I was in Milan for a meeting last week, my wife came with me and we stayed the week end.

For folks familiar with Milan, the Duomo (cathedral) is a huge draw in the city center.

Very close to the Duomo is a Ferrari merchandise store.

My wife and I were walking around yesterday and she said, why don't you go see the Ferraris and I replied, it is a store, not a dealership.

She replied that she saw some cars over there.

We then meandered over and indeed this was true.

An outfit called Drive Your Dreams set up a tent and they had a Murcielago vert, California and a 430 coupe.

The pricing was 90 Euro for 10 min and 140 Euro for 20 min in the 430.
The other cars started at 110 Euro.

I went for the 430.

Of course an employee goes with you and prior to that, the sign up was quick and easy.

I had not driven a Ferrari before.

Quick thoughts

Steering is wonderful and extremely direct. Taking a turn required more turns of the wheel than the LFA but the feet is better than in the LFA.

The car is very easy to drive. To start out you have to give it a fair amount of gas. On the road it stays pretty calm until you get past about a third of the gas pedal travel. In contrast the LFA engines gets right to business from a smaller amount of pedal input. I had a few chances to punch the 430 pretty good on one way streets with buildings on either side and it sounded excellent.

The brakes were also very direct.

I got to fire it up and the sequence is similar to the LFA, pull both paddles, put your foot on the brake and push the button for 3 seconds. A smile bringing growl comes right up.

The ride was better than I expected. Milan has streets that are just large stones and it did very well. The DYD employee mentioned that the Murci is terrible on such roads.

It terms of popularity, the Cali was getting almost all of the business. I think the combo of a vert and that 3 people can go out with the DYD employee helps with this.

Other stuff seen in Milan.

A black GTR (surprised me)
An Alfa 8C spider, sounded beyond belief till the guy let off the pedal and it was misfire time
Peugeot electric car demo
A black 458, the sound is better than a 430
Lots of Ducati monsters and a few Aprilias
Loads of Fiat 500s

 

Man I'd love some seat time behind the Alfa and 458. thanks for sharing!!

 

Damn.

Had I known, I would have rented that instead of a scooter to check out the sights...

 

Nice experience. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like fun. My wife almost signed me up last week for the world class driving tour when it comes to Sedona in November. I stopped her because I need to fist find out if a 6'5" 320 lb guy can fit in these exotics. When I called the guy said the only one that would be an issue for me would be the McLaren SLR benz. I dont know if I believe him

 

Great write up, thank you! Glad you enjoyed your time there.

 

thats awesome