Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XXIII

2 6 7 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I M ention the word Ferrari, which is officially the most recognisable brand in the world above Coca-Cola, Ford and McDonalds, and people immediately think Formula One. The marketing people from Maranello have worked hard over the past four decades to push its F1 programme and with it, the company’s volume- selling mid-engined sports cars for the road, up to and including the delicately quick 488 GTB and Spyder. But Ferrari has a long and distinguished career which preceded F1 as we know it today, and it’s an era of classic GT touring that the California T taps into with its V8 engine mounted up front and 2+2 seating capacity. Long before the F1 World Championships began in 1950, there was the Le Mans 24-hour race which began in 1923, and even earlier, Grand Prix racing from 1901, which consisted of two-seater cars and a riding mechanic. This was Enzo Ferrari’s style of racing, competing in an Alfa Romeo from 1924 until he formed his own business in 1947. With big GT cars his passion and races like the Mille Miglia that ran for 1000 miles on public roads from Brescia to Rome and back via his village from 1927 to 1957, Enzo preferred the bigger front-engined cars. He always preferred one as his daily driver over the more popular mid-engined sportsters right up until the day he died in 1988. The California T is a beautifully executed tribute to this glorious era of Ferrari’s bigger cars and is named after the 250 California which was born to take on the likes of Aston Martin and Jaguar in the mid 1950s.