I won’t lie&#8230; writing any story on Ferrari is intimidating. Ferrari drivers don’t own a car, they find a passion. Their blood is not Springbok green – it is pure Maranello red.
They feel the spirit of Enzo Ferrari, the famed driver who founded the automaker and the Scuderia racing team, every time they slide behind the steering wheel.
Although red was the color originally assigned to all Italian Formula One (F1) cars by the International Automobile Federation, nearly half of all Ferrari’s sold today are that distinctive color.
What I admire most about the people of the Prancing Horse – an emblem which was handed down by the aristocratic family of a First World War flying ace – is that they hold their heads high despite dark times on the F1 circuits.
Just pass your eyes over these names&#8230; Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, South Africa’s Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen. They have won a record 15 drivers’ championships for the team.
Now, unless their luck has changed since writing this story, the fans are surviving on memories of the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix.
Ferrari chairman and newly appointed CEO Sergio Marchioness expected the Scuderia to start winning races some time back.
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The Ferrari boss said: “I’m very satisfied with both [Sebastian] Vettel and Raikkonen. The only thing that hasn’t worked well is luck.”
So, if the Scuderia aren’t exactly scorching the circuits, how is this reflecting on sales and profits?
Well, ironically, 2015 was their best year ever. Total sales are up 6% to 7,664 and profits up 9% to €290 million ($324 million). This year they’re gunning for 7,900 units, including supercars. Modest growth yes, but there just aren’t that many new Ferrari customers each year.
Sure, Lamborghini figures have spiraled but that’s mainly due to the modestly priced Ghibli. And remember Ferrari don’t see themselves as a car company. They are positioned as a luxury goods company. About half of Ferrari’s current assets consist of its brand value.
Hard to argue against when a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO is bought by American communications magnate Craig McCaw for $35 million! A 1957 Spider Scaglietti, which won the 1958 Cuba Grand Prix, was also snapped up at a Paris auction for $35 million.
Ferrari rings up approximately $1.5 billion in worldwide retail sales every year. The specialist shops stock clothing, watches, sunglasses, shoes, mobile phone covers… you name it. And the fans will pay top dollar for the Ferrari logo. Even a scale model of the Ferrari F14T fetches $5,400!
The brand is even more independent now after a complicated series of transactions, including an IPO and listing on the New York Stock Exchange, has established Ferrari N.V. separately to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Closer to home, South African new vehicle sales have sunk to a seven-year low with an analyst calling the figures “horrible”.
So how is the supercar segment, Ferrari in particular, weathering the storm? Well, new models always provide a solid lifeboat and the replacements for the highly successful 458 Italia have been nicely timed.
