THE AUTHOR enjoys a Ferrari moment with husband, JP Tuason, on the roads of Maranello, Italy.
If you ask a man whom he save will if he is on a sinking ship—a woman or a Ferrari—the man will probably say, depends on the woman. You are probably over the moon, and thinking this is the type of man that you want to be with but in reality, it really depends on who the woman is. If the woman is just a pretty acquaintance, dating or in the getting-to-know stage, he would probably choose the Ferrari, thinking he could get another woman with his new scarlet ride. If the woman is a person he has a loving relationship with, he would have a hard time deciding but will probably choose the woman. If the woman is his wife, it will now depend on his age. If he is younger, he would probably choose the wife, if he is older he would probably choose the car and get a new younger girlfriend.
The Ferrari is the epitome of “You love your car more than me!” line. Born and bred in Italy, the Ferrari is basically a racecar tuned for the road. The sound of the engine arouses men as sure as Natalie Portman’s nip slip. Its sensuous curves, which give the car a distinctive look, will probably have the same sensation of running your fingers through a lean and sexy body. So what is really the fuss about this car? Beside its multimillion-peso price tag and the exclusivity of owning one, this scarlet ride will catapult your man’s status into the stratosphere, in a world that has almost 7 billion people, growing at an average of 1.1 per year, only 7,000 Ferraris are made per year, which is only 0.0001 percent of the world’s population.
Heritage
Ferrari started in 1929 when Enzo Ferrari, an Italian racecar driver for Alfa Romeo (he was actually knighted for his achievement in motorsports) started Scuderia Ferrari as a stable of “owner-racers.” This relationship with Alfa Romeo later on turned sour, prompting Ferrari to put his own car in a few years after. In 1951, the first Ferrari racecar won their first Formula World Championship under the helm of Alberto Ascari, which would later on be bannered successfully by Juan Miguel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen. Ferrari has won a total of 31 world titles.
THE COLOR red is one of the major turn-ons for the Ferrari.
When you visit Maranello, where the factory transferred after World War 1 from Modena, you will find that the whole city is dedicated to Ferrari. It’s like a religion, though the fanatic Tifosi are no longer just the Italians, it is now composed of different nationalities from all over the world, paying homage to the prancing stallion’s shrine. If they can’t buy the car, a little pack of coolness also comes with owning a piece of merchandise.
Design
Ferrari’s inspiration for design has always been performance. According to Joanna Marshal, Ferrari’s director of communication: A Ferrari never has wings or spoilers, but the shape of the body, its curves is a direct result of how it will perform while you are driving it, giving you all the advantages of aerodynamics. All are part of the complete package to make a mean machine. In fact, the design philosophy of this car has been so impactful that it has become the basis for that particular style evolution. There are a lot of names and effort associated with Ferrari design such as PininFarina (an Italian design firm that has conceptualized Maserati, bullet trains, Olympic torches), inputs of their racing team and drivers and a yearly World Design Contest to build the Ferrari of the Future. Ferrari Design has taken, thinking out of the box, in a whole new level. Just like the four iconic bag shapes (the Chanel 2.55, the Gucci Jackie Hobo, the Hermes Birkin and the Louis Vuitton Speedy), where any bags of the modern age take it’s silhouette from, most vehicles created will take a design cue from this supercar.
Another aspect that you associate Ferrari with is the color red. This is one of the major turn-ons for this car. The same principle in nail polishes and lipsticks, the color red probably has the most number of variations and is most commonly used by women, because it’s sexy. You might have even encountered a shade called Ferrari Red. Although Ferrari being scarlet was associated with Italy’s official competing colors, Red has always been the color or love, lust, passion and power.
FERRARI is all about performance; everything in the car was placed there for one reason, to produce an extremely fast, unapologetic super car.
Ferrari’s attention to detail in car making is now stepping into new heights with ‘Tailor Made.” Launched at the Geneva Motorshow, this service basically allows buyers to further customize their rides, from wood trimmings to denim seat covers, Ferrari has accumulated thousands of possible options for you who have another 50,000 euros or more to spare for this customization. A Ferrari Designer will be with you in every step of the process, ensuring that you will not go in the direction of hot pink animal print with yellow patent trim.
Performance
Ferrari is all about performance; everything in that car was placed there for one reason, to produce an extremely fast, unapologetic super car. Ferrari engines vary from V8 to V12 (which is the number of cylinders present), which just means your options are super-fast and super, super fast. The have pioneered the use of some exotic materials, which has been first tested in their F1 team and later on have passed down to the street cousins. Ferrari believes that F1 has become such an important part of making the vehicles because all the technology that comes from the racecars. They have introduced a lot of track to street technology such as paddle shift and driver controls on the steering wheel. Marshal said that it would be hard to imagine Ferrari without the F1 team, not in the past and not in the near future.
Although some reliability issues have been raised about this car, you are not buying a Ferrari to be able to drive it for 10 hours straight, you’re buying a Ferrari to get to that 10-hour-drive destination in four hours.
In the first chapter of Steve Harvey’s book “Act like a Lady, Think like a Man” he basically stated that men are simple beings. They are driven by three essential truths, which are “who they are, what they do and how much they make.” They are not like women, whose every action has deeper meaning and has more complicated reason or motivations. So in terms of stating this identifying characteristics, the more straightforward the status symbol is, the better. Men are fantasizing about this car because they want to own a piece of the history, have one of the most successful racecars in the world and they want to own a surefire way to say, I’m made so take me seriously. So… who will they pick between Angelina Jolie and The Ferrari? Probably the car… Angelina will probably leave them for Brad Pitt, but the Ferrari will last forever.
For comments, suggestions, topics or people you want to see featured in Chicdriven, e-mail jnt@tuasonracing.com. Chosen e-mails will get a gift certificate to Antonio’s Restaurant in Tagaytay.