In a one-time-only unscheduled change to my usual posts, I’m going to talk about Ferraris instead of food. As regular readers will know, when I’m not eating I am a self-employed copywriter. This is less glamourous than writing about restaurants but has the upside of actually earning me some money. Drive Me Barcelona recently contacted me to ask about working with them on some marketing projects. “Would you like to come along and have a drive in one of our Ferraris, too?” they asked.
Yes. Yes, I would. Very much.
Living in a big city, I don’t even own a car (I use a well-known car-sharing company). I have a motorbike but not much free time to get out and enjoy it. Most of my urban motoring is done on a 16-year-old 50cc scooter. So the chance to take a red Ferrari California up Montjuic, on the route that used to be Barcelona’s F1 racetrack brought out my inner Top Gear grinning idiot.
Here’s the mandatory plug: Drive Me Barcelona offers supercar tours from its base in the One Ocean Club on the Moll de la Barceloneta. You can go around the city, up to Tibidabo or around Montjuic. They also do longer out-of-town tours that take you onto more open roads.
The Montjuic tour I took lasts around 40 minutes and costs €169. It feels a bit like re-sitting your driving test when you first get into the car with your guide (in my case the easygoing David) but you soon relax and enjoy it, or at least as much as you can relax when driving through Barcelona traffic. Is it just for poseurs and frustrated petrolheads? Probably, but I quality on both counts so I had a great time. And I’m not alone: people were queuing up to book rides in Drive Me’s Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and McLarens while I was there. The 40 minutes fly past but the memory of the sound the car makes in a tunnel when you blip the throttle in sport mode lasts a long time.
The video (mainly of me scowling and pouting as I concentrate on not flattening pedestrians) isn’t exactly flattering but I include it for your amusement.
And afterwards? Lunch, of course. At El Nou Ramonet, an excellent option near Drive Me’s HQ.
Drive Me Barcelona: Tel. (+34) 661 64 07 40; info@drivemebarcelona.com
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