Ferrari Across Bolivia and Chile

A couple of Ferraris sit idly in the early morning sun. The road is narrow, dusty and framed by single-storey buildings that have seen better days. Two mangy dogs scan the area for food, oblivious to the presence of the 599 GTB Fioranos. People appear from guesthouses, Internet cafes and souvenir shops. They pose by the cars, elbow each other and grin at their camera ‘phones.

An Australian tourist wanders over and asks what’s going on. He’s spent two days travelling from Sydney to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile only to find himself confronted by two of the most potent symbols of the First World. I explain that our mission is to drive northwest across Chile and into Bolivia. If all goes well, we should reach the city of La Paz by Friday, four days from now.

“This will be one of the toughest legs of the whole Panamerican tour,” says Enrico Goldoni, as he quietly shuts the door. In the real world, Goldoni has the enviable job of organising Ferrari’s test team, but he’s taken three months out to lead a brace of 599s across some of the world’s most dangerous terrain. The Ferrari Panamerican 20,000 began in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on August 24th and isn’t scheduled to finish until the cars reach New York on November 17th. “It is,” he reckons, “a crazy thing to do.”

Today’s stage takes us to the Valle La Luna, which, predictably, resembles the surface of the moon. The scene would be surreal enough without the presence of two £180k Ferraris and if you were a conspiracy theorist, you really could imagine Neil Armstrong taking “one small step for man” in the dusty desert.

We travel everywhere in convoy, with Goldoni leading the way in a diminutive Fiat. The Ferrari caravan consists of eighteen people in seven vehicles. At times it’s frustrating, but it’s also sensible; even the good roads in Chile can be strewn with rocks and the occasional llama.