It’s been a big week

The car has been really busy this week and it’s not over yet!

To start out with, I picked it up from Prestige Auto Dent Removal early in the week after having them remove the dent I put in the door of the car as well as complete a full detail. It was a big job to fix the dent as they had to take the whole door off the car but the good news is they were able to fix it along with a few other dents I had accumulated over the time.

To retain as much of the value of the car as possible I also asked them to do a full detail, excluding the engine bay. This combined with the dent removal meant that the car was away for much longer than I expected but I really wanted it fixed so was prepared to wait the extended time.

So here’s the final results at my favourite petrol station and the location of many of the “antics” over time, including putting the dent in the car originally. I have to say that car looks fantastic thanks to Garry at Prestige Auto Dent Removal. No sign of any dents and the finish is immaculate. I can now sleep at night and no longer be haunted by the blemish I inflicted on my car.

I was at my favourite petrol station after taking the car for a run up to Brooklyn and back (as I missed out over the weekend) but I really needed to fill up the tank for the track event the following day.

I admit that I was very,very apprehensive participating in the track event for a number of reasons.

1. During a track event your insurance does not cover you. So have an ‘incident’ you are on your own.

2. Being a rookie and in an older car I am going to be taking it much slower than other more experience hands driving the latest rocket ship like a 458. Staying ‘out of trouble’ having never been on a racing tack before was what concerned me the most.

3. I had to navigate through peak hour traffic to Eastern Creek Motorsport park there and back. Luckily, it was school holidays so traffic should be much lighter but there have been a few major incidents on the roads of late that seemed to be occurring with far too much frequency for my liking.

Even as I sat in the car and turned it over first thing my emotions were screaming at me not to go. Stupid I know, but the fear of the unknown is a powerful thing.

I did however force myself to take the 30 minute or so drive to the track and parked my car in the garage on pit lane without incident. I then availed myself of a bracing caffeine fix and some sugary pastry. It is amazing how much energy your burn when you are petrified.

I then signed all my legal rights away indemnifying what seemed to be anyone even remotely connected with event from any and all liability. In understand why you need to do this but indemnifying people against my death certainly didn’t make me feel better.

Next was a drivers briefing where we all heard how the event worked, what the marshal’s flags meant and finally how the overtaking operated. Basically, when you approached a car from behind you had to wait for them to wave you past. The driver in front had to point out of the window to either the left or right hand side of the track to indicate where the following car should pass. Ok, easy enough I thought but must remember to leave the window down when I go out as I don’t want to be fiddling with that while attempting to break, turn and get out of the way.

I then needed to obtain a ‘loaner’ helmet, which also required wearing a very fetching (NOT) hairnet. I returned to my car to wait until my group was called. They basically divide all the drivers up into a number of groups and send these groups out for a 20 minute run.

It wasn’t long before my group was called to assemble at the end of pit lane. As I strapped myself into the car I discovered that the F355 is not really designed for wearing a helmet when you drive because the additional head protection now made me too tall for the car. I adjusted the seat back to allow some more headroom. I made enough room but only just enough to succeed in making my driving position just that little bit more uncomfortable and me just that little bit more apprehensive.

However, I was now at the point of no return as I swung out of the garage and onto pit lane and joined the tail of the queue waiting to take to the track. Just before going out I was asked whether I want an instructor to ride along. “Yes, please” I replied. In a matter of moments I was hurdling away from the pits with some bloke I’d only just met, onto a racing track I’d never been round at speeds greater than what I have done before in the car. Piece of cake (NOT).

My driving instructor passenger pointed out that they had laid out cones at each corner to show you where to turn and where the apex is (that is the optimal point you want to get to close as possible to ‘straighten’ the corner out and reduce your time cornering. The only real thing that you need to work out is where to break and that depends on the driver, the entry speed and the car just to name a few variables involved.

With my co-pilot on board I found it tough to make the optimal point in most of the corners but importantly I understood what I needed to do. More importantly I was able to wind the car up and give it a good ‘squirt’. I even managed to wave a few cars by so I was a pretty ‘happy chappy’ as I pulled back into the pits after my first run in the car on a race track. Although my apprehension had not fully dissipated, I was happy that I came.

