It costs about 14 euros, or about £13, per minute to drive a rented Lamborghini on the public roads of northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. This feels exorbitant in a place where a couple of coins buys a glass of world-class wine. Yet the experience is worth the money.
Stomping the supercar’s pedal to the metal is exhilarating. During my own test drive, the chaperone had to ask me to stop shouting with joy as I accelerated. Twice. I hadn’t even realised I was making a sound.
Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, and Ducati are the most recognisable names in Italy’s “Motor Valley.” Most are within an hour’s drive of Bologna, making it possible to construct a weekend-long holiday crash course in the niche world of supercars.
The companies offer similar experiences: factory tours, driving simulators, vintage car expos, and branded gift shops. The factories resemble Amazon warehouses, sterile and grey, with S-shaped assembly lines weaving across vast workspaces. Workers in matching uniforms focus on their tasks — affixing door panels, sealing windscreens, tightening nuts and bolts. Whirring drills and cranking wrenches provide a productive, almost musical soundtrack.
The Ferrari campus in Maranello feels like a theme park and attracts a wide range of tourists. The company-themed café next door serves as a waiting room for everyone from bored adolescents to enthusiastic fans gushing over Formula One history. Most couples seem to consist of an automobile aficionado and a casually interested partner that the aficionado is trying to convert to Ferrari fandom.
Ferrari possesses a particular romance; it is the only Italian luxury car manufacturer still racing at the Formula One level. The colourful life of founder Enzo Ferrari has been depicted in multiple Hollywood films.
Visitors do not actually enter a factory on the Ferrari “factory tour.” Instead, they are driven around the campus while a guide describes what’s happening in the various buildings.
Lamborghini’s factory tour offers a well-rounded experience. The cars vary from matte black to mac-and-cheese orange, looking like spaceships. Automobiles crawl between workstations that buzz with employee activity. Lamborghini’s factory is across the street from Bull Bar, an anonymous café where employees often stop for espresso and chat with curious visitors.
Maserati offers the most comprehensive factory tour at about 90 minutes. A standout benefit is a visit to Maserati’s engine testing lab, where supercar engines are pushed to their limits by computer programmes designed to replicate extreme driving conditions. The engines are isolated in their testing rooms, connected to enough tubes and wires to create a sci-fi atmosphere.
The Ducati factory is the smallest, tight and less well-lit, but visitors can examine various construction stages up close. The same robot-like vehicles seen in the Lamborghini factory are present here, as both Lamborghini and Ducati are subsidiaries of the Volkswagen Group.
Supercars raise ethical dilemmas, especially in the age of climate change. All manufacturers are developing electric vehicles, but the ostentatious wealth fundamental to the supercar industry remains conspicuous. The cars sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds, and their prospective customers often wear watches worth a family's student loans. Spending time ogling these toys seems a bit gross. At least at first.
However, the cars represent a pinnacle of human achievement and can be appreciated for their beauty and power. Driving is the best way to appreciate them, although many experiences cost several hundred or even thousands of pounds. Fortunately, lower-cost options are available.
In addition to top-notch espresso, Bull Bar houses a supercar rental service offering 10-minute test drives. And surprisingly, 600 seconds is enough time to convert an intellectual appreciation of supercars into gut-level affection.
Even when just navigating the village around the Lamborghini factory, something feels different. You sit low, with an alien steering wheel and flashy dashboard.
After a slow start, you hit the straight highway leading out of town, and the guide says, “OK, now you can go fast.” Driving a Lamborghini Huracan Spyder is a multisensory experience. Before your insides compress from G-force, you hear the phenomenal roar of the car’s V-10 engine.
The signs along the road pass at an increasing rate, heightening the thrill. Just when you think you've gotten your money’s worth, the guide encourages you to go faster. With disbelief, you stomp the pedal, and everything becomes a blur, the engine thundering with intensity.
A ticket to either Ferrari museum allows you to drive a car for 15 minutes on the Autodromo di Modena racetrack for just 35 euros. While you have to bring your own car to drive the track, you experience an exhilarating freedom that nearly matches the rush of a supercar.
Did I shout? I don’t know. —NYT
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