Video: Ferrari heaven at Monza

29th June 2021

Seán Ward

You’re at Monza. The birds are chirping, there’s a light breeze and it’s a warm, overcast day. And then you hear it: a Ferrari V12, howling. The sound grows more fierce before a staccato of five loud bangs rings out as a 599XX hauls itself down from flying in sixth gear to crawling around a chicane in first. Before you know it the fierce V12 scream is on top of you before it bursts past where you stand and on to the next corner. Quite the experience, wouldn’t you say?

We were very lucky to make a trip to Italy for the Monza Historic in September 2019, but we’re very aware that some diehard motorsport fans may never be able to make it to the ‘temple of speed’. Thankfully there are videos like this, from Ferrari’s 2021 XX and F1 Clienti track day and the Club Competizioni GT test day a few weeks later, that bring the Monza experience into our homes.

If you’ve ever stood at the side of a race track you’ll know that, as incredible as modern video and audio now is, there’s nothing quite like the real thing. This video is probably the closest we’ve come across, recorded with two microphones for the full binaural audio experience. There’s the aforementioned 599XX, the Enzo-based FXX and the hybrid LaFerrari-derived FXXK. Then there are two F1 machines, the F2008 from – you guessed it – 2008 and the F138 from 2013, the last V8 Ferrari F1 car before V6 hybrids arrived on the scene. On top of those gloriously shouty machines there’s a 488 GT Modificata and some 458 GTEs, 458 GT3s, F430 GTCs.

Fifty minutes sounds like a long time but it is entirely worth it – the sound quality is stunning.