Page 77 - Decadence

Two weeks later was my best friends stag night and he had asked me to arrange the night out in Birmingham, so I was back on the phone with my club owning Ferrari driving friend. The stag night arrived and after dinner we were all VIP guests in my mate’s lap dancing club (well it was a stag night) while the rest of the gang were at our table surrounded with ‘dancing’ girls, I was at the bar talking Ferraris with my mate. By the end of the evening I was the proud owner of a red, left hand drive Ferrari 360 F1, with a tan leather interior. It certainly took the sting out of the lap dancing when my wife asked me about the evening, “it was great, the guys had a great time and I bought a Ferrari”... to which she responded “what colour is it?”
I kept this car for about 4 years and used it as a daily commute. We did several trips to Cannes and Monaco for the lm festival, one of our best memories was my wife and I queuing for the car valet outside the Hotel d’Paris for a Ball, where she spent the evening dancing with Wesley Snipes, a great night. The Ferrari proved to be a good daily runner, I had some work done on the engine by a local specialist that looked after Ferrari Challenge cars which put her around 430bhp (about 30 more than standard). When I nally parted with the car it had done 197,000 km on road and track and other than replacing a coil, an F1 gear shift pump and a front wishbone, all of which I did myself, it had been trouble free. I did a full service and belt change every year and drove it like Enzo Ferrari had meant his cars to be driven. I had a second 360, with carbon seats, full harnesses and challenge grills, a lovely car and at a time when I had quite few others I still put 91k on the clock in daily use; probably the best car I’ve ever owned.
IMAGES COURTESY OF FERRARI SPA
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