There is nothing cosmetic about the new 488 lineup. Apart from breathtaking design inside and out, we are into the new generation of engines. It’s a blueprint for all the industry leaders&#8230; smaller turbocharged engines developing more power, using less fuel and coughing out less noxious gasses.
First out of the blocks was the 488 GTB coupé. As you might know, the GTB stands for Gran Turismo Berlinetta and the sales have certainly been grand.
Today, the pride of the showroom is the turbo-fitted open-top version, the Ferrari 488 Spider. The lightweight Retractable Hard Top (or RHT) hardly dents the heart-stopping performance. You will hit the 100 km/h mark in three seconds flat and clock 325 km/h on a good day.
We didn’t quite hit those figures on the test drive, but whistling topless along the N1 “concrete highway” with the back window lowered to hear the purring 3,902cc V8 turbo is not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
This is when you take your hat off to technology. The smaller engine develops around 20% more power than the previous 4.5-liter naturally aspirated V8. As Scuderia South Africa CEO Mervyn Eagles says, the 488 Spider has been designed to set new technological benchmarks for the sector.
“Following the success of the 488 GTB both locally and internationally, the 488 Spider promises to surpass the expectations of any open-top V8 sport car.”
The technophobes will tell you about the Variable Torque Management system guaranteeing progressive delivery in the higher gears. It is, very simply, smoother than silk – the very antithesis of the exhilarating but neck wrenching Alfa Romeo 4C. It is all translated through the remarkable 7-speed F1 dual-clutch transmission.
The interior is a perfect blend of functionality and understated style from the Blu Corsa livery, apparently to meld with the overhead sky, to the concise instrument panel and multi-media positioned on two wings straddling the main display. I can’t verify the improvements, but a former 458 owner tells me the controls and multi-media options have been incredibly simplified.
Then we come to that crucial element of supercars that will always be hotly debated – sound. And I’m not talking about the 12-speaker JBL professional sound system. This is where Ferrari get rather esoteric.
“In line with Ferrari tradition and drawing on the harmonics typical of Prancing Horse cars with this kind of architecture, this eight-cylinder has its own absolutely distinctive soundtrack, thanks to exhaust headers with longer, equal-length piping and the flat-plane crankshaft.”
“The sound was crafted to be seductive but never invasive when the top is dropped,” the brochure oozes.
Distinctive it may be, but possibly missing the rumbling roar of the normally aspirated engine.
Which raises the question – is the 488 Spider too perfect? It is ultra fluid and easier to drive with special dampers for comfort and a “Side Slip Angle Control system” to help non-professional drivers to reach the limit.
But will petrolheads find that it has lost some of the raw appeal of the Ferrari marque, despite the blistering performance?
Possibly. Yet Ferrari is not alone. The trend is to offer a machine that is as content to poodle to the corner café as it is to take on all comers on the racetrack. Although some of the throbbing adrenalin may have faded, the era of gearsticks and oil spills is over.
The Ferrari 488 Spider is the supercar you want to make it. All you need is a spare $407,000… and a good contact to get on the waiting list.

