EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE
CREST THE BROW OF THE hill in third and inside my brain I say: ‘Oh. My. God.’ It’s just too perfect: perfect car, perfect weather, no traffic — and look at that sweeping, towering, blockbuster stretch of road ahead! Oh. My. God.
Even as a journalist on a car magazine, moments like this are surprisingly rare. Within these pages we like to dress it up a bit — you know, sell the dream. In reality, you are often in an Aventador while being logjammed in traffic outside Aylesbury or stuck behind a tractor at 30 km/h. We tend to gloss over all that.
But today, I promise, the dream has become reality. I am in a Ferrari Roma on the North Yorkshire Moors, the sun is just going down and the white lines are looking particularly crisp against the dark grey tarmac. The road ahead is unbelievable and right now it is all mine.
Third is the best gear in the Roma: third and fourth, between 4,000 rpm and the 7,500-rpm red-line, are just magnificent. So, squeeze down on the long throttle pedal and feel that instant pulse of power surge through the whole car, scooping you up and plunging you down this majestic sweep of road. A red shift-light on the Ferrari steering-wheel rim blinks and
