Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?

We recently teamed up with Pete Miller's Seafood and Prime Steak in Wheeling, IL and brought an entirely new event to the 2010 season! This event featured a huge Ferrari parking area, one of the most elegant outdoor dining patios on the North Shore and a complimentary lunch for each participant driver and guest.

Click here to see the photos!

Cars began arriving at Ambrosia Euro - American Patisserie in Barrington a little after 9am on Saturday, May 8th. We were hoping the weather would hold out as Tom Skilling predicted we would have an overcast (but dry) Rally to Lake Geneva. Everyone gathered for a little over an hour inside Ambrosia while approximately 19 Ferraris ranging from a silver 275 GTB to a new California and a 308 QV to a 430 Coupe gathered outside accompanied by a Rolls-Royce Corniche, Aston Martin and Porsche. Shortly after 10am our Rally Master, Hugh Ruthven addressed the crowd with our 119.2 mile route up through the countryside to our destination of the Geneva Inn. The Rally was a success without anyone running out of gas or receiving speeding tickets, however, there were more than a few of us that made a couple wrong turns. After everyone successfully arrived at the Geneva Inn many enjoyed a cocktail in the bar before we were served a fantastic lunch overlooking the lake. Concluding lunch, the Geneva Inn's hostess, Alice, was chosen to pick out the car that won the Spring Rally 2010 award. After surveying the sea of red cars in the parking lot, Joe Pitulla's 2006 430 coupe was picked by Alice because "[her] husband told her to pick one of the cars where you can see the engine." All in all it was a great day of rallying, conversation and dining. Thanks to everyone who came out, we hope to see you next year.

Click here to see the photos!

Now that we are officially recognized by the Ferrari Factory and part of the world wide family of Ferrari Clubs, we will receive, from time to time, invitations to special functions and the like. This note describes one such offer.

As you know, through our authorized Ferrari Dealers, we have been able to arrange individual tours of the Ferrari Factory in Maranello. Now, as part of the world wide family of official Ferrari Clubs, we can also arrange to do so as a larger Club group. As we are well into 2010, the calendar of available dates for such tours is largely full, however, the Factory is holding open tour availability on September 17th for a group of our members who might wish to participate. They can accommodate up to 40 people (in two groups of 20), starting at 2:30 pm that Friday afternoon. In addition, should a group of our members wish to take such a tour, but on a different date, the Factory will try to accommodate us, albeit on a space available basis. Please remember that they give many tours to owners from many countries, with only a limited number being conducted in English.

So, if you are seeking individual tours, please continue to work through your dealers. But, if you would like to seek such a tour as part of a larger group of our members, please let us know and we will relay your request to the Factory.

As we are just getting started with such arrangements, we will likely need to work some kinks out in our processes, but bear with us as we all work together to get things operating smoothly. To begin with, please send any requests for such a group tour to Theresa Gilpatrick (tgipat@hostworks.com), who will coordinate the material and work with me to send it on to Ferrari. Please do remember that this is for larger groups; for small groups or singles, please work through your dealer as you have in the past.

Many Thanks,
Al DeLauro

Amici Miei! An epic event is now in the planning stage.

The Ferrari Club of America - 50th Anniversary Celebration

Fellow Ferraristi,

It gives me great pleasure to announce our plans to have the grandest celebration in our history! One to celebrate our 50th Anniversary as a Club.

2012 through 2013 marks the 50th Anniversary of the one year period in which the Ferrari Club of America was formed and incorporated. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to celebrate our great Club and all things Ferrari. Indeed, we are planning a year-long event, one that will honor our past, celebrate our future and directly involve each and every one of our 16 Regions. A dedicated leadership team is hard at work, in conjunction with each of your Region Directors, to plan a time that we will all remember.

We anticipate that Ferrari will take an active part in the celebration; expect to see our new relationship with them provide additional enhancements to our festivities.

Be on the lookout for exciting new details as we move forward toward making this Celebration a reality.

The revitalization of the Ferrari Club of America, begun last year, reached another milestone last weekend in the form of a new link in our relationship with Ferrari S.p.A. and Ferrari North America. Since recognized by Enzo Ferrari himself in 1964, the FCA has generally enjoyed a mutually supportive and productive relationship with Ferrari, both in Italy and in North America. This synergy grows stronger now with a new agreement resolving differences, enriching our working relationship and furthering Ferrari's efforts to protect its intellectual property. As the FCA prepares to enter its second half century, this mutually supportive relationship between the FCA and the factory will assist our ongoing comprehensive program to update and modernize the look, feel, and nature of our Club.

"Ferrari Club of America stopped in to do a little touring of the track in their Beautiful Ferraris and Team Stradale showed them how to drive them on the track and do it safely. We had a lot of fun, and we got to see some great cars, both old and new."

-Francesco D'Avola of Team Stradale

Video by Dustin Grove of our 11th annual Children's Memorial Hospital Benefit at Italian Village.

On Sunday June 29th the Central States Region hosted the Ferrari and Friends Numero Due Italian luncheon. The event was held at Galleria Marchetti near downtown Chicago. In the unique setting of the Galleria's garden some of the club member's classic Ferraris were on display. In front of the Galleria on W. Erie Street, special parking was available for the newer Ferraris along with parking for our friends from the Lamborghini Club.

The 65 FCA members and guests were treated to a specially prepared Italian lunch including an assortment of appetizers, main course choices and desserts. After the luncheon, 3 awards were announced by J.P. Marchetti.

2008 J.P. Marchetti Award of Excellence - Joe Pitulla and his red 2006 F430.
2008 Mary Jane Marchetti Award of Excellence - Dave Bendl and his black 1982 512 BBI.
2008 Joe Marchetti Award of Excellence - Merv Rosen and his red 1966 330GTC.

Our many thanks go to Pete Consolo and Hugh Ruthven for their efforts in arranging another fabulous event.

Click here to see the photos!

On Saturday May 10, 25 Ferrari drivers and their co-pilots met at Ambrosia Euro-American Patisserie in Barrington for our annual spring drive. This year's drive left Barrington at 10:30 and headed out on a 2 and a half hour tour of the secondary back roads of Southern Wisconsin. Our luncheon destination this year was the French Country Inn/ Kirsch's Restaurant on Lake Como.

The rally route was put together by Hugh Ruthven complete with excellent directions for all the co-pilotos to use. Our route took us thru Barrington Hills, Richmond, Genoa City on to the Lake Geneva area rustic roads and north thru Lyons and then back to Lake Como for our luncheon.

The French Country Inn opened early for our Club and they prepared a salad with a choice of entres and dessert for all the hungry guests. This year we asked Kirsch's head chef to pick the Ferrari he liked the best from the 25 cars in his parking lot. His choice was Bill Rosen's 1969 365GT 2+2. Bill was awarded a trophy and a round of applause by all of the guests. After lunch and another tour of the parking lot to admire the cars we all headed home.

Click here to see the photos!