A snail’s pace is all the rage. Slow food, slow travel, slow heads of state. We travelers are stuck on slow.
We are out of balance. We are like the unctuous bollito misto without the piquant zip of Italian green sauce; we are like the Fiat Cinquecento without its Ferrari kin.
This has to stop. To be healthy your blood has to run like the wind sometimes, heart pounding like the throb of a Maserati as its engine races, anxious to be in the race (you can, of course, exercise vigorously for this effect, but engineers and a few travel writers have something a little more daring for you…)
I will come to the point: you can zip around the legendary Imola race track in a Ferrari (or Lamborghini, or Formula 1 car).
Yes, you.
Look here. Puresport is just one provider of the experience of scaring yourself silly in a motorcar that has way more horsepower and capability than you can handle. There’s full insurance (on the car), no deductible—so flail away. You will learn how to handle the beast. You will earn bragging points. Hot people of your dreams will fawn over you.
(Ignore the part about “open bar” if it scares you. I will let you in on a little secret that makes me giddy: I’ve heard that Italians did a study suggesting that the ordinary Joe drives better with a glass of wine in him. Things are different on the boot. There are “alternative facts” blowing everywhere in the wind.)
There is, of course, some danger in going fast on a race track. But even at the witching hour when no one is around, Imola, or rather _Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari _ looks rather benign, doesn’t it:
(I know there are folks who would see thousands of people in this picture and write me emails in protest of my snap judgement as to the lack of them here. Perhaps the thousands of spectators are all peeing behind the grandstands, but it would still be tranquil if not fragrant, no?)
The Slow Option
Not everyone celebrates automotive engineering excellence as it skims across the tarmac at speeds limited by molecules of air and hairy bends in the road. No matter, you can still enjoy Imola Racetrack.
Yes, you can walk or bicycle to it from the town center, and enjoy its parks and racing monuments and even a bit of its surface.
You can even walk the race track on certain days of the year. As of the time of writing, the schedule for 2017 isn’t on the site yet, but this is slow travel, so you’ll have to wait for it.
We are blessed to be living in tumultuous times when one can live on the edges, fast and slow.
Aren’t we?
Endnotes
Imola is in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, where there are countless other things to do, including ultra-slow travel. Yes, you can acquire a donkey driver license here.
Passive car lovers can take tours of the Motor Valley and its car museums. Each tour here can be purchased in advance through Select Italy.
Full-Day Tour of the Motor Valley