Driving a Ferrari 360 Modena race car on the road: genius or insanity?

Internationally renowned photographer Mark has been working with TG for many, many years. When not taking photos he’s buying inappropriate cars. Here he shares his addiction with the world…

Ever since lockdown lifted, I’ve been using my Big Book of Excuses to Drive so often I’m already planning a second volume before Christmas. You could argue this somehow correlates with the fact I have a six-month-old baby in the house too, but I also feel very strongly that every nappy used should be replaced instantly by means of a quick drive to the local Tesco.

Before the global pandemic and war against people wearing (or not wearing) masks, I may have taken driving for granted. To the point it’d often feel like a chore, ditched in favour of air travel and – more recently – Zoom calls. Yet the moment we were all told not to go and do it... I instantly felt the urge to do the opposite.

The reason for this extra-long introduction was to try and justify my transport during one of Top Gear magazine's Speed Week events. It was Anglesey, which also meant going across some of north Wales’ best roads in the process.

When you take pictures of cars for a living, it’s always a balancing act between choosing a photography vehicle that’s both comfortable and practical, yet also reliable enough to ensure you don’t stitch-up a shoot by breaking down along the way. With this in mind, the Ferrari 360 Challenge Race Car seemed like a perfect fit for Speed Week.

It’s a single-seater, making it beyond COVID-compliant and its 100-litre endurance tank meant it could reach Anglesey without stopping once. I did arrive four inches shorter than when I left and high on co-codamol, but at least I wasn’t late.

Before making the 500-mile round trip, there was one issue I had to take care of in advance – tyres. For some reason it seems that ‘track day tyres’ doesn’t translate particularly well into Japanese, as what the 360 turned up on can only be described as a racing slick with a slight indentation of tread. Fine on a hot summer’s day at Tsukuba, not ideal at Anglesey in September.

Putting a race car on all-season tyres would be a bit like dressing Usain Bolt in a pair of Crocs. He’s still going to be ridiculously fast, but give that man some proper runners and watch the real magic happen. In the Ferrari’s case, I’ve gone for a set of Toyo R888 R track day tyres which, coincidentally again, arrived at the same time as a set of BBS RE700 wheels I’d won on Yahoo Auctions Japan.

I’ve used Toyo R888s on a range of cars over the years – they even came as standard on the original R26.R Megane – and despite looking extra spicy from the outside, they’re properly solid both on and off the track. Standing water will always default to a code brown, but Toyo is one of the few manufacturers to offer decent sizes in 17- and 18-inch which don’t require a government grant to afford.

Obviously, I couldn’t drive up to Anglesey and not sneak it on track for a proper drive, but we’ll save that for a future update.