For the next session I was in the car all by my lonesome but I was a lot more comfortable with what I needed to do. I still mucked up most corners but I was certainly improving from earlier on. During this session I recorded the following video on my trusty Go Pro camera (this time placed inside the car to prevent stupid acts of denting).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I45hRYkt2Vk

It wasn’t long before I was out for my third session of the day, just before lunch. However, this time, towards the end of session it began to rain quite hard. So being no hero I made a bee line for the pits and parked the car. Luckily, this was the only rain we had all day even though it threatened much during the rest of the day.

After lunch I did two more sessions before finally heading home, most satisfied with having a track event under my belt. The car performed flawlessly and it was great to be able to wind it up down the straight and power through the corners. The sound alone (even though through a helmet) was well worth it.

So what major things did I learn?

1. I need to break much earlier into corners. Brake in and accelerate out.

2. The faster your travel the greater braking you need. If you overshoot the braking point the momentum of the car won’t allow you to take the right line through the corner.

3. The standard car seats really don’t provide you any support during high speed corners. That is why racing seats are a good idea!

4. The car has far more grip that I expect. I’m sure there was even more if I had the guts to push harder but its ability to turn in hard and stay on line was eye opening.

5. The concentration required is enormous if you want to get the best result. Turning points, apexes, gear shifts, throttling, traffic, etc, etc, there is simply so much to think about it that I was pretty exhausted towards the end of the day. A couple of times I got distracted and found myself somewhere I didn’t want to be (i.e. wrong line). Driving fast requires extended focus and concentration.

So would I go again? Yes, but I’m not necessarily busting to do it again tomorrow because at the end of the day you are just going round and round and there is limit to how much you can concentrate. I am please that I have done an event like this, that car performed marvellously, I captured some video and I can write about it here.

Ah serenity at last.

Concourse

The Ferrari Club held a concourse today in Hunter Hill in Sydney that was extremely well attended. Unfortunately, my car is still in the shop getting the dent taken out of it that I recently put in it.

Ferrari Maserati Sydney brought along an F12 and a 458 Spider you see in the above two shots.

Of course for me the main attraction was other F355s present and you can see from these shots that yellow was a pretty popular colour.

So they have two sections for judging, concourse and wax & wash. The concourse is the more fastidious section where you lose points for paint chips (yup, pain chips).

I gotta say that all the concourse entrants put mine to shame, they were immaculate. I can’t even imagine the amount of time it must have taken to get them into this condition. If you ever want to see what a Ferrari looked liked when it came out of the factory you should check out these cars.

The wax & wash competition is less rigours but even so the cars here looked pretty much in showroom condition to me, talk about clean cars! Even the engine bays were immaculate.

To win the concourse amongst all these outstanding examples for automobiles would really be something for the overall winner.

As you can see the event was well attended with the cars basically filling the complete oval. Quite a sight.

It was great to see so many well turned out cars, speak with some very passionate owners and enjoy the sunny weather on a great Sunday in Sydney. Maybe next concourse I’ll give the wax & wash competition a go? But still reckon I’d get put to shame if the quality I saw today is anything to go by.

Toy shop

The Ferrari Club had a day at Ferrari and Maserati Sydney and there was plenty to see, including:

California

430 Spider

599

But the highlight for me was the first face to face close up of the new F12.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkDj5MrOyy0

The F12 has a V12 engine and 750HP, which is more than a Formula 1 racer. All I can say is that I want one!

458

599 GTO

A very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Yet another great benefit of being a club member.

The one year anniversary

So it has now been a full 12 months since I picked up the Ferrari F355 GTS and I thought it might be good to reflect back on this chocolate anniversary.

Costs

Maintaining a Ferrari is not cheap, however when I did the sums it is interesting what you find. If you take out things that I added to or improved on the car such as the re-doing the dash, purchasing a spare and jack as well as exclude the one off major cost of four new tyres then outlays are comparable to my normal road car.

