Scuderia You: Want to own an F1 Ferrari? All it takes is money
PETE LYONS
Published Date: 9/27/04
http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=100877

You’ll have to wait until 2006 to take delivery, and the drivers
themselves get first dibs, but Michael Schumacher and Rubens
Barrichello’s current stable of Formula One Ferraris is about to go up
for sale. Grab yours, and the factory will happily throw in driving
lessons. You even get free Bridgestone groovies for it. That’s right,
free.

Is anyone still in the room? Okay, here’s the deal. Traditionally,
Enzo Ferrari didn’t like outsiders driving his old Grand Prix cars.
Company policy was to sell them for display only. But that policy was
relax­ed after the Old Man’s passing in 1988, and in 2001 the factory
set up a unit called Corse Clienti (“Racing Owners”) specifically to
help private enthusiasts fully enjoy these most exotic of automobiles.

Four such F1s were describ­ed in a sales packet handed out to
potential Clienti at the recent Monterey Historic event. Newest on the
list was the F2003-GA in which Barrichello won last year’s British GP.
Price was €1.5 million (about $1.82 million), not including tax. That
car was still under a two-year “technological moratorium” designed to
keep Ferrari secrets away from Minardi and Jordan, but it can be
released next Jan. 1.

The other three were 2002 models, which could be taken home right
away. Prices were €1.4 million apiece ($1.7 million) for two that had
each won a single Grand Prix, and €1.5 million for a two-time winner.
Note an extra victory is worth another $120,000 on the résumé.

The red missile comes with a complete set of the ancillary equipment
needed to make it work—tire warmers, coolant and oil pre-heaters,
pneumatic-valve air compressor, hydraulics unit, even a set of jacks.

Not bad. Look at it this way: Rather than clutter your garage with
three or four plain old Enzos, you could just as easily get into
something really special.

And standing by, helping hand extended, is Andrea Galetti. A former
race engineer who worked with Mansell, Alesi, Berger and both
Schumacher and Barrichello during his 10 years in pit lane, Galetti
now runs Corse Clienti in a facility literally across the
Via Abetone Inferiore from the modern racing department. His 12-man
staff refurbishes retired cars and prepares them for sale, then caters
to any of the new owners’ needs, be it maintenance, overhaul or
repair, ongoing training, or just storage (Schumacher and Barrichello
keep theirs here). There’s even an arrive-and-drive program for
Ferrari track-day events. We hear they throw some grand dinner
parties.

As Galetti puts it, “We are fully dedicated to customer service;
whatever is the necessity of our customer, so we are there.” Sounds
like he was well trained by his pampered F1 drivers.

To cover administrative costs, Ferrari Racing Owners are charged
annual dues of €1,000, about $1,200. This entitles buyers to have
their cars custom-fitted, and to drive shakedown laps at the factory’s
Fiorano test track. Owners can send their mechanics through service
training, too—the rumor is not true that a factory tech must be
on-scene whenever the car runs. Once they learn how, Galetti says,
anyone can operate an F1 Ferrari. “It’s not a space shuttle, it’s a
car.”

To prepare a car for civilian life, Corse Clienti installs suspension
setups and gearing that should suit most tracks it is likely to visit,
and “we choose aerodynamic downforce that is on the safe side.” Also,
the 3.0-liter V10 is detuned by lowering the rpm limit, purely to make
it last longer.

“As you probably know, this engine doesn’t have a very long life,
about 600 kilometers [372 miles],” Galetti admits. “So we always
suggest to be quiet on revs, because maybe the life is going to be
bigger.” He reckons that short-shifting by 1000 rpm can at least
double the distance-before-overhaul, something a private owner is more
likely to notice than the relatively modest decrease in power. “And
everything is adjustable by master switch on the steering wheel.
Whenever the owner wants to do a proper lap, he can just turn the
switch and he has the car in a racing condition.”

Of course, before you turn that switch think about what happened to F1
client (and Dutch Ferrari dealer) Frederico Kroymans at Laguna Seca.
For some reason, his 1999 model speared into the Turn Six wall,
burying the nose in a tire barrier as the car rotated. The entire
front end of the monocoque snapped off, leaving his feet sticking out.
He escaped with only a sore knee, but...

“I was really surprised,” Galetti commented. “We normally have no
chassis damage. Just a wing, maybe a suspension. This chassis is going
to be analyzed by our engineers in the structural department and all
the laboratories. They can get information from it.” He added that an
effort would be made to repair the tub.

Fortuitously, Kroymans and his fellow Ferrari F1 owners benefit from a
ready supply of factory-made spare parts—where else are you going to
get those? Other Corse Clienti selling points include official
documentation of your car’s history and provenance, complete with
computer downloads of every lap it ever turned.
Really, don’t you think a factory-certified, pre-owned F1 Ferrari is
one red-hot, screaming deal? Won’t you kick yourself if you don’t move
on this? Come on, man, you deserve it! The heck with “Be like Mike.”
Be like Enzo.