Can A Ferrari Be Too Perfect?

In the English countryside, Jody Scheckter is an entrepreneur, organic farmer and a millionaire. No matter how many chickens he raises, his name will always be known for Formula One (F1) motor racing. The African racing legend won 10 Grand Prix.
Scheckter is a direct, likeable, deeply understated man with a dry wit. Life has taken the 64-year-old on a long journey from South Africa and motor racing. But racing forged his personality and battles on the track steeled him for building two businesses from scratch.
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For most, winning the F1 world championship with Ferrari in 1979 would be a highlight of their lives. Not for Scheckter.
“It was really an anti-climax,” he says.
“You have spent eight years dedicated completely to winning and then nothing seemed to change much. I think it has changed more in the latter years of my life, where being World Champion means something to some people.”
He does look back at his achievements with satisfaction however. As he puts it, he earned good bucks for the time and is the only South African to win a Grand Prix and remains the only South African to win the F1 World Championship.
So, what does he make of the sale of Kyalami, where he won a grand prix on home soil?
“Kyalami is not what it was. It was a wonderful circuit and has already had the heart taken out of it, which is a great shame. Kyalami means racing and was an icon in Formula One.”
Scheckter rode his luck at Kyalami.
“I crashed my car in practice and it was written off. We rebuilt the car, had a warm up in the morning and the engine blew up after one lap. I was on the front row, I got into the lead after the second lap and then won the race,” he says.
Several drivers died at Kyalami and Scheckter says he is grateful to be alive. Racing in the 1970s could hardly have been more dangerous.
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“Each year, one or two drivers from the starting 25 were killed.”
By drivers, he means his contemporaries. Scheckter raced against legendary racers of the 1970s; Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost.
Glamour a million miles from where Scheckter grew up in East London in the Eastern Cape, repairing motorbikes and cars.
“It’s a little coastal town, my dad had several garages there and I wasn’t very good at school.”
East London had a famous racing track, the Prince George Circuit, where Scheckter’s uncle raced and his father invited the racing drivers to his garage.
“Racing was all around me growing up. Racing drivers even used to stay over at our house.”
Life after motor racing meant a move away from the sport. Scheckter went to the United States and became a successful entrepreneur, setting up a business called FATS, Inc. in 1984.
“We sold simulators and trained police and then military on how to use guns safely.”
“In 12 years, we went from the kitchen table to sales in 35 countries and 95% of the world market. We turned over $100 million in sales the year we sold,” he says.
Then his life took a handbrake turn. Thirteen years ago, Scheckter put some of his earnings from selling FATS, Inc. into starting an organic farm in Hampshire.
He bought 500 acres at Laverstoke Park Farm, 40 miles west of London. It started as a hobby, to make the healthiest and tastiest food for himself and his six children. His racing driver son, Tomas, has recently joined the business.
Today, Scheckter owns 2,500 acres and farms a further 2,000. He says it has all got out of hand.
“It’s a monster, but a lovely monster.”
Now, Scheckter is championing biodiversity as he competes to make the finest organic products in the world.
“I don’t mind not winning, but I hate to lose,” he says.
With two of Britain’s most upmarket food suppliers, Ocado and Waitrose, as their biggest customers, the Laverstoke Park Farm brand is on the way up.
The farm has seven small factories clustered around a farm house from which the operation is run from. It employs 166 people and turns over $23.7 million a year.
Despite winning countless awards and being run as a model of organic farming techniques, Laverstoke Park Farm doesn’t yet make money. Scheckter has given himself a year to make the business profitable. For a born winner, this feels like losing.
Scheckter is refreshingly honest and feels like a man who knows he has reached his limitations.
“Meat is fiendishly complicated and I’ve just hired an expert from one of the top meat companies to run that side of the business for me. Profitability is all in the cut, and although we’re getting better we haven’t quite got there yet. I’ve learned the hard way. ”
It’s a long way from the track.
“With a car factory, you bring in a thousand pieces, you make one and you sell it. We bring in one, cut it into a thousand pieces and you have got to sell them all. And remember, some of it goes bad within three days.”
“We have too many products and we have to rationalize.”
He sells 120 items to Ocado and produces a range of products from organic beef, lamb and chicken to champagne grapes and cooked pies. One of the stranger animals on his farm is water buffalo, from which come mozzarella cheese and ice cream. Almost everything that comes from the farm is award winning. It just doesn’t all make money.
Scheckter follows traditional biodynamic farming techniques and sows according to the moon cycles.
“It’s very, very powerful. It makes seas go up and down and it makes the liquids in plants go up and down. We use modern versions of those techniques,” he says.
“After all my research, we follow nature very strictly and we have two main keys. One is slow growing animals and plants are generally healthy and taste better, and secondly, biodiversity is key to a natural, healthy environment.”
He believes that to produce great food you have got to have great soil, which comes from farming naturally and means no chemicals are used. To study the soil, Laverstoke has its own laboratory run by a doctor in microbiology and a doctor in chemistry.
Scheckter is a bit of a soil expert himself, with a library of over 500 books on soil types going back through the centuries.
“The animals at Laverstock don’t eat grass but a mix of 31 herbs, clovers and grasses in the fields. Our animals are eating salad!”
As he gives us a tour of the farm, it’s hard not to smile at his enthusiasm.
“My ice-cream is made from buffalo milk and I genuinely believe it’s the best in the world and my mozzarella tastes better than Italian mozzarella because it’s fresher.”
From fast cars to slow food, with an emphasis on the best farming techniques, Scheckter may not yet have found a successful business model for his enterprise, but you know he wants to win.