What I would consider ‘standard’ costs for the F355 came to about $10,000. These costs included, rego, insurance, parts, servicing, fuel and tolls. The biggest difference between the cars was the comprehensive insurance which was about 2.5 times my road car, however given the value of F355 this is not unexpected.

So ‘once off’ costs for the F355 came in at about $6,000 which included things such as the four new tyres, re-doing the dash, spare and jack etc.

Other ‘non standard’ costs included things like a garaging fee, etc.

So total of all costs (standard, once off, non standard) for the F355 came to just over $17,000. However, if you consider just the ‘standard’ costs then it is pretty similar to my normal road car. But don’t fooled, if you purchase a car like this you need to beware that maintenance costs are also significant but not exorbitant (at least note yet, phew!).

Travel

I have driven the Ferrari F355 about 5,000 kilometres since purchase that’s almost an average of 100 kilometres per week. By comparison, my normal road car has done about 12,000 kilometres, which is an average of 230 kilometres per week.

Lessons

Here are some lessons I have learnt about cars like the Ferrari F355 when compared to normal road cars.

1. You need a GOOD mechanic. I really can’t praise Sal DiMauro from Racing Red enough. He has come out to me when required, he has gone above and beyond (e.g. fixing my exhaust bypass valve), been available on the phone and via email when I’ve panicked about the car and most importantly made the car better than it was the day that I picked it up. The engine has never run more sweetly than it does now. So if you need Ferrari mechanic, Sal’s the man.

2. Even though you pay more money for a Ferrari F355 that doesn’t make it a ‘new’ car. Mine came without warranty on sale (because it was over the luxury limit), you are relying on how the previous owner has treated and maintained it and most things in are at least 15 years old!

3. The sports suspension of these types of cars really makes you understand how CRAP the roads are here! Driving this car REALLY puts you in touch with the road surface, so prepared for all the rattles, bumps and clunks.

4. These cars are LOW. If I’m not paying attention I get a very quick reminder of how low these cars are with a whack and scrape from the nose of the car as I go over a gutter, up a drive, down a drive, into a driveway, etc too quickly. The other area that you notice the lowness is getting in and out of the car. It takes a bit of practice to exit and enter elegantly. That lowness however does have a benefit when you are flying through corners by making the car so much more stable and flat.

5. These cars are noisy. Everyone who has come along for a ride has noted at how ‘noisy’ the car is. That is no surprise given that that the cam belts and the rest of the engine is just behind your seat. It is also designed that way so that you can enjoy the sound of the engines as you accelerate. Again, not a problem, just different.

6. They are simple. By this I mean, mine came with no spare, no jack, no glove box, not much storage space, etc. Even when I look at photos when the dash was disassembled, there is not a huge amount of ‘bits’ in comparison to cars of today. It is even simple enough that I could workout and repair the initial issue I had with ECU.

Low points

1. Having the ‘1-4 Slow Down’ light come on while driving the car home after picking it up.

2. Battling to resolve the ‘1-4 Slow Down’ light over many weeks.

3. Buying new floor mats from the US and finding that they didn’t quite fit.

4. Having the car chipped and dented (by me).

High points

1. Every day I get to see the car. Whether under a cover or from behind the wheel, I thank my lucky stars every time.

2. Travelling to the Hunter up the Putty road with the Ferrari Club of Australia (and to think I wasn’t going to go!).

3. Driving with the top down and no lights on the dash.

4. The Ferrari track day (even though I only watched).

Looking back and laughing

1. Having a panic attack and not realizing that the immobilizer was on.

2. Trying to fill the car with fuel from the right hand side.

3. Trying to get the petrol cap off.

Future

What will the next year bring? Hopefully, less repairs and more driving. The next task is to get the dent fixed I made and get the car detailed in late September. There is another track coming up in October which I ‘think’ I’ll sign up for. I’d like to take the car over the Bell’s Line of Road as well as down the south coast before the year is out. Come December it will be time for the annual service and rego.

