Driving a heavily laden but healthy Ka to Birmingham for the spring uni semester yesterday morning, I was joined at some traffic lights just outside Kettering, by this:
Please excuse the poor picture. I was rather excited, fumbling with a camera phone while trying to take a subtle photograph and watch the lights. Simultaneously my other hand was fumbling for the electric window switches and the radio off button. I wanted to hear this.
I've loved the Ferrari Enzo since it first emerged in 2002. (yes it's 'Enzo Ferrari' strictly, but for simplicity's sake, I'll address it a s a car, not a man here.) I've always been a huge fan of the dramatic, angular F1-styling, the unique noise, and its 'definitiveness'. Its 650bhp has been well surpassed now by Pagani, Lamborghini, and Bugatti, but the Enzo remains for me my favourite supercar, and the definitve Ferrari flagship. In my opinion, the 288 GTO is the finest-looking car ever created, the F40 also an undoubted legend. But Enzo is king.
I took these pictures at the 2006 British Motor Show, the first time I'd ever seen one in the carbon fibre, a solitary encounter until Sunday 9th January 2012.I first clocked the pointed snout of ENZ6 in the rear view mirror. It then lined up alongside as the traffic lights ahead mercifully halted our progress. A curt nod from the Oakley-shaded driver acknowledged my enthusiasm for his vehicle. On this quiet Sunday morning, there we were, two chaps, in two wildly varying cars, sat feet apart, waiting for the lights to flick to green. The entire 30 second episode is burned into my memory.
Predictably, the traffic light grand prix wasn't a close one. My colleague in the Enzo gamely let me gain a twenty yard lead when the green bulb illuminated. I took off as swiftly as I dared, trying to preserve my slightly whiny clutch and not appear a complete moron in seriously challenging a halo Ferrari. Then he did the decent thing and nailed the Fandango.
I should really have videoed what happened next, but maintaining steady filming was beyond my multitasking talents; changing gear manually and steering a shopping trolley away from a £650,000 exotic charging hard three feet away was more of a priority. What can I put into words? The fullness and power of the sound, of induction howl from within the engine bay, mixed with a furious row exiting the exhaust pipes was pretty astounding. The sound rose to a familiar crescendo I'd heard in a thousand YouTube clips, but in person the sound pierces the ear, burrowing into the brain and resonating, with enormous volume while maintaining a tuneful pitch. I'm not sure if ENZ6 has had the poplar Tubi Style exhaust conversion, but from where I was perched, this was not a silenced machine.
Equally impressive was the speed the Enzo carried, with the merest suggestion of nose dive and body roll, into the roundabout ahead, before diving off at the first left and turning third gear into a dollop of orchestral carbon dioxide once again. I suppose it's easy to forget these poster cars aren't just supermodels, the Enzo is still a very serious piece of dynamic kit, with outrageous mechanical and aerodynamic grip.
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I sometimes have doubts about the motoring journalism targets I've set myself. I'm all too aware I've directed my education, time and resources towards a career in which there are very many willing applicants for a tiny handful of nationwide jobs. With an impending mountain of student debt and the onrush of 'The Real World' come summer graduation, I often wonder if forfeiting writing in return for some long division ability while at school might have afforded me better long term prospects. I worry.
Thirty second encounters like the one I was lucky enough to enjoy yesterday reaffirm my love for all cars, my resolute joy in writing about them, and my determination to succeed in combining the two, long term. I hope you'll follow that with interest.
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