WHEN IN ROMA

HARKING BACK TO PREDECESSORS FROM THE 1950S AND 60S, YET RESOLUTELY MODERN IN ITS CLEAN, MUSCULAR DESIGN, THE FERRARI ROMA MIGHT JUST BE THE BEST-LOOKING NEW CAR ON THE ROAD TODAY. SO, DOES THE TWO-SEAT GRAND TOURER HAVE THE PERSONALITY TO MATCH ITS LOOKS?

Words: Charlie Thomas

The grey tarmac snakes between two banks of blurry foliage. The green grass and purple hedges loom over, closing in as the narrow road winds left, then right. The hills of north Wales then open up and turn into mountains. Daggers of slate point in all directions, looking equally menacing and awesome. I want to pull over and admire the landscape, but my foot is on the loud pedal and I can’t stop. This is the kind of road keen drivers would pay to experience, and I’m behind the wheel of the new Ferrari Roma. There have been worse Tuesday afternoons.

The Roma is a departure for Ferrari of late. It looks entirely different to anything Maranello has ever produced, yet it’s somehow familiar. Its numbers are what you’ve come to expect, but it’s not all about performance. There’s more to it than that. The Roma looks to Ferrari’s past, undoubtedly, but its 20-inch wheels are firmly in the present, both aesthetically and in the way it drives. It might be the most interesting Italian car in quite some time.

In the past, Ferraris were beautiful, elegant pieces of design. From the late 1950s through to the late 90s, the marque could barely put a foot wrong. There were the low-slung, mid-engine sports cars it offered (the Dino, 355, 360 etc), which carved through the air, and looked like nothing else on the market. Then there were

I should change gear, but I also should have stopped two miles back to admire the mountains of slate

the GTs, the larger, front-engine, long-bonnet tourers (the 250 GT, Daytona, 550 Maranello) the company had been producing since it started making road cars in the late 40s.

Fast forward to the 21st century and things began to change. Ferrari, a racing marque through-and-through, lost some of its elegance and glamour. Its road cars got quicker, increasingly powerful and more aggressive in design. Cars in its current lineup, such as the 812 Superfast and F8, are shockingly quick, placing great emphasis on outright performance with their incredible 0-62mph speeds and Nurburgring lap times. But in chasing the numbers, that oldschool Ferrari magic began to dissipate.

The new Roma breaks this pattern. It harks back to those classic Ferraris of old, but in a way that’s modern and refined. Its long, swooping bonnet references the brand’s grand tourers, specifically the Daytona and 550, to which this car is a natural successor. Compared with modern Ferraris, the Roma is minimalist in design, with clean, understated panels that hug the chassis while merely hinting at the power that lurks below. It’s muscular but not ripped and has presence without shouting. If spec’d in a colour that’s not Rosso Corsa, a casual viewer might even wonder whether it’s a Ferrari at all, which, of late, is no bad thing. It might just be the best-looking new car on the road today. So, how does it drive?

The car digs hard into the ground. A sweeping, fast right-hander reveals the Roma’s cornering prowess. It moves like a train through the bend, stable in its tracks at a speed usually reserved for the motorway. The steering wheel is soft and cold, and grabs the attention as the shift indicator lights blaze a trail across the carbon-fibre top section. I should change gear, but I also should have stopped two miles back to admire the mountains of slate. The Roma isn’t a car you want to stop driving, especially when the roads are this good. I continue further into the depths of Wales, high on the sounds of this Italian V8.

With 612bhp and a top speed of 199mph, the Roma is no slouch. But unlike the classic GT cars it’s inspired by, it requires little skill to drive. It will happily, and quietly, glide around town like a big, expensive go-kart. As with many modern luxury

cars, you’ll quickly forget you’re driving a car that costs as much as a three-bedroom house.

The deep, comfortable leather smells of wealth and success. It hugs you until you forget what potholes are like. There are screens everywhere; even the steering wheel has touch-sensitive buttons. You turn the car on with a touchpad, which regrettably loses some of the drama of the big red start button on older models.

One physical button that is still present, thankfully, is Ferrari’s Manettino switch. Flick it to ‘Race’ mode and the Roma stiffens, offering sharper, more direct steering, quicker gear shifts and a louder exhaust note. Yet it’s still remarkably easy to drive quickly, largely because it’s so predictable. The car’s computer systems ensure that there are no snaps of the wheel or unruly kicks of the rear end. In dry weather, as tested, the Roma flows with the tarmac. It feels far lighter than its 1,570 kg kerb weight and handles smoothly and directly.

The gears change instantaneously, snapping up or down like a race car, and the exhaust note is addictive, begging you to explore the full range of its 7,500 RPM. It may not sound as raw and exciting as the naturally-aspirated V8s of Ferrari’s yesteryear, but this twin-turbo unit has a distinctive, angry roar that makes the radio defunct.