Summary

Owning a Ferrari F355 has challenged me. It has taken me to places where I may not have always been comfortable, however I and the car have survived and grown closer, strange as that sounds. I have enjoyed learning about the car, how it is put together, how it responds and what makes it so unique. I have enjoyed the looks I get from people when the car is out and about as well as being part of the Ferrari Owner’s Club.

In short, I am glad I took the plunge and got the car because it has really made the last year most enjoyable (even the challenging parts looking back now). There will no doubt be challenges in the future and certainly more enjoyment which I am looking forward to.

Finally, I thank anyone who has taken the time to read and follow my musing about ownership. I hope you have enjoyed the ride and hope you stay on board for at least another year here on the blog.

My favourite video of the past year from teh car

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bgFZwG34x0

I’m an idiot

Went out for a drive again today and attached the Go Pro camera on the front drivers guard just in front of the driver’s door panel. After a good long run I stop for fuel (what is it with me and petrol stations? Why does everything bad seem to happen when I refuel?). I open the door to get out. When I do, I open it wider than normal to make it easier to egress (and because I have the space so why not right?). Problem is I neglected the fact that the knob of the Go Pro camera mount overhangs the door panel.

That meant knob from the camera mount was pushed nicely into the door panel thanks to my efforts leaving a noticeable dent as a reminder. Geeze, I’m an idiot! Why did I have to open the door so wide? Why didn’t I put the camera on the passengers side? Why didn’t a ensure there was no overhang from the camera? Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

The most annoying thing about this is that it was my fault and it could have been avoided if I had just stopped to think. Damm. I appreciate that it could have been worse and it could of happened in some other way but I can tell you I feel really foolish. Damm.

Hopefully the dent can be removed by the detailer that I am yet to visit. This incident will speed that visit up now. Again, very, very annoying, but I was planning on going to the detailer at some stage anyway. I also knew that sooner or later I’d get a ding like this that needed fixing, so now we have arrived at that point. Now it is time to accept that and move on. Just so annoyed with myself. Damm.

I’ve had plenty of dings and dents over the years with the cars I’ve had and each and every one has been psychologically painful. However, I have learned over time that these things happen to cars, no matter how careful you are. They just happen, period. I think that once you accept that then things aren’t as stressful. I can remember fretting for weeks over the initial ding my first car received. Now hopefully being a little more experienced I can let these things go sooner.

I know there is nothing I can do now to change what’s happened but I have learnt an important lesson about attaching the Go Pro to the car. Things could be far worse and I’m sure then dent will eventually be successfully removed but at the moment, damm, I’m annoyed with myself. Hopefully this public catharsis has sped up that process.

Aside from that I did manage to create another video of the trip which you can find here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6rez2-Sye8

Any donations for the dent removal (or idiot) fund most graciously accepted.

Starting the F355

The crowning moment of where I felt most stupid with the F355 was when I tried to start it a few days after having it in a petrol station WITHOUT disabling the immobilizer, which in my defence I knew nothing about. You can read about the incident in my previous blog post here:

https://blog.lovethe355.com/2012/09/worst-fears.html

and my appreciation of how stupid I was here

https://blog.lovethe355.com/2012/09/rookie-mistake.html

I have managed to find this YouTube video which highlights that I’m not the only one who didn’t appreciate the inbuilt immobilizer.

All I can say is I feel for ya brother, I do however at least I only wrote about it! I was probably too stressed at the time to operate a video camera. Thanks for sharing all the same and I hope you eventually enjoyed your ride!

Congestion stress

Only a few days after the car went to Racing Red (mainly to get the suspension checked), I get a call that is car is good to go and there are no issues. Yippee. Only problem is that I have to pick it up a little earlier (on the cusp of the morning peak hour) and the weather was wet (not my favourite weather for driving the car).

Prior to departing I checked the traffic information and discovered there was a major ‘incident’ on the M5. Luckily, it was heading west and I planned to return with the car east bound so figured I should be ok. Right?

