a bit more knowledge - but if I did, I probably would have found this part more exciting.

Anyways, I loved this trip, and I would love to do a repeat (probably only the Maranello leg)! I might pay for some driving experience as well. But as far as first carventures go, this was the perfect one!