From Racing Car To A Tractor

Waking up to the roar of engines around the Kyalami racetrack, in the chilly Johannesburg autumn, was a part of growing up for Christine Bingham’s family. They waited for months to sleep in the back of their green Toyota Cressida station wagon in Kyalami’s parking lot. On this Saturday, in 1977, there were 90,000 waiting to see the best of Formula One (F1): Jody Scheckter; Niki Lauda; and James Hunt.
Drivers from across the world dreamed of competing under the African sun at Kyalami in the 1970s. The South African track was considered one of the fastest in the world. It suffered a slow death after ceasing F1 racing in 1993.
In July, the four-kilometer asphalt surface went under the hammer.
The auction, at an opulent venue in Sandton, was packed with expensive suits and dresses. The room fell silent as Lead Auctioneer Joff Van Reenen, of High Street Auctions, opened the bidding at $18.8 million. A bid came from the front row in seconds. A second bid, for $19.3 million, came in over the phone. The bidding ceased when the first bidder shook his head. Van Reenen slammed the gavel down once, twice and sold. In the space of minutes, the iconic racetrack had a new owner. The question on everyone’s lips – who was the bidder on the phone?
“We can reveal that the bidder on the phone was a representative of Porsche South Africa. If the property had gone for development, we estimated that it could have been worth R300 to R400 million ($28 to $37 million). I am glad that the racetrack will stay in the industry. We had seven registered bids for the track, but in the end it went to the right person,” says Lance Chalwin-Milton, MD of High Street Auctions.
According to Chalwin-Milton, it is the highest price paid for a South African property under the lot. The previous record price was for development land in Knysna, a gem on the south coast of South Africa, which was sold for $11.3 million.
Kyalami may yet see racing. Porsche South Africa has indicated that by December the site might be upgraded for endurance circuit racing, but almost certainly not the F1 racing that left fans like Bingham with warm memories.
“I think it was the atmosphere that made you want to go to the races. I remember the tickets being very expensive. It was always John’s job to make breakfast, a gas-cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs. We would spend the day on the stands with the crowds watching the cars go by. In those days, there were no TVs so you would only see what happened in front of you. I also remember losing our voices by the end of the weekend screaming to talk over the noise of the engines,” she says.
Bingham, a widow living in the quiet northern suburbs of Johannesburg, has been a racing fan all her life. She grew up around the tracks of Silverstone and Mallory Park, in England. Bingham would hide in the boot of a car to get into the races and avoid the entrance fees. It was also here that she met her husband, John. After they were married, they took their daughter to a race once, it stopped after they realized the engines were too loud for the baby.
When her family came to South Africa, in 1971, they gravitated toward Kyalami. It was a long drive to get there from their home in Krugersdorp, a time when Sandton was only a farm, says Bingham. Tickets for Kyalami were bought months in advance.
“The crowds were huge.  But the kids got rather bored and it was too noisy for them,” recalls Bingham.
Motor racing was a lot more dangerous in those days, says Bingham. The last time rubber was burnt on Kyalami’s track was in 2010 for a MotoGP motorbike race.
“I remember in 1977 when a track marshal was killed, Tom Price the driver also died in the accident. We didn’t see him crash, all I remember is watching people running around the stands to go see it,” she says.
It was during lap 21 of the South Africa Grand Prix. Italian Renzo Zorzi’s engine caught fire. Two marshals ran to help. One of them was 19-year-old Fredrik Jansen van Vuuren. He never made it to Zorzi’s car. As Van Vuuren crossed the track, with fire hydrant in hand, Pryce hit him. Both died in the collision. Zorzi was cut from the team after finishing one of five races, having scored no championship points.
Bingham also remembers an African motor racing legend in the same race, who finished second. His name is Jody Scheckter and in 1979 became the only African to win an F1 title.
“Scheckter was a very reckless driver. He was the kind of driver who would take risks without thinking about safety, especially when he started; being English we all supported the British racers,” she says.
These days, you won’t find Bingham near a racetrack. At the age of 71, she watches F1 from the comfort of her couch.
“I watch the racing religiously on Sundays. It’s much easier now, following it on TV, and if I miss it I watch the recording later that evening. When you were at the stands you could only see if the cars had shifted positions. It’s actually much more exciting on TV,” she says.
Over time, Bingham has seen drivers come and go. She proudly admits to having supported only a handful; Nigel Mansell, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton &#8211; until he became arrogant, according to Bingham &#8211; and Sebastian Vettel. Racing has changed a lot, she says.
“I think the big thing that has changed is the issue of safety. But the technology is more advanced now. I remember it taking 12 seconds for a pit stop in those days, these days they can do it in four.”
At the auction, in the time it takes for a pit stop, 43 years of racing may have been lost forever.
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Speedy End To The Glamour Of Speed

