Mazen's second Ferrari

Although I have been lucky enough to drive some really cool cars over the years, I was really excited about driving my friend Mazen's new (to him) Ferrari 512TR, which is basically an updated Testarossa from the 90's. I've posted before about Mazen's awesome cars: M3CS, Ferrari 360, Porsche 991 GT3... He still has all those cars, and he even added a Porsche 993 C4S to the collection (which I hope to drive soon!). As for this latest addition to the stable, he bought the car a couple of months ago, but since it had to be imported from Europe, he only took delivery last Friday. When he said he would be coming to Montreal Saturday, I asked if he would be driving the TR and he said "I don't really want to put the mileage on the car, but I also kind of want to drive it." So that was a yes! He was going to meet another friend of mine for dinner and I made an appointment to come and check out the car before a dinner of my own. Jules came along with me and we drove the 5 kilometers to my friend's place. As we approached his house, we spotted the absolutely unmistakable rear end of the Ferrari parked on the side of the street. It is almost impossible to convey how much presence this car has... nothing else looks like it and I don't know if there is any new car on the Canadian market that looks as exotic. We parked and went to take a closer look. The car is 30 years old but from 5 feet away, it looks to be in new condition. We looked under the engine cover and it was really very different from a new car. You could see every mechanical component there, and nothing was covered in plastic. There were actual welded tubes holding body parts in place. The rearmost item is a huge muffler that really manages to keep the sound level of the flat 12 under control.  This is, after all, a GT car, even if its shape reminds you of a fighter jet. We checked out the interior... it was a mix of lovely leather, very ordinary plastics, 80s items, like storage for cassettes, and bad ergonomics. Of course, almost all of this is forgotten when you start to drive it. The clutch is heavy but easy to modulate. The main issue is that the clutch pedal is so far to the right that it seems to line up with the center of the steering wheel. The space for my right foot on the gas felt only about 1 millimeter wider than my shoe. I was a bit worried when I sat down and realized the top of my head was only 2 centimeters from the roof, but this turned out not to be a problem. The shifter (dogleg first) is so mechanical feeling it's almost agricultural.  The gearing is so long that when driving in a residential neighborhood as we were, you only really need 1st gear. I'm pretty sure you can go over 100 km/h in 2nd. Sadly I only got to drive in the city, so I didn't get to step on the gas or feel what a great GT car this must be on the open road. I was, however, able to feel that the car was something special, and the reactions you get from people around you are priceless.  Even people who know nothing about cars can tell this is not a car you will see every day (or even once a year!). The heavy unassisted steering is totally manageable once you are moving and the visibility is surprisingly excellent. The ride over bumps is also more than acceptable. If you understand that you are getting behind the wheel of a car from a completely different era, I don't see how you could be disappointed when driving this car. It's just that special.