It costs around 14 euros, or about $15 per minute, to drive a Lamborghini, which is rented on public roads in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. This feels particularly essential in a place where some coins drink a glass of world-class wine. But what's more struggling is that experience is actually worth the money.
Stomping on the metal pedals of a supercar is refreshing at an undeniable internal level. The passenger chaperone during my own supercar test drive had to ask me to stop screaming in joy as I accelerated.
Two times.
I didn't even realize I was making noises.
Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati and high-end motorcycle brand Ducati is the most famous name of many manufacturers, sometimes referred to as the Italian “Motor Valley.” Most are less than an hour's drive from Bologna, and weekend holiday crash courses (intended for puns) can be built on weekends in the niche, but global supercar world.
Most businesses offer similar experiences, including factory tours, driving simulators, vintage car expos, and branded gift shops. Motor Valley factories, at least at first glance, look similar to Amazon warehouses. Sterilized overhead lights primarily illuminate grey interiors, while the S-shaped assembly line weave across the huge, open-floor work space. Small teams of workers matching industrial uniforms focus on assigned, often narrow tasks. I pasted the door panel here, sealed the windshield there, constantly tightened and illuminated various nuts and bolts. The thrills of hole ring drills, cranking wrenches and rubber mallets make everything a productive and almost musical soundtrack.
Maranello's Ferrari campus feels like a theme park and seems to attract the widest range of tourists of all the area's supercar destinations. The company-themed cafe next door serves as a waiting room for everyone from boring youth playing Pokemon GO to enthusiastic fans gushing through Formula 1 history. Most couples are car enthusiasts and sometimes enthusiasts are trying to convert to the Ferrari fandom.
Ferrari certainly has a certain romance. After all, it is the only Italian luxury car manufacturer that still races at Formula 1 level. Ferrari is currently operating as an independent company, but Lamborghini, Maserati and Ducati are all subsidiaries of non-Italian companies. Finally, the colorful life of founder Enzo Ferrari has been so intrigued that it has been portrayed in multiple Hollywood films over the past decade alone.
However, visitors will not actually enter the factory while competing on Ferrari's “Factory Tour.” Instead, they are driven around the company's campus by shuttle bus, with guides explaining what is going on in a variety of, barely explained buildings.
Lamborghini factory tours offer the most balanced experience. The colors of the car range from matte black to mac and cheese orange to highlighter yellow, making it look like a spaceship. Crawling between workstations, which are nests of employee activity on supercars, automated, robot-like vehicles like GPS navigation.
The Lamborghini factory also benefits from its location across the street from the Boulevard. Boulevard is often a place where company employees often stop by for espresso, and in my limited experience, they chat with curious visitors.
Maserati offers the most comprehensive factory tours in about 90 minutes. One of the outstanding benefits of extra time is to visit Maserati's engine test lab. In rooms separated from other vehicles (and engineers testing them), supercar engines are forced into the limits by computer programs designed to replicate extreme driving conditions. The engine isolated in the test room is connected to enough tubes and wires to provide sci-fi air while in progress.
Perhaps, of course, the Ducati factory is the smallest bundle. Nevertheless, tight and unlit, visitors can look up close through the various construction stages. There is a vehicle similar to the same robotics found at the Lamborghini factory here (Lamborghini and Ducati are both subsidiaries of the Volkswagen Group).
In addition to factory visits, each company also offers public exhibitions that exist somewhere at the intersection of the museum and showroom. Ferrari's inactive factory experience is offset by a top-notch museum. Everything is organized in chronological order and well curated. In particular, the Formula 1 race cars collection at the Maranello Museum is unparalleled among the museums we visited. (Ferrari runs Modena's second small museum focused on founder Enzo Ferrari).
The other two car companies' exhibitions are heading towards the “showroom.” An interesting collection of Lamborghini's classic models is complemented by attractive company-themed artwork donated by Lamborghini dealers around the world. For example, Baku dealers sent out Azerbaijani carpets featuring the company bull logo.
Like the counterparts of Ferrari, the Ducati Museum is well organized and features numerous racing bikes throughout the history of MotoGP (equivalent to Formula 1) and individual motorcycles of historical interest, such as the aerodynamic yet fragile Ducati Sillo, to the Ducati Sillo, which shoots the day's paintings, which are photographed in one day's paintings, which are photographed in one day's paintings. I took it. Children seem to be particularly grateful for this touch. They all took advantage of the opportunity to twist the display on the bike's throttle, emulating the engine sound.
In fact, young children seem to love car showrooms and museums all at once. After all, “Mom, look at this car!” is easy to understand beyond the barriers of language.
Of course, supercars can cultivate existing, simply ethical dilemmas and feel that tour factories that produce gas-fouling machines in an age of climate change will not come into contact. (Related: All manufacturers are in some stage of developing electric vehicles.)
What stands out is the rich wealth level based on the survival of the supercar industry, as it sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Prospects wearing watches that can pay off student loans for the whole family could potentially be spotted by sales staff as minders. Enjoy your favorite toys like UltraWealth. Well, it seems a little awful. At least at first.
Cars represent the pinnacle of human achievement in a particular field, and can be purely appreciated for their beauty and power. For better or worse, this appreciation is best achieved behind the wheel. Some outfitters offer the experience of driving a supercar, but many cost hundreds (or 1,000). Fortunately, low-cost options are available.
In addition to the best notch espresso, Boulevard features a supercar rental service that offers a 10-minute test drive, and after all, 600 seconds is enough time to turn your supercar intellectual rating into gut-level affection.
Even just putting in the villages around the Lamborghini factory feels something different. You are sitting very low. Everything is different, from the steering wheel that looks like a video game controller to the flashy dashboard display.
Slowly inching around the village for the first few minutes of the ride will make you feel invited to pay 14 euros per minute to drive a golf cart. He then hits an arrow straight, a two-lane highway that continues town, and tells the passenger guide, “Okay, I can go fast now.”
Driving a supercar (in my case, a Lamborghini Haracan Spider) is a multi-sensory experience. For a moment, the ears are flooded by the sound of the car's roaring V-10 engine before the inner is compressed by the increase in the acceleration G-force. It's a phenomenal, groaning.
Signs along the road (worthy of repeating it, but with approaching traffic) pass at a higher speed and enhance the sense of high speed. And when you think you've got what you paid for, the guide says, “You can go fast if you want.” After an incredible check, step on the pedal with your weight. The sign passes faster, the approaching traffic is blurry, and the engine thunders even more angry.
“Okay, and now I'll start slowing down,” you are instructed. It may be related to receiving it in the office in a boring tone. A glance at the passenger seat will make sure this is another blue day for your guide. But you are in the adrenal glands. Excessive inspiratory and yet another speeding session on your way back to the village only enhances this feeling.
With a ticket to either Ferrari Museum, you can drive your car for 15 minutes on the Autodromo Di Modena Racetrack. During its heyday, Autodromo not only hosted multiple F1 races, but also served as a test track for the Ferrari and Maserati. The original truck has been closed for decades, but it's worth taking up the new Auto Doromo on offer.
You need to bring your own car – in my case, the cheapest your rental 100 horsepower hatchback (for comparison, I drove 640 horsepower). But what you lose in power is free and you make up for it. I was the only driver to attend a foggy morning. It was my turn. And after a very short safety orientation, I had a truck myself.
Compared to the Lamborghini a day ago, the car's flip-over turns and hyperfocus almost coincided with the rush of supercar driving, repeating every millisecond of every millisecond, despite a pathetic slower speed.
Did I scream?
I don't know.
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