After picking up the car, traffic onto the Princes Highway was quit heavy and the lights where still phased for peak hour so the car spent a fair amount of time just still in a queue. It was starting to get ‘warm’ as I finally released from the confines of the side street onto the Princes Highway.

Phew, I thought, all smooth sailing from here. As I turned onto the approach to the M5 I was greeted with traffic banked a distance from where I would have expected it to be at this time of the morning. This doesn’t look good, I thought.

After crawling along a bit further, it turned out a truck had broken down in the left lane. Surely, after negotiating this thing would get better. Nope, wrong again.

Even though the east bound traffic could flow onto the M5 the west bound traffic, diverted off the M5, was now blocking just about every intersection. This meant that even when the lights where green I went nowhere, the car got hotter and hotter and my stress levels were approaching boiling point.

It is important to remember that the engine in the F355 is in the rear. This means the radiators are just little behind where you sit, so when the fans come on to push air across them you hear it more than you would a normal car.

The car was coping but I wasn’t. Luckily it was wet and cool but still I could see the dial temperatures continuing to rise. I debated whether to try and turn around but figured that would be too difficult and didn’t want to risk conking out across a major road. So I continued to sit and stew.

Finally, I could make the left turn and get onto the M5 approach but that too was also heavily congested with diverted west bound traffic. Finally, a gap materialized in the intersection and the turning light went green. I was away onto the motorway. I was free now. Surely? Nope, spoke too soon again!

That brief taste of freedom lasted a few hundred metres before I was once again enveloped in traffic. I crawled off the M5 and onto General Holmes Drive. I crawled along General Holmes Drive to the airport fly over. I crawled from the airport flyover up South Dowling street. Mind you this is about 10.30am and this is as bad as I have seen it here. Did I pick the wrong day to pick up the car or what?

I crawled along South Downing street an onto the Eastern Distributor. Surely, this can’t go on for ever? Surely? Please God, let it end.It wasn’t until I hit the Harbour Tunnel heading north that the car was finally in constant motion! Even though I was pretty stressed by the circumstances, I have to say the car took it all in its stride. Sure it got hot, which is expected, but it didn’t overheat. It didn’t miss a beat. I’m not keen to subject the car to the same treatment ever again, but it is comforting to know it can cope with some really poor traffic and weather conditions with ease. I just can’t!

The other big positive was I no longer had any lights on when I looked at my dash as you can see.

It’s been quite a while since it has been red free.

With the car finally back safe and sound the only other downside to my return trip from the shop is that because of the rain it is all dirty again and need a waste. Like I said, I chose the wrong day to pick the car up. D’Oh. Ah well, things could be far worse!

With a fine weekend on the cards I was looking forward to my first casual drive without the irritation of an airbag warning light on the dash. My choice of route? Maraylya. Here’s a video of the trip.

I’m keen to try the trip out to Lithgow and then back along the Bell’s Line of Road. Won’t be next week but it will be soon and I post the details here so stay tuned. Unlike the car, I need a bit longer to cool down.

Ouch

After the recent Hunter Valley trip I gave the car a good clean. I was horrified to find a large stone ship on the bonnet.

Might not look big in the photos but it is quite large and quite deep. I can’t remember anything hitting the car while I was driving but it kind of looks to me like a branch has fallen from a tree and gouged the paint work.

Always disappointing when these things happen but after have many cars over the year you just have to accept these things once you take it on the road. Ah well, another item to add to repair list.

I have done another video as you can see from above. This time the camera was mounted on the rear bonnet right at the back of the car. I think it is a good location. The hardest thing about these videos now is finding a good sound track. I am not really sure about this one but it is different. Interested to hear what you think.

So the car is now with Racing Red to have the suspension issue and other bits and pieces looked at. I’ll provide an update when I know the ‘damage’.

Wash me

The Ferrari Club had arranged a Christmas in July weekend away at Peppers Guest house in Hunter. This about a 2 and 1/2 hours drive from Sydney and plan was to take the Putty Rd.

