About chariots and the fear of flying

“Ferrari Challenger" by Sun Chemical, or rather, if you don't race you don't win: as a person and as a company. Notes of a very enjoyable and instructive day, even without having won.

Stefano Lavorini

Emperor Fermo had his chariot pulled by ostriches of extraordinary size, so that it seemed more like it was flying than traveling. Thus reports Plutarch. And this was exactly the feeling I had while piloting a Ferrari 488 Challenge on track. A four-wheeled racing monster, which made me feel an almost "space-likel" dimension compared to the driving experiences I've had so far.

The epilogue of the day, after having diligently carried out my task, done numerous laps around the track with alongside me the comfort of a professional driver (what nerve!), was to discover the inanity of my efforts - in terms of concentration and performance - when, for the grand finale I slid over to  the passenger seat: well, after a few hundred meters it was immediately clear to me that I had not even got near to  what it means to drive a  670 horsepower racer with slick tires and carbon ceramic brakes around the circuit.

"Each to their own job" was the wry closing comment of my good-natured guide Matteo Cressoni, fresh from the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

However, despite this premise, during the "Ferrari Challenger" I did not fall short on committing myself, convinced that in all circumstances one should try to do one's best. I came out of it not only satisfied, but convinced that this was the objective of the encounter, the - undeclared - message of the organizers, Sun Chemical Group SpA, and that for the multinational ink company this rule of life is declined, first of all, as a mandatory commitment to its customers.

Coming to the chronicle of events of the second stage of "Pure Adrenaline", which took place on September 24, on the San Martino del Lago Circuit (CR), saw the participation of fifteen "drivers", including flexible packaging manufacturers and converters plus a journalist (the undersigned), or rather those chosen during the "Ice Driving School"  ice driving competition – held in February on the Champoluc Driving Park (AO).

It is said that "expectations are all" and the event, for once, lived up to its expectations.

Personally I imagined pleasures galore and found myself as happy as a kid toddling in front of the source of its every delight.

3 Ferrari, 4 considering the "muletto" (like the ones you only see in magazines), a sheer beauty in terms of its design and technology and scary in terms of its  power and performance. An artful design mix with an amazing 8-cylinder V-engine at the centre, and essential safety/torture devices such as the survival cell that you have to lower yourself into, and the 4-point seat belt, which nails you to the seat.

I have already written it and I repeat it: I went through the experience without any desire to be among the best, having neither the skills nor the desire to do so.

The prize offered - conceived by some amiably diabolical mind (sic!) - was in fact to enter the third stage of the "Pure Adrenaline" event scheduled in May 2021, a day with the civil aerial acrobatic team.

I was terrified from the beginning to end up among the "magnificent 7" who, on the occasion of the "Flying Experience", will have to clamber into the YAK 50 and 52 military derived training aircraft to enjoy the extreme emotion of flying the skies. The motto has never been more true: per aspera ad astra! [through hardships to the stars!]

Among the participants there was also someone who was certainly no novice, recognizable by his special suit and helmet, and therefore used to take to the track. Obviously - I say this for those who know him - the group also featured the irrepressible Fabio Deflorian, CEO of Sun Chemical. And this perhaps explains the meaning behind the game.

I report that the ranking of the best has been drawn up based on the times achieved on driving simulators installed in the paddock, in order to avoid that an excess of competition would lead to problems on the track. A good thing, because in spite of this there were those who - it had already happened during the "Ice Driving School" - due to excess of enthusiasm and overconfidence in their own abilities (indeed remarkable) ended up exaggerating, experiencing the thrill of an innocuous off-track.

Everything was solved with the removal by the mechanics of a few kilos of stones from the underbody of the car, the entry on track of the reserve Ferrari and, for the driver, in the wonderful trial of being able to own up to one’s own mistake, without that arrogance that is the mortal enemy of discipline and truth.

The appreciation of the stunt and the novelty was general and due recognition should be given to how Sun Chemical's marketing manager, Fiorenza Raggi, aided and abetted by Valentina Boiocchi, directed the event.

Equally impeccable the organization of the day on the track by MC World, wonderfully professional and offhand friendly at the same time.

In short, we can really say a great experience ...

And, once again, Sun Chemical has set an example of what it means to approach work with passion.

A passion that, as Stendhal wrote, "is not blind, it is visionary”.