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 Official Ferrari - Maserati Service Centre in South West London

New Official Ferrari - Maserati Service Centre in South West London


London, 3rd May 2007

The evening of 03 May witnessed the opening ceremony for Joe Macari’s new Ferrari and Maserati Service Centre in a purpose built facility in Wandsworth, south west London. For many years Ferrari and Maserati owners in the capital, south of the river Thames, haven’t had an official local facility to tend to their service, maintenance and repair needs, now this situation has been rectified, and in style!

Background – The head of the new operation is Joe Macari who has run a performance car sales showroom in the area for many years, and puts his car passion into practice with his racing activities. He can count amongst these racing a Ferrari 360 GTC at Le Mans in 2005, a 360 GTC in the Spanish GT and Open GT Series in 2006, a F430 GT in the 12 Hours of Sebring this year, whilst for the remainder of 2007 he will be competing in a Maserati MC12 in the FIA GT Series.

State of the Art – The first impressions when entering the new facility in its corporate colour scheme are of clinical cleanliness, and of décor more akin to an upmarket car showroom than a workshop. Whereas in most workshops one sees the bare roof, beams, suspended lighting, sundry piping hoses and hardware, here there is a false ceiling incorporating lighting trays which provide an even illumination over the whole area. The ceiling also houses the exhaust extractor hoses, which are remote controlled by the technicians and completely hidden from sight when not in use, thus removing a large element of the clutter they normally create within the workshop environment. The walls feature a variety of Ferrari and Maserati related artwork and photographs, including an enormous specially commissioned high resolution photograph of a Ferrari F1 pit stop taken at this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The new premises cover 1860 sq m (20,000sq ft), comprising mainly of the workshop area, with an airy well appointed reception area featuring glass walls to the workshop (so nothing is out of sight), and a first floor office suite. Within the workshop there are twelve regular service/repair bays, each with their own lift system, plus a dedicated engine room at the far end of the building, and a dedicated diagnostic bay containing the latest factory developed equipment. The new staff have been recruited mainly from within the Ferrari sales and service network, thus they already have a wealth of product technical knowledge to provide a firm foundation for the new venture, and all the technicians are factory trained.

On the Night – The service bays were filled with a mouth watering selection of Ferrari and Maserati road and race cars, including a supercar line-up comprising of a GTO (288), F40 F50 and Enzo. There was also a Maserati 250 F F1 car, an ex-Jean Alesi Ferrari F93A F1 car, the F430 GT used by Joe Macari at Sebring and the MC 12 that he is running in the FIA GT Series, together with a Dino 246 GT and a nice selection of current Ferrari and Maserati road cars. The fuel for the evening was predominantly Verve Cliquot, supplemented by a delicious array of canapés, whilst guests included legendary jockey Frankie Dettori and Chelsea and England footballer Frank Lampard. A nice traditional Italian touch during the evening was the blessing of the building/business by the local priest.

Keith Bluemel

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