The Most Secret Ferrari Collection: Garage Tour Dubai 29 Dec 2021
Welcome to one of the most secret Ferrari collections in all of Dubai!
You could be forgiven for thinking this place is a dealership, but this is actually someone’s private collection of Ferrari’s, which is split into two parts. There is a public facing side where you can grab a coffee, have a snack and look at the Porsches. But first, we’re going to take a tour of this side, which is predominantly Ferrari!
Now, there’s a 5-12BB – Berlina Boxter which is a flat 12 cylinder, then there is the Koenig edition. Back in the 80s there was a fine chap called Willy König who was somewhat of a mastermind, at the pinnacle end of tuning. There was a small amount of these cars made, which is effectively an augmented 5-12. You can most specifically tell it is them by the aero styling, and the 80s flick along the side is so cool! The owner of this car tells me that there were only five of this particular model made. It is known that two of them have crashed, so there are only three of this one in existence. And this hopefully sets a spot of context for the rest of this line up!
Next, we have the Ferrari opus – a celebratory book commissioned by Ferrari to document the history of this incredible brand. The significance of it is the ‘bookcase’ as you would call it, which is housing the book inside a Ferrari engine and engine covers. How cool is that?
Everything we have in this collection is special and limited. None less than the 550 Barchetta. Four hundred and forty eight of these were made and it was originally designed to celebrate the Barchetta stylist: it is awesome to see this super, super rare, manual B-12.
We also have a real Michael Schumacher F1 car. This is from 2003, as well as a race worn Michael Schumacher race suit which is very cool indeed.
Next up we have the 599 GTO: every time I see one of these, I forget how big they actually are! When they evolved to the F12, for some reason they managed to become a little bit more streamlined.
Conveniently parked behind the GTO is the 599 Aperta – Aperta meaning the roof comes off. These are super rare because they only made 80 of these worldwide. To even see one is a privilege, never mind having one parked behind the 599 that it is based on.
Now, let’s transition straight onto the LaFerrari, which for me just ages better and better every time I see it. Because Dubai is Dubai, I have been fortunate enough to see a few of these over the last couple of days but they just get better looking every time I see them.
Continuing through the collection, we come to the Speciale Aperta’s which are, of course, special. But this one was originally commissioned by Ferrari for Niki Lauda himself. The story goes he left and signed with Mercedes, and that was why you always saw him in the Mercedes’ F1 pit, so he never ended up taking delivery of his Aperta.
Then we come to the Scuderia 16 M – obviously based on the 430 Scuderia. The significance of the 16M is that it was built to celebrate 16 manufacturer championships. It is based on, for me, one of the best single clutch gear boxes. If you follow the channel regularly, you will know I am not necessarily the biggest fan of the single clutch, but to this day, whatever they did with the Scuderia, they made the gear box so incredibly punchy at full chat that it just added to the drama of it rather than detract from it, which some single clutches have a sloppy habit of doing. This is a super special car, and they only made four hundred and ninety nine of them!
This whole place is full of Ferrari artwork. By pure coincidence, as we were filming, something special arrived. You would be forgiven for thinking it is just a Pista covered in lines to make it look like a piece of art. However, originally it was a fully piece of R&D hardware from the Ferrari factory in Maranello, that was used to research the airflow over the 488 Pista. Since that programme has come to an end they were left with these items, and the owner of this collection has acquired it for this remarkable cave of Ferrari’s. This item is fresh out of the box, amazing to see it, and in terms of an addition to this space, very special indeed.
Speaking of special, you would be forgiven for thinking that this next car is a TDF Blue 812 GTS, but it is one of five 812 GTS Ispirazioni. As indicated by the plaque on the door trim, it is tailor made and if you get really close to the interior leather, you can see it is a special leather with a nice grain to it and a contrasting stripe which compliments the stripe on the lower section of the car – silver and copper, all matt and carbon. These cars were strictly invite only.
While everything downstairs is incredibly special, upstairs might be the most special space of all. What the owner of this remarkable facility has done is recreate Enzo’s office in his private cave. I remember visiting the Ferrari factory where Enzo’s office is preserved behind glass, and this recreation looks exactly like it down to the accessories: the chopard pen, the family photos, the chair, the desk, the rally of Monte Carlo 99 plaque. Honestly, I have never seen anything quite like this. I have been to some phenomenal collections, but the attention to this space is just a different ball game. Well done sir!
Do you remember at the beginning I was telling you there was a café where you could go and hang out, have a coffee, and experience all the phenomenal art here? So, whenever you are in Dubai, come down, check the place out – coffee, art cars, and wonder cave!
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