First Ferrari: Richard Hammond
Posted by Richard Hammond at 3:05PM on Thursday 07 June, 2007 15 Comments
I'm a late developer; I popped my Fezza chezza pretty late in life.
It was a 360 Challenge Stradale and I had been invited to the Ferrari test track in Modena for the launch.
I'd been scribbling about cars for some years by then, so I acted casual when the PR guy in the smart suit handed me the keys and said I could, if I would like, take it out.
Too right I would like; I grabbed the keys and tried to walk nonchalantly to the car, fighting the 10-year-old within me who wanted to run towards it whooping.
Lap one went well. Then I spotted the button labelled 'Traction Control'. It should have been labelled 'crash', because that's what happened the instant I hit it.
The ensuing spin was long enough for me to have called the insurers and sorted things out before the crash had, technically, finished.
I limped from the remains, complete with mud and badgers sticking out of every vent, back to the pits and handed it to the man in the sharp suit. He looked cross. I said something about grip and sloped off.
Not been back since.
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15 Comments for "First Ferrari: Richard Hammond"
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I'll remember that when I go for my track day at Elvington to drive a 360 and Gallardo then.
Thanks for the warning!
Oh dear, what is it about men that when they see a button, they have to push it?
A woman sees a button marked, 'DO NOT PUSH' and she thinks, "Hmm, somebody has written that warning message on there for a reason, I'd better adhere to said warning and leave it alone."
So there may have been a slight Ferrari/hedge interface but if you did it all again, I bet you'd still push that button...
Well look at it this way, at least you didn't crash a Ferrari Enzo like Eddie Griffin did! I imagine many were far more cross with him than you!
Richard,
it's exactly what the real 10 year old in all of us would of done! Except the Stig of course...
Obviously you intended to do this to test the safety features of the car for the buying public? Honest *cough*
Hammond, you legend!
Well what else do they expect you to do? NOT push the button?
You did what they told you to do - TEST it out, so you did. Every little button...
A man after my own heart. I'd have done the same, for who could resist the pull of pushing the TC button!! That, except the fact that I would have run towards the Fezza, whooping like a 10 year old girl, and perhaps have given the crew enough warning to remove the ignition button!
If you weren't supposed to push the button, it wouldn't be there in the first place.
Had that button not been there, you would have found something else to press.
It wasn't your fault. They shouldn't have made a button so interesting for people like you, I and a thousand others to want to press.
Never mind Richard, we've all had our button pushing experiences!
Mine was a little different, my mum took me into a bank branch and I set off all of the silent alarms under the counters which called in alot of police, all because of one nice bright red button under the counter!
Theres a first time for everything.
Hey you lived the dream! You crashed essentially a Rent-a-Car that wasn't yours, which just happened to be a Ferrari. Walked away without so much as a scratch on your body, and insurance covered the rest. Sounds like the perfect crime.
Did you push the button marked 'race' as well? that looks mighty tempting...
My first Ferrari that I drove was a 1994 348 Spider that I rented and took up an inactive Volcano in Hawaii on the island of Maui.
It had no power steering, the air conditioning was Kaput, the anti lock brake warning light was illuminated because they were also malfunctioning.
The stereo speakers were not working and the dead peddle was so loose I ripped it off. Yet it was like catching a terminal illness, I was hooked. Sorry to say that Ferrari did not have traction control, because the traction control was my right foot!
Since then I loved Ferraris and you have to treat them like a beautiful woman, with great respect, admiration and pay pay and pay some more. Then if your lucky it will kiss you before you get !@#$ed with the bill.
Cant believe it took you a lap to find the button!