Ferrari 2007 Finali Mondiali (and Schmoozer Award)

My Badge

Let me put it on the record that I'm no F1 fan. Will probably have just as much fun hunting down a wild hare in the chemical dung-filled fields around my house. But if you saw me at the Ferrari 2007 Finali Mondiali races in the Mugello autodrome on Sunday, just know that it was the President's free lunch that made me tug at the line.

Those races actually lasted 4 days (25-26-27-28 October). We had access to the Paddock on all 4 days, but the kids had school and the Hubby needed to work in the office in Maranello. No time for socialising (many of his important suppliers were there). And we would have turned up on Saturday night for the Gala Dinner if we had a reliable babysitter, but we didn't. So we spent the evening watching DVDs.

The Dining Hall in the Terrace

On Sunday, we were among the priviledged few invited to the President's Lunch and as kids were also invited, we happily set out at 9:30am (we were actually late as usual, but with the time change we ended up leaving on time) for Mugello which is slightly more than an hour's drive from home. It's just before Florence when you're coming from Emilia Romagna.

The Babies

Arrived at past 11 though as we lost our way as we entered Barberino di Mugello and as the roads leading to the races tend anyway to be congested. If you do not need to stay in a jam for 2 hours, you'll have to count yourself lucky. Saw lots of Ferraris along the way, of course.

We had an easy time parking though as we had been allocated P1 which had direct access to the tracks. Mugello is a beautiful autodrome set in the mountains and it was amazing seeing the cars racing around us on different levels. The noise however was quite unbearable, in fact ear plugs are indispensable in F1 races or you'll go deaf in no time.

View of Pitlane and Race Tracks from the Terrace

We were ushered up to the Terrace where the lunch would be held. From there we would watch the races as you have a marvelous view of everything (plus a few plasma screens for close-ups), it was heated, there was a continous supply of coffee and drinks and hors-d'oeuvres both sweet and salty. From where we were, we could see the rest of the folks in the stands on the ground and you see that Hubby wasn't joking when he complained (when he was a "commoner" at the Monza Races) that there was a lousy and expensive sandwich stand with long queues and nothing else. Ahem!

Vintage Ferraris personally sent off by the President

As it was too early to eat, we procured ourselves special Passe-partout passes (both Hubby's PAs were on duty so it helped) and set out to visit the boxes where all the racing Ferraris were parked. I was told that many people would buy racing Ferraris that they would be unable to drive on the roads and these cars would be stored chez Ferrari who will organise a few events like this throughout the year to allow these rich guys to get to drive their racy cars on the tracks.

Look carefully, you'll see the President, Todt, Massa and Kimi

I must say that the ambiance was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it much to my surprise. Though the noise was even more deafening when you were in the Pitlane (yes, we were standing right next to the cars just where they set off to join the race tracks situated a few metres away). When a driver starts his engine, the noise is really really loud, goes all the way to your heart.

Like on TV

F1 Racers being prepared for the races

M. Schumacher's Car

Schummi being interviewed

One of the FXXs

We were able to touch the cars, watch them get ready, hear their (horribly loud and powerful) engines revv up just before they zoomed off and of course we saw Schumacher's black race car (Nº 30) though the sneaky guy managed to escape before the car was returned to its parking lot. We saw him in person later on, just a few metres from us as we climbed the stairs to lunch.

Massa and Kimi

In fact we also saw Massa and Raikkonen though I didn't recognise the latter and didn't take his picture. There was a moment when the idea of asking for their signatures crossed my mind - because M (who came to my house for dinner a few weeks ago) was literally standing next to the drivers - but I thought better of it knowing that Hubby would be horrified if I ever try to take advantage of personal friendships to get what I want. He is very strict about such things - which makes him stand out like a sore thumb in Italy where nothing works without relations. In fact, thanks to guys like him the (wonderful - if you ask me LOL) Ferrari tradition of making generous gifts to its employees may soon be a thing of the past. I've arrived at a bad time, boo hoo hoo.

The President signing autographs on his arrival

We returned in time for lunch and sat next to the Financial Director and his lovely family (he's Italian but the wife's American). The meal's the usual Italian except for the desserts which were really good (for once) and which had a French touch to them. Quite impossible to talk during the meal though as the races were on and the noise was deafening. The President of the company Montezemolo came by and shook everybody's hands and seemed quite taken with Baby Girl (the apple of her father's eye). He's as old as the company but is still very suave with flowing blond hair and a svelte silhouette and apparently kids as old as my Babies from a new marriage. J. Todt swept through the dining room like a tornado, shaking a few hands and signing a few autographs and then disappearing again. The kids all received a Ferrari gift at the end of the meal.

We left the races before the end with the hope of avoiding the leaving crush, but still ended up stuck in a jam for nearly 2 hours. Tough luck. But I'll be back in Mugello at the next opportunity. It had been fun.

And believe it or not, I won one of my rare "lucky" draws in East meets West Kitchen's twin raffle over the weekend. My "ticket" was picked by one of her cute little girls to receive a Blogging Community Involvement Award for the Power of Schmooze. Thank you V for having thought of me and for putting my name in the basket. Maybe this is a sign for me to go sign up for the lottery as God knows I'm in need of some cash after paying for the air tickets to Singapore.

The award is for those with good social and communication skills in the blogging community, good at socialising and making friends and at introducing others to more bloggers/friends and so on. The Hub would choke on his expresso if he knew that I've won myself this award as he likes to tell me that I'm anti-social. You know, because I like my own company very much - and that of my blog. Though he fails to understand how well we could learn and make friends through blogging. A case in point : I was just thinking of the Dutchess of Cookalot as I was typing this out and Rrrring...she phoned me!

It is now my turn to pass on the award which is not a difficult job as bloggers socialise and communicate in their own way, otherwise they wouldn't have a blog in the first place, right?

Fellow Schmoozers :

• Lily's Wai Sek Hong : probably a reference for many food bloggers out there. Always so ready to explain and help other bloggers needing cooking tips and just for sharing all her wonderful recipes and experience with all.
• Jaden's Steamy Kitchen : communication-savvy, wonderful recipes, full of funny repartees, great fun.
• Rasa Malaysia : who doesn't know her? Great recipe ideas, beautiful photos, like I said, who doesn't know her?