The rich are different from you and me. And not just because, as Ernest Hemingway once quipped, “they have more money.” They also own really fabulous cars. Like Ferraris. Sometimes several of them. And because they own Ferraris, they can also attend fabulous events, like the Ferrari Driving Experience (FDE) — a two-day dream getaway in which Ferrari owners sharpen their driving skills by hurling F430s around racetracks under the expert scrutiny of professional race drivers and instructors.
Today I infiltrated the racing-red upper class to investigate.
The FDE has operated for years in Italy, first at the Mugello racetrack and now at Ferrari’s own Fiorano test circuit. But since last year Ferrari has also offered the course at Circuit Mont Tremblant outside Montreal, Canada. For sure, Fiorano has the history and the nearby Ferrari factory as lures, but it’s hard to imagine a more idyllic spot than Mont Tremblant. Ferrari guests stay the luscious Hotel Quintessence right on the verdant shores of Lake Tremblant. As you might imagine, the food is fantastique, and if you’ve brought your significant other, she or he can indulge in spa treatments, the spectacular infinity pool, and myriad other hedonistic diversions while you’re at the track toughing it out behind the wheel of a Ferrari.
The FDE isn’t a racing school per se; instead, the course aims to teach Ferrari owners how better to enjoy the performance of their purebred machines. Classroom talk, led by veteran Canadian instructor Pierre Savoy, focused on weight transfer, the importance of being smooth at the wheel, and the proper line through corners of differing shapes. Then we headed out (ran out, actually) to the waiting F430s.
The FDE offers a ton of wheel time. Our class of 18 students broke into three groups of six; we drove off to practice slalom exercises, threshold braking, correcting oversteer on a wet skidpad, and restrained familiarization laps of the circuit’s north loop (by tomorrow, we’ll be running the whole track). Remember: you’re not doing this stuff at the wheel of some beat-up school mule. All the drills are performed in nearly new Ferrari F430s — all with carbon-ceramic brakes and F1 paddle-shift transmissions (the skidpad cars have six-speed manuals because students spin a lot and that puts a ton of strain on the F1 boxes).
The instructor-to-student ratio is impressive. And so is the quality of the instruction. All the guys are top racers. Among them: Anthony Lazzaro (a three-time world karting champion, NASCAR ace, and class winner at the Daytona 24 hours), Matt Plumb (2003 SPEED world challenge rookie of the year and second in last year’s Grand America Rolex & Sports Car Series), and chief instructor Nick Longhi (a Rolex GT hot-shoe with 10 years of teaching Ferrari drivers to go faster). The emphasis is not on becoming the next world champ, but on learning driving finesse and having a great time doing it.
By the end of the afternoon, we were running laps of the north loop with impressive velocity indeed. Though I’ve done many racing schools before, as I drove with Matt Plumb riding shotgun, he offered really helpful insights that, when I began employing his suggestions, produced tangible improvements in my car’s speed and stability. We’ve all heard the phrase “in slow, out fast,” but Matt had me backing off my corner entry speed even more than I’m accustomed to — and it worked. By the end of the afternoon I was definitely driving more quickly, yet the car felt more locked down that it had in the morning runs.
As I mentioned, the Ferrari Driving Experience is an exclusive deal. You have to own a Ferrari to play. You’ve also got to plunk down $8500 for two days (though that includes meals, five-star lodging, track and instructor access, and all that F430 seat time). Do the math on renting a Ferrari and the price actually seems like a deal.
Tomorrow we’ll start lapping the full course, and we’ll be pushing the F430s even faster. I’ll report back with Part II of Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous — And Those Who Just Pretend To Be.
