Museo Enzo Ferrari 2015

Going to Italy is always a pleasure. Since I was a child, Italy has always been Home. Back in the old days, I used to go to Church con la Nonna; now I’ve made my second pilgrimage to the Vatican of automobile : The Museo Enzo Ferrari, in Modena. Text & Images: Luca W. ©

It seems pretty logical to build the Enzo Ferrari Museum in the city that witnessed his first breath. Built in 2012, designed by the late Jan Kaplický, the main building exhibits key cars of Enzo’s life. This summer exhibition dealt with the friendship between Enzo Ferrari and the great Luciano Pavarotti.

To me, the Alfa Romeo RL was the most exciting car of the whole museum. Enzo scored his most prestigious victory with this car, as an official Alfa Romeo driver, at the Coppa Acerbo in 1924. The yellow monstrous neighbour was driven by the legendary Derek Bell, at the 1000km of Spa, in 1970.

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Still, there were other legends. The next cars are all linked by two bonds : Ferrari, and supercar. Yes, there was the whole supercar family tree down there. Starting with the 288 GTO.

An era where Turbo was good, actually… You know what I mean. Only 272 units made. Imagine in the 80s, how rare it was to bump into a 400HP car, made out of carbon fiber, Kevlar and Nomex in order to be FIA certified?

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The Museo Enzo Ferrari had to have one of these

Known as the last car to have Enzo’s influence, the F40 has inherited of Enzo’s life. We can compare it with a writer autobiography, at dusk of his life. The 30 years of experience were ingredients to make this perfect Pasta al Ragù -a typical Bolognese dish-, a sweet, red, tomato sauce, strong meat, with tagliatelle, usually. What I love most is the meat, which I usually compare with the engine. When it comes to your mouth, it is soft, sweet and then, when the turbo comes, it becomes spicy, flaming.

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In the shadow of its mother, the F50 is a magnificent car though. Ferrari abandoned the turbo-charged engine and decided to implement a derivative of its Formula One V12 engine. The F50 was less performant than the F40, but still, what a car.

10 years later, the tribute to Il Commendatore : the Ferrari Enzo.

After leaving, I realized there was a LaFerrari in the room, according to the twenty or so people around it. I couldn’t and still can’t get them when there were these around :

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And there it is, where it all started, the center of the Museo Enzo Ferrari.

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