I have spent most of the last three weeks answering a very simple question; where have you been? To which I replied trying frightfully hard not to look so awfully pleased with myself, oh I was test driving a Ferrari 488 spider in Los Angeles! As you might imagine I am still grinning from ear to ear from the experience. Planning for my second Los Angeles Ferrari experience began several months ago. The key objective was to escape the mind-numbing traffic log jams of L.A. and head sixty-three miles north to the aviation mecca of the Antelope valley, home to The Blackbird Airpark, Air Force Plant 42, and the US Air Force test pilots base at Edwards Air Force base. Yes, in addition to being a supercar enthusiast I am also an aviation enthusiast, particularly military aviation. So, I will jump upon any chance I get to combine these passions. I have long admired the SR-71 Blackbird, the world’s fastest reconnaissance aircraft, and when I discovered the aptly named Blackbird airpark in Palmdale California, I knew I had to visit this icon of speed and do a photoshoot with the Ferrari 488. As my planning evolved it included my wife Kelly coming with me. She had never been to L.A. and as she is an actress she wanted to see some of the famous L.A. sights, primarily Hollywood Blvd. I spent months dreaming about parking my Ferrari 488 test car between the two Blackbirds at the airpark.
3 days before I headed down to L.A. I got an email telling me that the Rosso Corsa (red) 488 GTB coupe I was supposed to be testing had been replaced by a Blu(e) Corsa 488 spider. Now I felt a mixture of emotions; why do I always receive blue or black Ferrari’s to test drive? I was so looking forward to finally getting a Rosso Corsa Ferrari (yes, I can hear the chorus of violins playing as readers feel my pain). I had planned to put my GoPro camera inside the glass covered engine bay of the 488 GTB to get some engine noise and see the engine moving about under acceleration. The spider version of the 488 does away with the glass cover to make room for the folding hardtop roof. I then looked at some images of the 488 spider in Blu Corsa and my disappointment soon turned to joy.
It had rained in L.A. the week prior to our visit which is unusual for L.A. As it happened it also rained on the day of our arrival, and seeing a man running with an umbrella was a rather odd spectacle for Los Angeles. The downside of the rain for me was that the fun canyon roads of Angeles Crest highway and Angeles Forrest highway, where I was planning to drive up to Palmdale were closed due to a rockslide caused by the rain. However, these thoughts were put aside for the moment as we arrived at the Ferrari service center to pick up our test car. We were surrounded by a plethora of Ferrari’s. One non-Ferrari treasure stood out, an Alfa 8C in candy apple red, a seductive exotic I have been waiting several years to see, and it was worth the wait. Inside the workshop lurked not one but two red Ferrari F50” s, and a red LaFerrari. These paled in comparison when I saw our Blu Corsa 488 spider test car. Blu corsa is my favorite new color, the color I would order for my 488 spider Ferrari, of course this option will set you back $12,486. I was gob-smacked by this vision, even three weeks later I am in awe looking at my pictures of the car. I have never been so affected by the styling and color of a car before.
After dealing with the necessary Ferrari paperwork Kelly and I headed out onto the streets of L.A., where for the first and last time I had to use the windshield wipers on the 488 thanks to a 10-minute burst of rain. The cockpit of the 488 was very familiar to me thanks to my drives in the 458, the F12 and the FF. I am finally comfortable using the steering wheel mounted indicators. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the air conditioning which remains a mystery of operation even to my wife who is far more technically adroit than I am. We turned to our onboard navigation to help guide us to the Hilton hotel in Glendale, here we encountered our first major problem as it turned out our 488 was a European spec model and the navigation system was calibrated for Europe not America. We discovered this problem after going through the menu where we discovered Armenia but no America and Ukraine and the United Kingdom but no USA. So how do you navigate around L.A. without onboard navigation? Thankfully our trusty iPhone google maps came to the rescue. Time lags and occasionally dropping out of connection, caused a bit frustration for my wife and me. I was often enthusiastic with my right foot while Kelly was trying to read sign posts, then the choosing which one of the six lanes we needed to be in at the right moment. I am extremely grateful Kelly was with me or else I might still be trying to find my way around LA.
Saturday morning saw L.A. return to its customary blue skies, thus mandating we put the top down and become a convertible. As with the California T I drove last year the transformation from coupe to convertible is accomplished within 20 seconds. The spider with its hardtop folding roof gives you the best of all worlds. We got lots of thumbs up from fellow motorists. This was my second experience with a Ferrari V8 twin turbo, the first was with the California T last year, and while some have complained about the loss of the naturally aspirated V8, I am not one of them. Yes, the roar of the 3.9L engine is not as deep and beguiling as the old 3.8L, but it still sounded like a Ferrari engine and the performance, brief though it was in the dash between traffic lights was extremely rapid and only made me want to use more of the 660 horsepower on tap. L.A. driving does showcase how versatile modern Ferrari’s are; the 488 coped easily with the all manner of L.A. obstacles. The Ferrari has one button that is essential for LA traffic, namely a bumpy road setting which helps to smooth out the jarring highway tarmac. This was also my first Ferrari with the new Ferrari key fob, (though I confess to being a fan of the old key) none the less one must move with the times and a Ferrari key is always a treat to have in one’s possession regardless of the shape.
Our next stop on the LA Ferrari adventure ride was the California Science Centre which houses the space Shuttle Endeavour. It’s not often a parking lot deserves any special mention, but one with an A12 spy plane mounted on a plinth is worthy of mention. The A12 was the predecessor to the famed SR-71 Blackbird, so naturally I had to position the Ferrari to enjoy an impromptu photoshoot. It was a full of irony that I borrowed a parking space for electric vehicles to park a supercar in front of a spy plane that could fly 3 times the speed of sound, symbols of the past the present and the future. It is somewhat bizarre to think of the space shuttle Endeavour in the past tense, none the less what an impressive monument to space exploration. I became a little kid wandering around the shuttle display, mouth agape, wonder etched on my face. Looking at the carbon scoring and space grime gave the Endeavor a tangible patina that is permanently etched in my memory.
We then made our way to the famed Hollywood Blvd, home of the Hollywood walk of fame. We parked the Ferrari in the largest underground carpark I have ever seen, then joined the rest of the tourist mass on Hollywood Blvd where we began dodging street-performing superheroes, enthusiastic street vendors, and local street preachers. The energy of the street is infectious as you observe this melting pot of Americana. After a few hours of walking along Hollywood Blvd the cacophony of the street had worn us out. We had bought our obligatory L.A. livered baseball caps and we ready and eager to get back into the Ferrari for the second half of this adventure.
James has a most positive and illuminating view of the world, finding soul and animation in our ever-manufactured global environments.
A traveler by nature, James has grown his professional and diverse career in Supply Chain, Photo-journalism and Digital Marketing management by acquainting himself with different traditions and cultures of more than 35 countries around the world. Capturing memories, creating identities, and gaining great perspectives.
In addition, James takes on the recent challenge of founder and creator to push his internationally recognized freelance and corporate experiences into new and exciting times with the advent of Brand Command. A brand and marketing company recognizing the creative talents of others around the world and placing soul and emotion into the image of its clients.