ROMA THERAPY

Quality time with the most beautiful Ferrari of late. Rome is where the art is, after all

- Kartik Ware

The shape from Maranello burnt a line through the early-morning humidity of a rain-soaked Mumbai. If not for the thunderous yowling of the quad pipes at the back, we’d even have a chance at being inconspicuous. But then again, that was never a Ferrari’s nature, even one that wore a subtle colour. And I suppose only an Italian sportscar could make smartphones whip out so fast as to warrant speeding tickets. So I drove the Roma through all the attention, half of it sincere and half of it scornful, holding the best steering wheel my hands have found so far. I flicked the red manettino switch to ‘race’, tapped the left carbon-fibre paddle to drop gears followed by a footful of throttle, and blasted off, no doubt leaving all the scrutinising eyes accompanied by hanging jaws. As a Ferrari does.

I’ve been to Rome and I’ve been to the Ferrari factory in Maranello, but I’d never driven a Ferrari before. And in one go, I got to drive a Ferrari named after the Italian capital, in my city. Not ideal, given that I found approximately three and a half corners on our short route, but Mumbai is the place where most of the magical things have happened to me, and now I can add a Ferrari to that list. Of course, the storied Italian manufacturer’s machines are never about just one aspect; it takes a lot of special things to come together to make a Ferrari. And the Roma had all of them.