%s
- Although "gasoline" means "gasoline" in the U.S., "gasolio" and "gasoil" in Italy and France, respectively, mean "diesel." Which means I shoved some of the wrong stuff down the tank before a guy in a Ferrari F430 sharing the adjacent pump warned me. Sorry, Hertz.

- From Monza, the drive to Monaco via Genoa first and then France's Côte d'Azur takes you down some of the most beautiful roads in this planet.
%s
- Straight from the only-in-Monaco department: while awaiting to enter what is the pit straight during the Grand Prix, three Ferraris blasted by before I snuck in behind. Soon policemen were waving hysterically at me – 32 other Ferraris lined up behind my humble Opel Corsa, for I had interrupted a parade sponsored by the Ferrari Owner's Club of Italy. Down to St. Devote and up to the Casino corner, then Loews and the entire tunnel section, I was simply unable to give way for pure lack of room. In all, the Ferrari Club d'Italia event attracted 35 machines (and not just your run-of-the-mill 355s, 360s and F430s: I'm talking F40s and Scagliettis here) and a seemingly much higher number of gold-diggers.

- Sure people charge you the equivalent of $15 for an espresso while managing to keep a straight face, but if that bothers you while in Monaco, you're just not capturing the spirit of the place. Like a girlfriend once told me after ordering an $80 drink (explaining it would take too long, but it involved a full pineapple on fire): "Money? It's just paper, baby". Fortunately the expression "fantasy island" exists, or there would be no way to describe this place.

- Having commemorative statues of Juan Manuel Fangio's wins at the Nurburgring and at Monza was a nice gesture from Mercedes. Placing the exact same sculpture on both tracks seems, well, cheap – sure Fangio won a lot, but I expect more than mass-produced bronze statues from the three-pointed star.
%s
- Doing this – i.e., covering long distances in Europe by car – is incredibly idiotic from a financial point of view. While international high-speed train tickets can go for as little as €35, gas costs over $8 per gallon on average and toll can bite you in as much as €20 (roughly 30 dollars) in a single booth. So much for sparing quarters for that task. Nearly every highway in France and Italy is a toll road.

- When your significant other complains that you want to spend your two weeks of vacation doing pretty much what you do on the other 50 weeks of the year, tell her it'll be all about the journey, not the destinations. Then don't be mad when she refuses to come along.

Cassio Cortes is a Senior Writer for RACER magazine.

Page 3 of 3

Prev

123

Next