Io non ci credo’ (I don’t believe this), he said, with a perplexed face. I could understand, though. Here he was staring at a Singaporean driving licence that belonged to me, an Indian. With me in the Ferrari was my buddy Jake, a Chinese national, living in Italy for the past five years and who could speak fluent Italiano. The poor Polizia obviously needed a minute to wrap his head around this United Nations angle of things.
‘Io non ci credo,’ he said. This time with a face that meant he had hit upon the heist of the year. I had told him the car belonged to Ferrari and while I was digging for the registration his smirk kept growing.
‘Io non ci credo’ he said as he ran his fingers over the words, ‘Name of Owner: Ferrari SpA.’ At this point, I think he seriously contemplated kneeling down and bowing to the 458.
And that right there was probably a reaction Gilles Villeneuve would’ve received had he ever been pulled over by the Carabinieri on his commute to work. Not that they wouldn’t have good reason to. It is 435 km from Monte Carlo to Maranello, and Gilles would regularly dispatch it in 2 hours 45 minutes in his company 308 GTS. Once, he did it in 2 hours 25 minutes. Don’t think. It’s fast. 180-kph-average fast! Yes, this was on public roads, and yes it’s insane. But in Italy they celebrate this sort of thing. Besides, this was a time when sex was safe and flying was dangerous.
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