Ferrari Purosangue

Maranello has finally bitten the SUV bullet, but is the Purosangue the 'authentic Ferrari four-door sports car' its maker claims?

- JETHRO BOVINGDON

THE BRILLIANCE OF THE FERRARI PR T department's dastardly planning only mystery, hits me days later. Like a good murder a series of disparate events coalesce into a perfect whole so seamlessly it seems improbable it could have ever been planned. The plot starts immediately upon landing. The hire car isn't fitted with winter tyres. Hmmmm. The gorgeous launch venue is high up in the Dolomites. Could be a challenge. Incredibly, our research suggests that despite the location we'll actually be based many miles from truly great roads. The sort we can't help but seek out even if it means a much longer day. Ferrari knows that. They know everything.

Pretend phone calls are made to 'sort the hire car tyres' to no avail. Apologies are offered that the local roads aren't that great. They throw us further off the scent with strange demands to 'not use the boot for photography equipment as the tripods always damage them'. We are quietly irate. Busy, narrow roads. Hire car that will falter as the temperature drops. What's going on? Ferrari has given us two whole days with the Purosangue, but at the same time seems to be undermining our opportunity to explore and enjoy it.

What to do? There's only one option. Plot a course several hours from base. The forecast is good. For us, not the skiers - it's been a strange season with very little snow. At least that's one variable under control. Maybe everything will be fine, we all agree, only half believing it.

Photographer David Shepherd is struggling to locate the accelerator in the Jeep Renegade hire car so I push on ahead in the Purosangue. The road rushes down the mountain, narrow and unpredictable, then we hit the valley floor and tackle fast, flowing sections weaving in the shadows of the vast mountain range before merging into quiet autostrada. Finally we break away from the main routes and head back up into the clouds.