XX RATED

The Spider version of the SF90 XX provides our first taste of Ferrari's track-focused 1016bhp hypercar on the road

-  JOHN BARKER

IT'S ALWAYS SPECIAL, TURNING UP AT THE FERRARI factory to collect a car. Just being allowed through the gate feels like a privilege, as behind you sightseers edge as close as they dare to the threshold while from across the road their friends take photos that frame them below the iconic Ferrari sign. Filling one of the parking spaces is 'our' car, an SF90 XX Spider, its glowing red paintwork beading with rain. We pop indoors to complete the paperwork and find the area filled with the happy hubbub of middle-aged tifosi taking group photos in front of the wall-mounted F1 car while they await their factory tour.

I'm lucky enough to have been here a few times but I confess to a little trepidation today, mostly because of the weather. It's barely above freezing and Lucia, who is doing the handover, is strongly suggesting we head for the Adriatic coast rather than the nearby hills because they had a massive fall of snow yesterday. The car, she points out, is not equipped with snow chains. Indeed, but at least its slender-spoked carbon wheels are shod with Bridgestone S005s rather than the semi-slick Michelin Cup 2 Rs that the SF90 XX Stradale wore when my colleague, Dickie Meaden, came here to drive it late last year (evo 318).