"Applying the aerodynamics of a racer to a road car is stupid"

Leonardo Fioravanti doesn't mince his words on modern Ferrari design, but then he is responsible for some of Maranello's all-time greats.

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The irony of our final approach to Leonardo Fioravanti's lofty residence, perched high in the hills above Turin, is not lost on me. After emerging unscathed from a high-speed, near-1300km journey from the UK, 'our' pristine Ferrari 308GTS qv is now hovering on the brink of oblivion at walking pace. In order to meet with our man, we've been told to thread our way along a narrow, gravelled track that borders his property's outbuildings. But the 308 is almost too big for the final turn, and its inside-front Michelin is making a perilous arc just millimetres from the beautifully cultivated garden that falls away acutely down the hill from the road's edge. Our host, beaming at the sight of the car like a father ready to greet a long-lost child, is unfazed; I even ponder if he mandated the track's width just enough to accommodate the 308's limited steering lock.

Which, as we will soon learn, would be just his style. Immaculately suited, lightly tanned, with a full head of greying hair, Signore Fioravanti appears at least a decade younger than his 87 years suggest. Immediately affable and courteous to a fault, he appears genuinely humbled that we've driven all this way to see him (he tells me that he's turned down plenty of other media requests to travel far and wide to celebrate the 308GTB's anniversary this year, but C&SC has been the only magazine to meet him on home turf, which he prefers).

We're congregated before the entrance to an Aladdin's cave of concept and show cars that Leonardo has designed, including the 1998 Ferrari F100 commissioned to mark a century since Enzo Ferrari's birth; the 2009 Fioravanti LF1, showcasing a simpler, more cost-efficient Formula One car; and one of the original 2005 Lexus LF-As - “My initials, but Lexus always claims that LF is for Lexus-Finesse,” he demurs.