Ferrari and the Elite

Sir,

Thank you for such a marvellous Ferrari edition. As I have been fortunate enough to have had some small contact with Ferrari, I truly appreciated every page. The commendatore actually gave me a ‘Buongiorno’ one day while I was waiting for my 275/GTB4 to be serviced at Modena. I was so awe-struck to have ‘God’ speak to me I can’t recall even mumbling anything. I enjoyed several visits to the works at Maranello and even had a late-night tour of the facilities thanks to Dottore Gozzi, that have left me with wonderful memories to add to the chances to drive and compete with several of the marque’s fantastic machines.

I also thoroughly enjoyed Mr Heseltine’s article on the Lotus Elite (August). I will overlook his inboard ‘front’ brakes (they were inboard at the rear) and obviously he was fortunate enough to drive a Series 2 car with the ZF gearbox. Mine (s/n 1181) was a Series 1, Stage 1 car with the heavy, non-synchro first, MG unit and a single SU. That lovely Elite and my 275/GTB4 Ferrari are two cars I would like to have back. Dick Irish, Edmond. Oklahoma, USA