I urgently messaged Paul Eisenstein, editor-in-chief at Headlight News. For years, I’d known him to be one of the world’s leading automotive journalists.
“Paul, I am going to Italy. To the Motor Valley Fest in Emilia-Romagna. I am going to tour the headquarters of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani and Dallara and interview executives. I know you have been there.”
Paul assured me I would find plenty of intriguing and exciting material to share with my
readers who might also like to travel to the region.
“I will also be visiting Auto Dromo di Modena.”
“Great,” he responded.
“You know, the race track.”
“I know,” Paul said.
“But I must decide whether I prefer to drive the Ferrari Challenge 296 car on the track myself or be driven in a test ride by a professional race car driver. Which do you think I should choose?”
Eisenstein answered thoughtfully. “I don’t know your driving skills, but assume you’ve had little to no track time. Modena is a tough course and you’ll really experience it with a pro.
But be aware it will be a wonderfully jarring experience.”
“Is that your final advice?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” Eisenstein answered. “You have no business driving a Ferrari on that track.”
D-Day…Driving Day
Auto Dromo di Modena (“dromo” means “racecourse”), in addition to its product testing and corporate and team-building events, is a facility in Modena providing the opportunity for tourists and automotive enthusiasts to book and hire various sports cars to drive around the track and experience a high-performance thrill.
The price for the priceless experience is 879 Euros for three laps and 1280 Euros for five.
Niccolo Nalio, a tall and genuine race car driver, greeted me and led me to a briefing room in the elaborate, two-story, trackside viewing building. He took his position before a big
screen in front of classroom-style desk chairs. The setting reminded me of a Top Gun
commander about to address a squadron of pilots before a mission.
During his introductory briefing, Nalio, dressed in an all-yellow racing suit, explained that whether one chooses to drive or ride, they will be accompanied in the car by a professional
racer, and communicating through a microphone and radio headphone system.
Pre-Race Preparation
As I could hear cars zooming and zipping past us on the 2,068-meter circuit’s straightaways, bends and hairpin turns outside, my head started to spin a little. But I think Nalio said something about 200 kilometers per hour.
However, the Ferrari 296 Challenge, equipped with a V6 engine, is capable of reaching speeds of up to 350, and with 700 horsepower, can accelerate from zero to 100 in just 2.4 seconds.
Nalio narrated his way through some slides and explained that the experience would begin with a briefing lap and a recognition lap to help familiarize the driver with the track and warm up the Ferrari’s tires and brakes.
“You will find braking is different in a race car like this. When you use the brake, you kick!” he said, demonstrating by pounding the floor with his foot. “Then you manage the desired pressure.” The track map displayed pointed out braking points.
Next came instructions for foot position and the mandatory “9:15” hand position on the
steering wheel. “Steer without moving your hands.”
A display of the dashboard and F1 gearbox came next, with instructions for downshifting, upshifting, and a neutral press: both paddles shift together while holding the brake pedal. “All the corners have to be done in third gear.”
There was a mention of the car’s weight balance and then advice showing the racing lines and apex concerning how to approach a corner. (This part included a video.) In summation, Nalio asked, “Any questions?”
“Voglio la mia mamma!” I cried. “I want my mommy!”
“No, no, no,” he assured me.
Climbing Aboard the With Niccolo Nalio
Niccolo Nalio, a 42-year-old Italian race car driver, has 92 starts and six wins. However, his greatest victory may have been actually getting me into – and out of – the Ferrari and around the Auto Dromo di Modena track.
We stood trackside and talked after my two laps.
“There isn’t another possibility in the world to try this car, and we are here to help you enjoy the test drive,” said Nalio. “It’s difficult to understand a race car in a few laps, but it is important to know the position inside the cockpit and the lines and how to use the car.”
Nalio explained why professionals like him accompany guests who choose to drive the cars themselves. “They see the beautiful red Ferrari. They feel the power and hear the sound. It’s a dream come true. It’s pretty fun, but it can be emotional for a new driver. It can be too much, so it is better for them to have someone in the passenger seat.”
Visitors will have the track to themselves, but Nalio described his days racing on a track amidst other speeding rockets. “When you try cars here, it’s a completely safe situation without other drivers on the track. But for racing, the good feeling is the fighting with the other drivers. You feel the car. You feel the space and the measure of the car. And you want to take over the other car.”
Romance of the Road
Nalio agreed with me when I suggested racing looks fun on television, but now that I had
experienced the track inside a car, I realized it is not easy.
“When you’re inside the car, as you felt on your test ride, the temperature is really hot, and it’s noisy, and also the space inside the car is not too large. So, it’s important to work hard
at home, training yourself and your mind and your body, to be prepared to work correctly with the car.”
Nevertheless, Nalio still loves it.
“The best situation is when you put your helmet on and you are inside the cockpit with the doors closed, you are in a different world. If your passion is the race car, when you are inside the car, it is another universe,” he explained.
Nalio explained that the base cost of the Ferrari Challenge 296, without spare parts and tires, is about 300,000 Euros.
“After a certain number of kilometers, the car parts need to be changed. We offer guests a maximum of five laps because, for a rookie driver, normal people, more would be too long an experience. We find after five laps, people are tired.”
Nalio said some people drive laps, then take a break for a debriefing with him, and then, with more confidence, go back onto the track for more, possibly faster, driving.
My Personal Auto Dromo di Modena Experience Details
Emilia-Romagna Region, as the headquarters to luxury Italian carmakers, is known as the Motor Valley. But it is also known as the Food Valley since it is home to authentic Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Parma ham, traditional Balsamic vinegar and Michelin-starred
super chef Massimo Bottura.
As a 56-year-old man who has been indulging in la dolce vita, I am no fit race car driver.
Eye-candy is a perfect way to describe the sleek Ferraris, but easily accessible would not be
an applicable term. It was all very exciting when the passenger-side door opened, and it’s at that point I learned there is a roll cage guarding the inside of the car (and its occupants.)
To gain entry, I had to perform what seemed like a reverse-gravity yoga move. I was instructed to put one foot over the bar, through the cage and onto the floor inside the Ferrari. And then, by cupping my hands under the roll cage bar across and atop the door’s opening, simultaneously hoist myself up and into the car while pulling my right leg in through the opening.
I would also advise not wearing big, clunky sneakers, like the size-14 pair of Hokas I was
trying to squeeze into that cockpit. I have since learned that race car drivers have small, specialized slippers.
Amidst all the noise and cars whirring by and excitement, I managed to put my leading left foot into the car, but, somehow my right foot refused my mind’s command to lift up over the bar and in.
Perhaps it understandably doubted the rest of my body’s ability to contort in what would be like a newborn trying to reenter the birth canal.
Auto Dromo di Modena’s pit crew came to the rescue, and a man helped by manually lifting my leg and helping me try to slide my bottom through the bars and in. I figured we had one shot at this, so we gave it our all.
That is when my helmet got in the way. At 5’11, we forgot to factor in my height. Like a true pit crew member on the clock and under the gun, somehow, in mid-maneuver, the man
removed my helmet and guided the top of my head into the seat like a perpetrator being
pushed into a squad car.
Once inside, I leaned forward so he could put my helmet back on. Nalio showed me what bar to hold and then he hit the gas and got us out of there before anything else could go wrong.
We had a fun spin around the circuit as he talked me through the turns. He showed me the power of the car and at one point said, “If I hit the brakes hard enough, you’d go through the windshield.”
He may have preferred that to the effort to extract me from the Ferrari after the laps!
Read more of Michael Patrick’s work at The Travel Tattler and contact him at MShiels@aol.com Order his book Travel Tattler – Less Than Torrid Tales at
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