I let my foot off the pedal but the V8 doesn’t want to slow, and neither do I. Alas, a junction is approaching, and all good roads must come to an end. The steering wheel lights flash brightly as I shift down, with each gear giving one last, angry cry. The right pedal gets its rest, and the carbon ceramic brakes do their job, swiftly and efficiently. The car stops as quickly as it sets off. It’s a machine of extremes, despite its refined design. I stop at the T-junction and remember to breathe. My hands are sweaty and my eyes are dry. The Roma could do this all day, but I couldn’t.

ferrari.com

ENGINE

3.9-LITE V8

COMBINED CONSUMPTION 11,2 LITRES/100KM THE VITALS

POWER

612 HP AT 7,500 RPM

0-62MPH

3.4 SECONDS

TOP SPEED PRICE

199MPH FROM £171,000

GARAGE BAND

EARLIER THIS YEAR, CLASSIC CAR INSURER FOOTMAN JAMES LAUNCHED ITS SHOW US YOUR SHED CAMPAIGN, AN INITIATIVE TO DISCOVER THE UK’S GREATEST GARAGE. HERE, LUXURY LONDON HEARS THE STORY OF ONE COMPETITION FINALIST

“It was an old school friend of mine who wanted to buy a silly car, and convinced me to go 50:50,” says Mark, recalling a particularly memorable week in 1987. “What we really wanted was a Ferrari 308, but we couldn’t afford one. We settled on a little Lamborghini called a Jalpa, and I suppose the rest is history…”

Mark’s Jalpa has a lot to answer for. The early-1980s entry-level supercar proved to be just that, acting like a gateway drug. It was the car that would spark a passionate Italian love affair that’s spanned more than three decades.

Five Lamborghinis now reside in Mark’s garage, with the Jalpa having been joined by pristine examples of all four of the marque’s V12 ‘scissor-door’ cars.

“There’s something about Lamborghini – an attitude, a kind of irreverence that’s becoming harder to find,” says Mark. “The cars have a sense of spirit which is totally unique; a sense of anarchy. I love that the brand was born from a feud between founder Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferrari, with the first model launched to spite him. Even though they’re now owned by the VW Group, that spirit is still alive.”

Mark’s purchase of the Jalpa coincided with the Black Monday stock market crash, and the realities of running a raging bull quickly became apparent. “The friend who owned the other half of the Jalpa had lost money that week, and couldn’t afford to pay me. I literally didn’t have enough money to eat – I had a jar of coppers that I emptied out and used to buy food.”

In 1993, the Jalpa was joined by a white 1984 Countach LP500S, arguably one of the most iconic supercars of all time. “If I could keep only one, it would be the Countach,” says Mark. “It’s just alive. It’s really difficult to describe it. I took it to Hampton Court for the Concours of Elegance this year, and it still holds its own even next to cars worth 10 times as much. It’s just a really special thing.”

A 1992 Diablo – Italian for ‘devil’ – was the next arrival, and the early rear-drive example still lives up to its namesake.

“Those early Diablos are very powerful, but they’ve got no ABS, no traction control and no airbags. It’s a proper, old-school car, and still the only car I’ve spun on a UK road. They really are the last of the Mohicans.”

Mark was approached by the Top Gear production team in 2020, who asked to loan the car for a feature on the most iconic 1990s supercars, alongside a Ferrari F40 and Jaguar XJ220. Despite pressure from his children, Mark decided not to go ahead, and recommended another identical Diablo for the filming. It was a shrewd move, as the car was crashed by presenter Paddy McGuinness during filming.

The Murcielago, which arrived in 2012, is a very different animal. As the first brand-new model released by Lamborghini after being bought by Audi AG, Mark says it looks after you in a very different way, benefitting from four-wheel-drive, ABS, traction control, plus an active rear wing and air intakes.

The final member of Mark’s V12 quintet arrived last year, an Aventador SV – by far the most extreme of the group. With over 750bhp delivered at a heady peak of 8400rpm, Mark describes it as “absolutely brutal”. In a dazzling shade of ‘Giallo Orion’ yellow, the newest vehicle in the collection proves that Lamborghini’s mojo has survived the decades intact.

There are few regrets from Mark’s tenure as a Lamborghini owner – though he says refusing the offer of a Miura for £40k was a mistake, as examples now fetch around £1m. He also almost agreed to an LM002, Lamborghini’s Countach-powered luxury off-roader, a model he says is truest to the spirit of Italian lunacy. Their fragility, and the smell of petrol in the cabin during the test drive, was enough to curb his enthusiasm.

The collection still gets used regularly, with Mark attending shows and tours with the Lamborghini Club.

“You discover there’s this endless hierarchy,” smiles Mark. “There was this wonderful moment at Salon Privé. I was stood next to the Countach with my son, talking to a bloke who asked me how many Lamborghinis I owned. I answered, and my son asked the man the same question. ‘Twenty-seven’, he replied. You have to remember – there’s always someone in the playground bigger than you.”

The ‘Show Us Your Shed’ competition was won by Lee Sunderland and his family, whose garage was inspired by thier collection of more than 2,500 Hot Wheels toy cars, and is now home to a restored 1970 Mk III Austin Mini 850. To learn more about Footman James and its Private Client offering, please visit footmanjames.co.uk