Ferrari Love Fest- Ferrari Racing Days
When we headed down to Laguna Seca in 2019 to see the cars of the Ferrari Challenge (FC) and many more of the Ferrari Corse Clienti program, we were on Scuderia overload. There were, of course, scores of later model competition Ferraris that participated against each other in Challenge races. There were also a couple of older Schumacher era F1 Ferraris as well as a stable of cars from Ferrari’s XX series. Most of the FC events we’ve attended in the past at both Laguna Seca and Sonoma Raceway have mainly featured Ferrari’s competition versions of their recognizable road cars. The 2019 event and this year’s featured the above-mentioned track-only, full factory-supported XX cars, but this year also featured four examples of Ferrari’s world-beating 499P Hypercar. These “modificata” cars, are non-competition track day-only customer versions of the car that carried Ferrari to a stunning victory in last year’s running of the 24 hour of Le Mans. These road racing spacecraft are part of Ferrari’s new Sport Prototipi Clienti Program. Compared to the FXX-K and the Enzo XX cars the 499p’s were near whisper quiet with their Formula 1-inspired V6 hybrid engines. We also note that Laguna Seca was the site of the first ever Ferrari Challenge North America race in 1994. This is just one of the many reasons this legendary track is just about our favorite place on earth. We hope Ferrari continue to dazzle the Ferrari Tifosi (Italian for SUPER FAN!) for another 30 years!
As we’d never seen any of these new hypercar prototype cars in the flesh/carbon before, we spent the better part of the weekend relatively speechless in the presence of the rarest of the rare modern Ferraris on earth. All in, there were about 150 Ferraris on hand to take on the twisty bits of Laguna Seca.
Such exposure to cars of this caliber has left us perhaps a bit jaded in the past. Seeing so many unbelievable things all together can have the effect of making the extraordinary seem a little mundane. When you see as many Ferrari’s at the track as you will Tesla Model 3s on the street, you lose a little perspective. We both had a bit of this expectation as we got closer to the event, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that the 2024 event managed to smack our “gobs” just as it did a few years ago in 2019.
FC events and hospitality are primarily focused on the marque’s racing clients and street car owners. For those owners and clients, this event offered a significant level of hospitality and amenities. Despite the fact we didn’t get access to most of those offerings, we were grateful that they provided a relatively posh common area where all could take a load off and plop into a number of plush sofas and armchairs. As the weather was a bit chilly and blustery for most of the event, we give them full props for also providing a few fire pits and an amazing jumbotron, on which we watched the weekend’s action as well as F1 qualifying from Imola, which was an unexpected treat (despite yet another Red Bull pole #boo). All in all, this was a beautifully staged and organized affair.
Yep, direct from the factory.
And in charge of all that staging and organizing were scores and scores of Ferrari employees, mechanics, and engineers. The sheer number of staff on hand was impressive, but also the number of Italian-speaking mechanics and techs who support the Cliente program and cars. In the garage area, english speaking was minimal and small cups of Ferrari-provided espresso were abundant. As neither of us speak Italian, we had to rely on hand gestures and inventive facial expressions to navigate the jam-packed facility without getting in the way or interrupting work. That said most of the hand gestures were thumbs-up and the facial expressions were ear-to-ear grins and looks of disbelief. We would also note that access to up close and personal was not just limited to those of us with press passes. The casual fan could easily get close and was often invited to get close to the rarest of the rare Ferrari racers.
On display were also Ferrari street cars exhibited by the owners providing a healthy Ferrari concourse inside track paddock. Though we always hope to see a better turnout of Ferrari’s older models, this assembly of mostly late models was nonetheless impressive. There were a few more “vintage” cars in the assembly including a few from Challange’s past. Seeing the 348 and 355 Challenge cars hit us in the feels, as we began our love of Ferrari motorsport when those cars were in active competition. (Shout out the owner of the stunning red 812 Competizione for showing the ultimate flex by leaving his $1,950,000 Monroney sheet on their passenger seat)
The Ferrari Challenge North America is Ferrari’s single-make racing series consisting of 6 rounds in the US and Canada. There are three sister series in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Europe. Individual regional series champions meet in the Motherland the for a season finale in Ferrari’s home track in Imola, Italy.
Each series is divided into four main categories, the Trofeo Pirelli, Trofeo Pirelli Am, Coppa Shell and Coppa Shell Am, based on the level of competitiveness of drivers. This produces four winners in each race, with top entertainment guaranteed for both spectators at the track as well as viewers watching from home. Given that the series is broadcast in over ninety countries worldwide, it also provides significant potential visibility to any of the drivers’ sponsors and often the Ferrari dealerships that field the teams. Teams are not only in competition from a race craft perspective, but as most are backed by dealerships it's an opportunity for dealers to engage in fierce competition that doesn't involve sales and inventory numbers. Just to prove the point, the 488 Challenge race was won on Saturday and Sunday by Massimo Perrina of Ferrari Seattle. According to his Linkedin profile, hotshot driver Massimo is the building manager at Ferrari of Seattle.
Ferrari Racing Days are a chance to fully embed in the celebration and glory of Ferrari so we share with you our sites and sounds of the weekend.
The Challenge series makes its next appearance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve from June 7th through 9th, and then to Watkins Glen in July, then to Sonoma Raceway in late August and to the final US race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September. As noted above, all of the regional series leaders will converge for the overall championship finale in Imola from October 16th through 20th.
As we’re confident that our words and images are probably insufficient to describe everything we experienced during our visit to Ferrari Racing Days, please visit the Corse Clienti / Ferrari Challenge website here and/or the Ferrari YouTube channel here.
As always, please enjoy our mega gallery below.
-The Loud Pedal
Gallery
