A busy few weeks for the Daytona, with visits to Goodwood and DK Engineering.

“It looks too much like a Corvette,” the hoodied teenager said to his father as they stared at my Daytona. The father was slightly embarrassed that I had heard his son, especially when I proceeded to point out that while the C4 Corvette does have some resemblance to the Daytona, the Pininfarina design predates the plastic American facsimile by some fourteen years.

To be honest, I don’t expect everyone to like the Daytona’s design, and since it's a shape that has been fairly influential in car design, comparisons (both favourable or otherwise) are not entirely surprising. The most notable car to have been influenced by the Daytona is the Rover SD1. This four/ five door saloon has a central trough and headlight treatment which surely indicates that David Bache and his team at British Leyland had lots of pictures of Daytonas on their wall at the design office.

This impromtu discussion of the Daytona’s design attributes took place at last weekend’s Goodwood Breakfast club meet. The theme for the event was Pre-1973 cars which I managed to sneak into despite the Daytona being slightly too new to qualify. The Breakfast Clubs run from 7:00 until 12:00 on the first Sunday of the summer months, and normally I would get there early to catch the peak time and take in the interesting variety of cars that line up on the pit straight and in the paddock. This time I arrived near the end of the event since I had a lunch planned at Goodwood’s excellent Kennel’s clubhouse, and perhaps more importantly I didn’t want to bore my new wife by looking at cars on a sunny Sunday morning!

Despite my late arrival, there were still a few interesting cars present, notably a TVR Typhon, one of only two road versions ever made, I believe. I did shoot some video at the event, using a Kodak Play Sport 100D video camera that my wife bought me for Christmas. I really like the camera, but I do need a little more practice with it! I won’t lower the Drive Cult video gallery with my results, but if you want to have a look it’s posted on YouTube here.

The Daytona is back to full health after its tribulations on my wedding day, although the cold morning did again mean the gearbox oil took a while to warm up. The wipers weren’t needed but they are working on at least one of the speeds. My wife seems to like the car too, finding the seats and ride preferable to my Alfa Romeo daily driver. The Daytona’s effortless overtaking ability seemed to be appreciated as well, with a chuckle raised every time dawdling Sunday drivers were dispatched with the merest application of throttle, and a deepening of the V12’s baritone engine note.

With the weather improving I have actually managed to use the Daytona on two consecutive weekends, a welcome novelty. Last Saturday the Daytona and I made the trip to DK Engineering in Chorleywood. DK are a Ferrari specialist who sell, service and restore Ferraris and other classic cars of all ages. The reason for the visit was that DK were holding an open day for owners and to come and view their facilities and cars for sale. They were also offering free checkups on Ferraris, and a chance for your Ferrari to be testing on their rolling road facilities, though I declined that offer since the Daytona has recently been checked over anyway.

When it came to the cars on display, a couple of very early Ferraris caught my attention. Firstly, a gorgeous Vignale-bodied Ferrari 166, a car that recently competed in both the Goodwood Revival and the Mille Miglia. Equally beautiful was a Ferrari 340 America, this time with body by Touring. What is most surprising is how small these cars look compared to more modern machinery. A Daytona parked next to the 340 looked massive in comparison, and that in turn is dwarfed by a 599 or 612.

The visit to DK was also an opportunity to introduce fellow Drive Cult writer Martin Spain to the Daytona. As a committed Porschephile this was Marty’s first ever ride in a Ferrari of any description; there's nothing like starting at the top! It was only a fairly short trip from Spain Towers to DK but I think it was enough to show him the Daytona’s best attributes. You can see Marty's excellent photos from the visit to DK here. 

The trip to DK Engineering did remind me that the Daytona is not the greatest car in traffic. En route to collect Marty, my aging TomTom satnav managed to direct me through the worst of the Saturday morning shopping traffic. Contrary to the perceived expectations of an old Italian car, the engine has pretty good cooling, possibly aided by the dry sump lubrication. However, the heavy clutch makes sitting in traffic a pain and the cockpit does suffer from heat soak.

Returning to the Daytona’s lair after the trip to DK, I found my Dad busy cleaning his recently-acquired Ferrari 550 after a trip to the garden centre (yes, even Ferraris are sometimes used for chores!). It’s a left-hand drive car acquired in Belgium , since Dad principally intends to use the car for driving in Europe. It’s the fourth 550/575 that Dad has owned, and in his view it's the best one he's had. There is a school of thought that left-hand drive Ferraris are nicer to drive than right-hookers, since they are originally engineered to be left-hand drive.

At current prices the 550 is something of a bargain, and the price my Dad paid for this example would probably have a few Porsche Cayman and E92 BMW M3 owners wondering if they really need a new car with a warranty. In fact, the price difference, reduced depreciation (good 550s surely cannot go any lower) and cheaper road tax, compared to the M3 may actually mean a 550 is cheaper to run over three years unless you are planning on doing a lot of miles...

A short ride around the block (to dry the brakes after cleaning) confirmed that the 550 is a truly awesome car, with a performance and handling envelope far more accessible than the Daytona's, as you would expect from a car than is over twenty years younger. What makes the 550 special is that it's a modern Ferrari, yet it still manages to retain that charisma which, in my view, makes the Daytona so special. That Italian charisma is something that the younger and paddleshift-equipped Ferraris are regrettably beginning to lose.  

The Daytona is always special (even in traffic) and I looking forward to using it rather more over the coming summer months.

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