I drove a Modena!!!!!
 

Yes I did! And what a surprise!!!!!!!

Here is what happened: a friend of mine wanted to take some pics of his "stable", he owns the black Modena you saw at the aspahlte.ch meeting, an E39 M5 and a Clio Sport 182. Beeing alone, he needed somebody to help moving the cars. Having nothing else to do, I said ok, so did our Shin! So we met up, parked Shini's SLK55 and TT's E36 to pick up the stars of the day.
And well, I was expecting to be handed the keys of the Clio honestly, but he said "Matteo, you take the 360".. I laughed, dumb smile on my face and kept chatting. The the time came to take the cars on the first pictures location and well, I was given indeed the Ferrari's key!!!! Well, no time to be shy, jumped in and after some difficulties I managed to turn it on.. BOYS, how cool it is to fire up a Ferrrai when you are behind the wheel!! And alone in the car! It's soemway scary too! Pedals are offset to the right, wasn't expecting it to be that much, but still acceptable. Thy are very firm, both the clutch and brake pedals need some positive effort to be depressed, but finding the clutch's balance point is pretty easy. Yes it's a manual by the way! So, first gear engaged, and off we were. The Clio with its owner leading, Shin's following him in the M5 and TT's in a Modena closing the little convoy, savouring every second. It wasn't a long drive, maybe 3 or 4 km to the first shooting location, but it lasted like 5 hours! Changing gear in a the beatiful H gate is orgasmic, with that clinching sound :love: :love: :love: While downshifting at low speed I had some difficulties in slotting in the lower gear, but it works better at speed. Of course I even tried some heel-and-toe and it's easily doable. Only thing is that the gas pedal is way more "delicate" than in my BM, so I gave it way too many revs LOL. But it made such a good sound that well, it was a welcome mistake :D
You sit low, the car is wide and we were on small country roads, through small villages and all, but ARGH, I still have shivers going down my spine! Cruising in a black Modena is something soo damn weird, and beeing alone in it, with no owner or overstressed dealer with you, really let you relax and enjoy it! I was just feeling bad when ppl started to wave at me, do the "thumbs up" and so on since the car wasn't mine LOL, but well :D
I didn't really push it, I was actually always shortshifting, just pushed it a couple of times up to 4000 or 5000 rpm which is actually were the V8 starts to show its muscles, but well, I had to cope with a Renault's pace ;) no seriously, on such roads you really don't dare. Just once the car had to use it's magic to control some wheelspin in a tight corner, it came much sooner than I expected actually :D
Still, when you take a corner, you really feel this is business and no pussy! Brakes are very well too, the steering directly and plenty of feel comes to you through it! It has a stock exhaust, and while from outside it isn't THAT special, inside you get the full V8 singing behind you and it's pure pleasure!

So, today I drove my first Ferrari! :love: I thought this day would never come, and then, BUM, with a 60 minutes advance I was asked to give an helping hand I ended up driving a Ferrari! Respect to the owner, a true carnut wanting to share his passion!

BTW, at the second location we met a Lambo LM002 owner (white). He wasn't there with it, but he got my card in case he wants to do an indepth ;)

Only proof I have about the F ride:
http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/5...dena7qu.th.jpg
I didn't want to risk my life and the car's while taking 100 pics of myself in it ;)

More pics to come obviously ;)

congratz man!! thats sweeet!! :!:

nice!

you can feel the excitement in your post...you lucky bastard :wink:

lucky freaking you :D and shini too :D cant wait to see the pics 8)

Congrats ... It couldnt happen to a more deserving guy 8)

Great! I'm happy for you mate. I could feel your excitment through the post. You deserve it mate! Cant wait for the pics :D

I know we all say it every time but you're a lucky sod :lol: And you're getting quite a name for yourself to :D everyone wants you to take pics of their car these days :D :D What a great owner to :D glad you enjoyed it, you didn't sound to nervous to be driving it atleast making the traction control step in good boy!! :-) now breath deeply, count to 10 and open up photoshop :P

Well, I admit I dreamt so many times about this moment, that it almost felt natural, and to drive a Modena is actually as simple as to drive my own car :D with the only difference that my BM's pedal felt soo loose when I stepped in there again after the F :D


Here is the trio:
http://img485.imageshack.us/img485/5...60010qj.th.jpg

It must be a really fantastic experience!
Congrats TT :)

:shock: OMMFG! Congrats Matteo for driving mighty Ferrari!!!! From your text I can feel the excitement :P

It's more like "don't mess up, don't mess up, dang, am I in 3rd or 5th? There is a junction up ahead, be cool and take this picture quickly" :D

A great owner, and somebody who you should be friends with forever (maybe when he gets a 430.... you never know) :P

The guy obviously knows his cars, the 360 is as good as it gets with a realistic budget and the M5 is a class-leader. So too is the 182, and its a testament to that cars ability that a Ferrari owner drives one :D

Well done, TT, i bet your addicted to it now :wink:

You finally popped your Ferrari cherry, and couldn't have been with a better car :D

Yeah, his Modena really is a nice car, the clink clink when changing gear is just sooooo fun! And like TT said, I got a chance to drive the M5 and Renault Clio Sport. The M5 was really nice, I think I might actually prefer it over an M3 to tell you the truth ;)

TT: please post the pics 8)

Still working on them, I think they will come tomorrow :(

You've seen so many supercars, you've actually been driven in an Enzo and now the third and final step finally came...congrats dude!! And what a generous owner, sharing his Ferrari with a fellow carnut. If only every person who could afford such a car was like him...

BTW, when can we expect the update on your www ?? :D



He sure likes black :D