Formula One is arguably one of the most technologically demanding sports on the planet. Obscene amounts of money are poured into vehicles that are the pinnacle of design and performance engineering; vehicles piloted by drivers whose talents seem superhuman. Even to the most ardent enthusiast, the complexities of these vehicles is mind-numbing.
A Formula One car is broken down into the following components: the nose, front wing, push/pull rod suspension, sidepods, rear end, exhaust system and rear wing. The grotesque-looking nose channels airflow and serves as a safety mechanism. According to 2012 regulations, the nose must sit 550mm above the base of the car to prevent major trauma to drivers in cases where the side of a vehicle is hit. Configuring airflow over most of the vehicle is the job of the front wing. It creates the aerodynamic down force needed to keep the car in contact with the track—essential when traveling at close to 400km/h. Airflow is a major consideration in the design of Formula One cars, and the suspension is of particular concern as these are areas of great turbulence. The push/pull rods allow for increased suspension geometry and decreased air resistance.
The sidepods of a Formula One car house many of the crucial components such as the GPS locator, oil-cooling radiators, batteries and clutch disengage systems (which marshals can use in emergencies). As they can be obtrusive, many manufacturers use deep undercuts to assist with airflow. The rear end ensures optimal airflow at the back of the car. Tighter paneling and smaller gearboxes are naturally advantageous.
Last year, teams made use of engine mapping that allowed engines to blow “off throttle” which created extra down force in corners. However, this year, the use of “blown diffusers” has been banned. Teams are looking at alternatives, with some directing their exhaust gasses over the rear beam wing (which has proven to be less effective).
Drivers are able to control the amount of drag using the Drag Reduction System (DRS), which in turn equates to greater or less speed, as required. In practice and qualifying, DRS can be used at any time. Mid-competition though, a car must be less than a second behind another vehicle to be activated (the system shuts down when the driver brakes).
Formula One cars are capable of changing gears in only 0.05 seconds. During a race season, each team is allowed up to 30 pairs of gear ratios, but these must be openly declared to the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile). Tolerances within the Formula One engine are in the realm of mere microns (i.e. thousandths of a millimeter) and most engines are normally aspirated 2.4-liter V8s.
Formula One cars use the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems technology we are now seeing in production vehicles. It harnesses heat energy produced by normal braking, which is stored and used to boost acceleration. Lap times can be decreased by anything from 0.1 to 0.4 seconds.
Typically, a Formula One car weighs just 550kg and is 85% carbon fiber. It can speed up from zero to 160km/h and back down to zero in only four seconds. Drivers can be subjected to as much as 5Gs (G-force); that means their bodies weigh five times more than normal. Some drivers have even said that under extreme braking, their tear ducts squirt water onto their visors!
Formula One is a spectacularly expensive sport to engage in, either as a host country or as a constructor team (constructor countries comprise the United States, Italy, India, Spain, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland). Countries hosting circuits are Australia, Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Spain, Monte Carlo, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Dubai, the United States and Brazil. In 2010, Austin-based company Full Throttle Productions submitted data that helped secure a track in Texas. They claimed that a race weekend would have a direct economic impact of $300 million for that area and produce $26.6 million in new tax revenue for the state.
But such profits would come at a cost. Full Throttle Productions needed $25 million for the next decade, in the form of state financial support—not an easy task for most African states to pull off. The GDPs of countries that host Formula One circuits are in the trillions of dollars, with the exception of Hungary, which raked in a paltry $147 billion last year. Selecting an African country, Uganda say, we can determine from their GDP—$42 billion—that such an investment would be ludicrous when so many other vital aspects demand the state’s attention.
South Africa held the National Formula One Championship series from 1960 to 1975. The death knell was sounded due to spiraling costs and objections to the country’s apartheid policy. Still, there have been two races since—one in 1992 and one in 1993 (won by Alain Prost in his Williams).
If South Africa entered the fray, it would be the only country on the continent to do so—other nations being too poor or embroiled in political turmoil. Rallying has traditionally been more successful here (the Safari, Ivory Coast and Paris-Dakar races). There was some racing undertaken in North Africa where French and Italian influences were felt, and most of these were held in city streets. There was the Tripoli Grand Prix, the Moroccan Grand Prix and the Algerian Grand Prix—the latter cut short by an uprising in 1954. Racing featured in Portuguese-influenced territories in the 1960s, such as Mozambique and Angola. Excessive heat sometimes saw the majority of cars simply failing.
There is talk however, that F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone will be bringing the sport to South Africa. A proposed location for a Monaco-styled course has been suggested along Mouille Point in Cape Town. But, says Francois Pretorius, CEO of Motorsport South Africa: “We have not received any confirmation in this regard.” Despite Ecclestone alluding to the proposal being close to conclusion, environmental impact studies would still need to be done, and the substantial costs would need to be offset against any potential benefits. Hopefully, South Africa will be able to champion the cause for its brothers.

Tag: Formula One

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Can A Ferrari Be Too Perfect?

From Racing Car To A Tractor

Speedy End To The Glamour Of Speed

Gearing Up For An African F1