At the request of others on the forum, I'm posting some pics of my visit to Modena. We stopped there on our way from Florence to the Monaco GP. We visited the Ferrari museum in Maranello and the Lamborghini museum across town in Sant'Agata.

The Ferrari museum was a lot larger and had more on display than the Lamborghini museum due in part to Ferrari's racing history. We couldn't take a tour of either factory because we are not Ferrari or Lamborghini owners, but a visit to the museums is well worth it if you like either marque.

The 250 GT Berlinetta "Breadvan":




The F40 is one of my all-time favorite cars. This is the racing version:


A 250 GTO apparently valued at around $20 million:




They actually had Enzo stuffed and put up for display :


Some of the retired F1 cars:


Another favorite of mine, the 288 GTO:


I always thought the Enzo was a bit ugly, but it looks pretty good from this angle:


A part clay model of the F150, which was to become the La Ferrari:




And the La Ferrari in the flesh:




The car is beautiful in person:


Right outside the museum there are companies that let you test drive Ferraris. I test drove an F12 and a 458 Spider. Started with the F12, which was amazing. Anyone who says that more than 700 bhp is too much power doesn't know what he's talking about! Although I had to have someone from the company ride with me, he was really cool and encouraged me to go fast. He even had me do a launch, which was pretty incredible. The power is addictive and, sadly, my 510 bhp somehow seems like not enough by comparison. Oh well, that's the risk associated with driving a car like this:




Really like the way this car looks in person as well. This view of the car is really nice:


Next drove the 458. It was my first time in the 458 and I was really impressed with it too. This time my co-pilot was a Ferrari test driver. During our drive we passed a (parked) Pagani. So what's it like to drive a 458 Spider on a beautiful day in Maranello? My expression says it all:

 

After visiting Ferrari and doing the test drives, we needed to hustle over to Sant'Agata before the Lamborghini museum closed. On the way we were passed by a partially-camouflaged F12 that Ferrari must have been testing:


Apparently you can see lots of Ferraris come and go from the factory if you stake out one of the many exits.


On to Lamborghini. Here's a 350 GT from the mid 60s:


Another favorite, the Miura SV:




The chassis from an Aventador:


Engine from a Murcielago:


An early Countach:


A 400 GT Superleggera:


A Reventon. Never really liked it in pictures, but it looked amazing in person. So many different facets:


A speedboat engine apparently produced by Lambo:


The Estoque sedan. Looks pretty good from the front, but looks like a new Camaro from back :


Really liked this one. If I had a Gallardo, I'd be tempted to do this as a wrap:


A detail view of an ancient device that was once used to manually shift gears:


The Bull Bar across the street from the factory. You can test drive Lamborghinis here. This is the old man who yelled at me for parking in his spot.

 

Great Pics! Looks like you had a good trip.
What was the current pricing for the Ferrari rentals?

 

awesome pics, thanks for posting!

 

Not sure off the top of my head and, to be honest, once I saw the cars I pretty much gave them my credit card. I want to say that it was 200-300 Euro for 20-30 minutes. I did 20 minutes in the F12 and 30 minutes in the 458. I'm sure you can find websites for the two companies online. I think one was called PushStart and the other was called Pitlane. They are positioned on either side of the factory and representatives from the companies will greet you before you even get to the museum doors.

Edit: One more thing, we were there midweek so we could get pretty much any car we wanted at whatever time we wanted it. They said that it's a different story on the weekend. If you want to do a test drive on the weekend, you had better make a reservation in advance.

 

Race X thanks! Outstanding photographs... I'm so envious!

 

awesome pictures and thank you for sharing! man that f40 lm and the 288 GTO are both on all time favorite cars list! great to be able to see them both in person!

 

Thks for the tips - Found their sites.
Last time I went, was under 24 & they wouldn't rent me a car

 

Thanks for sharing the pics. This looks like a fabulous trip. Been debating between Monaco and Suzuka (always wanted to visit Japan). Combining Monaco with Modena was a great idea.

 

My wife did the same thing last year. Modena is a car lovers heaven! We also visited Lamborghini, Maserati, and the Pagani factories. Thanks for sharing.

 

whelp this made my day! lol thanks for sharing. What an expeirence

 

Thanks for posting.

I do not understand why recently Ferrari gets to the rear of the car and cannot resolve the design. Both the LaFerrari and the F12 have this pseudo F1 thing going on that is hard to appreciate.

On the other hand, it seems that Aston Martin does a great job on the rear of the cars consistently.

 

^^^I think Ferraris and Astons are such different cars that it's difficult to compare them directly, in many respects. For the Aston it's more about classic good looks that befit a "gentleman's racer." For the Ferrari, it's more about drama and passion (it's Italian after all).

I agree that the LaFerrari's backside is a bit busy, but people would be let down if a hypercar of this level would have a simpler rearend like that of an Aston. The design of a car like this needs to be a bit over-the-top. As for the F12, I think Ferrari really got it right. IMO it's a beautiful design from end to end and a great improvement over the 599, which seems boring by comparison.

 

Great pics! Sounds like a fun tour.

 

Outstanding Dave, When you said Modena pics, I assumed you'd be showing us pics of a 360 you just picked up. I remember that you were looking at Ferrari a while back. This trip must have surely got your adrenaline flowing. Any news on that front?