The next morning we joined up with some guys from South Africa and New Zealand to be guided around the Lamborghini factory, museum and private collection, the Pagani factory and showroom, the Ferrari Museum and an external tour of the Ferrari factory by our effervescent guide Francesco.
We started our day at the Lamborghini museum & factory. Ferruccio Lamborghini went to meet Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari factory to complain about the quality of the clutch in the Ferrari 250 GT he owned. Enzo sent him away telling him to go and drive tractors because he was not able to drive cars. Lamborghini went back to his factory, had his Ferrari’s clutch dismantled and realized that the clutch manufacturer was the same who supplied the clutches for his tractors!
In his warehouse he found a spare part which he thought suitable, and when it was installed the problem was solved. Ferruccio promised himself never to go back to Ferrari for another car but rather beat him at his own game by creating a superior sports car. Thus the idea of a Lamborghini sports car was born.
Ferruccio decided that his car was to have a V12 engine, and enlisted the services of talented engineer Giotto Bizzarrini. The Lamborghini 350GTV prototype began making public appearances in 1963, starting with the Turin Auto Show. Sales of the production model, known as the 350GT, began the following year. Born under the sign of Taurus, Ferruccio Lamborghini used the bull as the badge by which to mark his new automobile. The company then designed its first supercar - the now-legendary Lamborghini Miura, which was premiered in Nov 1965.
In 1971, Lamborghini developed the unusual-looking LP500 Countach prototype, named after an Italian slang term uttered in surprise by a person who had just seen the new car. The production Countach was introduced three years later. The prototype was the first car to sport Lamborghini’s now-traditional scissor doors, along with vertically mounted rear air intakes. Another point noted by journalists was the manner in which reversing a Countach was accomplished; raising the driver’s door and sitting on the door sill.
The next stop on the tour was the Lamborghini Private Collection where we were given a guided tour by Fabio Lamborghini, nephew of Ferruccio himself. What better way to remember Ferruccio than to build a memorial to the man himself? Ferruccio’s son Tonino did exactly that, opening the Centro Studi e Ricerche Ferruccio Lamborghini in 2001.
Some of the cars Lamborghini drove himself are here in the exhibit hall: a gorgeous red 1966 Miura P40 SV and a 1970 Jarama S. A 1971 Countach, a ‘66 400GT, ‘67 Espada and a ‘68 Islero, all brightly coloured, some just in chassis form, some featuring odd touches like woodwork, are interspersed through the crowded exhibit space. After some begging, Fabio actually let me sit in Ferruccio’s Countach to get photographed.
Tonino has done quite well with the family name, even if the only cars he produces are electric; examples of Tonino’s watches, eye wear, clothing and food (pasta, balsamic and olive oil) were on display at the museum. While we were encouraged to purchase, there was certainly no hard sell here. We chose a set of wine and Fabio kindly autographed it for us.
After finishing with Fabio our next stop was the tour of the Ferrari plant - however, since only Ferrari purchasers and staff get to go inside the vaunted gates, Francesco performed our tour from the perimeter of the plant. Still, as an ex-Ferrari employee, Francesco was well-qualified to explain the functions of each building, production figures and the different jobs that he had held within the factory.
For George & I the most fascinating part was seeing exactly what a wind tunnel looked like - we hear so much about them in Formula 1, but we had no idea what one would look like.
From here we moved on to the Ferrari Museum, where we finally broke for a bite of lunch and then toured the gallery. I have to admit that I was getting a little bored with cars at this point, and rather than listening to Francesco, I just wandered around taking photos.
Our final stop of the day was the Pagani factory, famous for their Pagani Zonda supercar, less than twenty of which are produced each year. Argentinean Horacio Pagani came to Europe in 1982 to look around, accompanied by a letter of recommendation from Juan Manuel Fangio. He worked his way up through various different famous car manufacturers and in 1991 Pagani established Modena Design to meet the increasing demand for his design, engineering, and prototyping services.
In 1992, he began construction of a Fangio F1 prototype, and by 1993, the car was being tested at the Dallara wind tunnel with positive results. In 1994, Mercedes-Benz agreed to supply Pagani with V12 engines.
The final production car was named the Zonda C12; the Fangio F1 name was dropped out of respect for Fangio, who died in 1995. It was first presented at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. On the 25th Sep 2007 Pagani claimed a new record for production super cars using the Pagani Zonda F Clubsport by completing the Nürburgring in 7:27:82