I headed out early with a little trepidation given firstly how long the trip is (longest run so far in the car), secondly the fact that I’m sure I had front suspension sag issues and thirdly I had no idea where the car was going to be parked overnight at Peppers. However, on the other hand I really did want to take the car for along spin and hang out with the other club members and their Ferrari’s.

The meeting point was Macquarie Park just on the other side of Windsor. From the picture you can see some of the array of vehicles that made up our little convoy. It included an Aston Martin, 360’s, 308’s, 328’s, 550’s, 400, 355’s and even a 458! There were probably 20 cars in all.

The next stop was just over an hour along the road at the Grey Gum Cafe for morning tea.

The road to the cafe was fantastic! Some really nice vistas and excellent road surface in long stretches as it has been recently repaved.

After caffeine we headed north again, however a little ways along I saw the 360 in front of me swerve rather violently to the left. Still wondering why, I was not able to react quick enough to miss the major pot hole the 360 had also attempted to avoid. WHUMP, right on the drivers side. Now that’s not going to do my sagging suspension any good now is it? As I continued on I triple checked everything to see if there had been ill effects from the impact.

Luckily, the car seemed find and continued on at the tail of about a dozen Ferraris as we continued north through the Wollemi and Yengo National Parks. The road was still damp in the shade so you had to be careful not to get too adventurous, however it was still really fulfilling to driving in a pack of Ferraris in such glorious weather, through some fantastic scenery.

We cut across Milbrodale Road to Broke and then along the Broke Road to the Guesthouse. Again, the road was excellent and the car really ate it up, that is until about the last 200 metres where we were greeted by road re-surfacing, traffic light controls and an abysmally pock scarred road. A very disappointing way to end and excellent day’s drive.

Once everyone had arrived we all piled into some hire buses and headed off for lunch at the Verandah Restaurant and then some wine tasting. After returning in the evening we booked into our rooms and took a bit of a relax before having tea together at Peppers.

Upon checking the car after the incident with the pothole I confirmed that indeed the right hand side drivers side is down about 25mm when compared to the other side.

Here’s the left

and here’s the right (with the issue)

You can certainly see the different when you look closely. The good thing I figured was that the sag was present before hitting the pothole so it didn’t appear and worse. With nothing more I could do I headed off to bed.

A cold front passed through during the night and it got quite windy. Luckily, other club members had the good insight to park their cars away from trees and I had likewise followed suit. Just before drifting off to sleep I wondered how the car would fair in the open over night?

After a hearty breakfast I decided that it would be best to return home early in case the issue with the suspension decided to worsen. When I checked the car it was no worse and I managed to speak to Sal from Racing Red who confirmed that it should be ok to drive normally. Phew.

I took the quickest way back home down the freeway and arrived back without incident. Again, in such excellent weather and driving a car like the 355 you can’t but help to thank God you are alive, although I wish other drivers would keep left!

All in all, I had an excellent weekend and am so glad that I didn’t let the niggle with the suspension stop me from going. The drive there and back was fantastic and I discovered another great out of the way cafe I can go back to in the future. Apart from getting the suspension issue looked at I really need to get the car cleaned as you can see

Sometimes it’s good to get down the dirty but man, it needs a wash.

Other side this time

Took the car out for drive as normal recently but 10-15 minutes into the drive, while climbing a hill, I lose power and get the ‘5-8 Slow Down’ light flashing at me. In a few seconds the fault cleared and car carried on without an issue.

Here’s a little video of that trip.

My first fear was that the thermocouple ECU on the other cylinder bank was failing however even I spoke with Sal from Racing Red he thought it may have been a fouled spark plug and not to worry too much unless it reoccurs.

With a little trepidation I took the car about the following week with someone else along for the right, everything went fine until we returned home and garaged the car. While parking it seemed to bang its nose more than it usually does, which I thought strange.

During the week I measured the clearance on both sides of the car and found the drivers side to be about 25mm lower than the passengers side. Hmmm…I have a weekend drive day with the Ferrari Club of Australia next weekend. Hmmm.. what’s the best option here?