The more affordable trinket shops cluster around the Galleria like parasites. At Warm-Up Maranello, located just across the street from the Galleria parking lot, manager Stefano Ravazzini told me that his stock includes 4000 model cars, 20,000 Ferrari caps, and 200 styles of jackets and T-shirts.
Via Ascari, a few yards west of the Galleria, dead-ends at Pista di Fiorano, the home of Ferrari's race team. The tifosi hang on the perimeter fence accessible from side streets. The view from the side of the aforementioned S.P. 3 provides an excellent high-angle look down the longest straights and into the garage and the data-collection center. Screaming engines can be heard for miles.
While you're cruising Maranello, peel your eyes for Ferrari test cars that dart between the factory's main gate and the entrance to Fiorano. Their standard route uses Via Fornace, Via D. Ferrari (which runs past the Galleria), and Via Ascari. While in town, we caught glimpses of the new front-engine V-8 two-plus-two - likely to be called the California GT - scurrying about under a black shroud. The engine note has a sharp edge attributable to new direct fuel injection. Ferrari is expected to peel back the wrapper at this fall's Paris auto show.
FACTORY TOUR While access isn't available to the general public, it's evident from the Ferrari plant's periphery that attractive glass and metal buildings are systematically replacing the vintage brick and stucco facilities. Inside one huge complex, a few workers operate scores of automated machining centers on three shifts around the clock processing seventy engines per day. The environment is climate-controlled, and the working environment benefits from a few potted trees and many leafy plants.
Bare aluminum car bodies shipped from the Scaglietti works in Modena are dipped in cataphoretic undercoating vats and rotated 360 degrees before powder primer and water-soluble color coats of paint are automatically applied. Following assembly on two slow-moving lines - one for V-8 models, another for V-12 cars - every Ferrari is wrung out with a 50-to-100-kilometer public-road run. Watch your mirrors, and don't even think about dicing with Ferrari's talented test drivers.