Fiorano trackday

In November, evo took a lucky competition winner to Ferrari’s famed Fiorano test track to learn some tricks of the trade and develop their driving with the help of the Prancing Horse’s finest drivers – one of which was a certain Michael Schumacher.

With a variety of winners from all around the globe, it was a busy but massively interesting day – none of the winners had come within touching distance of a Ferrari before, yet it’d be a day they’d always remember with hours of track time in an F430 ahead of them.

Our winner, James Miller, admitted ‘the most powerful car I’d driven beforehand was my very first car, a Nissan 280ZX Automatic.’ His everyday car at the moment is a Honda Civic Type-R, so sliding into a F430 involved halving 0-60mph times and more than doubling brake horsepower.

So was it scary? ‘The first three laps were hard’, admits James, ‘but then with each and every lap my confidence grew. Once you’ve learnt your entry and exit points in and out of each bend and got your braking sorted every lap becomes faster and faster’.

One of the events key aims was to improve participants’ driving and make them safer and more confident on the road, as well as giving them a bit of fun on the track. Simple things like driving position and wheel holding (quarter to three, not ten and two…) were covered.

James certainly felt like his driving ability took a hike upwards – ‘having driven such a powerful car I feel I could take on some more. I learnt so much about driving at speed, braking, cornering and respect for such a fast car. I must add the F430 is such a well designed car – at no point do you feel like you’re going to lose control. If I’m ever lucky enough to win the lottery I’ll be placing my order for one the same day!’

He admits he’s always been quite the Ferrari (and Schumacher) fan - even more so after his day behind the scenes, which also included a detailed factory tour. ‘Michael Schuacher is one of the greatest drives of all time. He put Ferrari back up there at number one. Having now driven a Ferrari around the company’s own test track and met Schuey I have to admit I’m a bigger fan than ever.

‘The passion of all the people involved with Ferrari rubs off on you. It’s not just a car, it’s a way of life.’

You can view a gallery of the event here.