Let’s Go Race a Ferrari in Beijing

Frank: Women, what could you say? Who made ’em? God must have been a genius. The hair. They say that the hair is everything, you know? Have you ever buried your nose in a mountain of curls, just wanted to go to sleep forever? Or lips, and when they touched yours were like the first swallow of wine after you just crossed the desert. Tits! Hoo-wah! Big ones, little ones. Nipples starring right out at you like secret searchlights. Legs, I don’t care if they’re Greek columns or second-hands Steinways, what’s between them: passport to heaven… Yes, Mr. Simms, there’s only two syllables in this whole wide world worth hearing.

Charlie: I guess you really like women.

Frank: Above all things. A very, very distant second is a Ferrari. Charlie, give me your hand. This is just the start of your education, son.

– Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman (1992)

In Scent of a Woman Al Pacino essentially says the top two greatest things in a man’s life are a woman and a Ferrari. There are other top end supercars like Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, etc… but to me in terms of reputation and symbolism if you wanted to pick one brand to represent cream of the crop of cars “Ferrari” would roll off my tongue. For that reason, I have always wanted to drive a Ferrari. I’d say that even if money wasn’t a consideration, I would personally not feel the urge to buy one. (I’m more of an R8 person.) In any case, it has been a goal of mine to get behind the wheel of this elite driving machine and on May 8, 2013 it happened. In fact it happened in tremendous style.

So this month I had been doing some traveling and as I was at the HK airport about to catch my flight back to Beijing, a friend sends me a message. She is an actress I worked with on a previous project. She asks me if I want to attend a Ferrari event with her the next day and at the same time she wants to talk about some business. So I said, good timing I’ll be back in Beijing today, no problem.

Since she is a working actress, I figured it would be an event where she drops by and makes an appearance. Either way, I wanted to catch up and I thought a Ferrari event sounded fun. The plan was to meet up for lunch and then cruise over to the event together.

When I arrived for lunch she said she got up late and was getting ready for the event very last minute. I ended up just grabbing a quick sandwich. When I met her up she was a little flustered and asked me if I knew how to drive. I said of course, but I don’t have a Beijing license, I have a US license. She said she had to do her makeup so she kindly asked me “If you don’t mind, could you drive?”

At this point I was a little hesitant because I had only driven once in Beijing and it was on the freeway only. Also, I didn’t know why she asked me to drive her car because usually she has a driver, but I said okay because I’ve never driven in the streets of Beijing and I’m always up for a new challenge.

We get to the garage. She hands me the keys. It’s a brand new Ferrari.

The Ferrari barely had 1400km on it and she just bought the car last year. I reminded her that I had only driven one other time in Beijing and that although this is a sweet car I did not want to mess it up. She assured me that she had full insurance coverage so it would be fine. With that said — I hit the ‘Engine Start’ button.

Turns out we were going to a track day event hosted by Ferrari. I safely drove us to the track in one piece. When we got there, there were tons of other Ferraris.

It was pretty amazing. There was a drifting coach on site that showed us how to drift. There was a straightaway, drifting, and slalom area. They had a resting area with fruits, desserts, and champagne.

Then the kicker was that we got to race the other Ferrari’s on the racetrack. There were a couple races so my friend went once and then let me race the second one. It was about 4-5 laps. It was pretty sweet flooring a Ferrari on a wide open track with only other Ferraris. I would say the ride was very smooth, but you could feel the power. I held back a bit as this was my friend’s brand new car, but I’d say I did take it pretty hard through some turns and drifted it through one of the turns — pretty enjoyable experience. The Ferrari uses F1 paddle shifters, but out of habit from my past 6-speed cars, I kept reaching for a non-existent shift knob.

The one thing I will say in all honesty is that although I enjoyed the experience, after riding motorcycles for years I think exhilaration-wise and speed-wise I will stick to two wheels. The Ferrari was so smooth and comfortable that I didn’t feel the road and the intensity of the speed I was actually going. Another Ferrari owner also commented that to quench his need for speed he preferred his Ducati.

Of course comparing bikes to cars is comparing apples to oranges. A Ferrari is a supercar that offers luxury, speed, and status

In summary, it was amazing to drive a Ferrari especially when I least expected it. I always thought that my first time driving one would be either through a friend’s friend in LA letting me drive it down the street or through renting one for a day in Vegas. It was definitely icing on the cake to be racing other Ferraris on a racetrack. All in all a good day and another goal accomplished. =)