Ferrari Opens Store At The Nürburgring

Like I needed another reason to visit the Nürburgring, it turns out that Ferrari, marque of all marques, has decided to open a retail outlet at the famed track. This is the first such store located at a track (unless you count the flagship store, which is next to Fiorano), so checking it out while at a GP or the next 24 Hours of The Nürburgring seems like a no brainer.

First, what else needs to be said about the Nürburgring? Well a lot, if you ask me. I can't sing the praises of this place enough. Sure, the new circuit is interesting enough, but I'm talking about the old circuit, the place that people like Fangio and Moss and Rosemeyer and Nuvolari used to race on. The place that nearly killed Niki Luada and did kill Peter Collins in '58.

Currently at 170+ turns and 14+ miles, it's more like a closed off section of public road than a purpose built racecourse. And here's the best part: You can drive on it, in your own car, for not that much money. The Germans have set it up to be, effectively, a public toll road, so for a small fee (10 Euro? 15? something like that) you can take a car of your choosing around for a lap as fast as you care to.

I try to imagine something like that happening here in America. Say, paying the government to let me drive an Elise through the Blue Ridge Mountains just as fast as I care to ... then I imagine that they cost of cleaning up Ralph Nader's head when it explodes would prohibit such fun.

So, next to said storied track, Ferrari has set up one of its boutique stores. If you haven't seen one of these, it's sort of interesting. They're filled with all sorts of highly priced knick-knacks and souvenirs and stuff. Some of it is actually worth owning (their books, for instance), and others are just sort of puzzling ($50 mouse pads). It's one of those places that seems to cater to lottery winning fantasies and/or the filthy rich that absolutely must let everyone know that they own a Ferrari.

One of the stores recently opened up in my hometown, and of course I had to check it out. It's very nicely designed, which isn't that surprising, and the layout was quite well done. The staff is on you like white on rice, which is something I can't stand and just reeks of the words "sales commission". Not only did they have all the books and the over-priced tee shirts, but they also had some racing memorabilia too. A rather nice polished crankshaft out of an '01 F1 car. They also had a rear body section off of an F1 car going for a mere 30-thousand dollars U.S. It had some nice scuff marks on it where another competitor had contacted the car during a race.

"That'd look nice hanging above the fireplace," I thought.

Then I thought: 'I could either have that hanging above the fireplace, or for the same amount of scratch, I could have a used Elise in my garage. Hmmmm ... tough choice – If I was a moron. Who'd buy that when you could have another sportscar?'

The choices the rich face, I suppose.

Source: AutoBlog Photo From Flickr users Kenny Miller, killrbeez and benklocek