The Country's Finest All-Ferrari Party
Florida’s A1A is a terrible place to drive fast, except for a single weekend each January. If Sega's "Out Run" had a run-in real life, it would be the Cavallino Classic.
A convoy of five dozen Ferraris is blowing through red lights on the first leg of the driving portion of the extraordinary gathering of Italian racecars. For 20 miles they ignore traffic signs, while the Florida Highway Patrol parts traffic and blocks pedestrians, lights and sirens blaring all the way from Fort Lauderdale to Boca Raton. Officers are ahead, behind, and right beside it. Anyone not driving a Ferrari is forced out of the path.
"We wanted to create a 'money can't buy' experience," says Luigi Orlandini, CEO of Canossa Events. His company runs the Cavallino Classic, a three-day, all-Ferrari party that combines driving, competitive judging, open bars, galas, and waltzing around President Trump's Mar-a-Lago, in that order. Built around a concours d’elegance for Ferraris, it also allows entrants who so choose to wind out their cars on the normally choked beach road from Deerfield Beach to Palm Beach—for about $7,000.
Ferrari owners live for the extraordinary, so a show drawing more than 150 owners from across the country has to pony up. The automaker's latest supercar, the 1200-horsepower F80, debuts next to $20 million worth of Ferrari's last five supercars. No one rests. While revving the hell out of a Testarossa, a driver nearly lost his rear wheel and laughed it off when the convoy reached Boca Raton's height of pre-war decadence, the Cloister. Fresh cannoli was this stop's signature treat. At the start point, sage ravioli and Champagne circulated in a showroom of Ferretti superyachts. Even for seasoned Ferrari collectors like Stephen Bruno, who has won eight trophies at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and can reserve entire racetracks at his leisure, the Cavallino Classic is a golden ticket for thrills—and insider access.
"You should see what we do in Italy," says Enzo Mattioli Ferrari, Cavallino's president and the great-grandson of Enzo Ferrari. "It's about being entertained."
Italians know Cavallino as the famous restaurant across the street from the Ferrari factory in Maranello, where Enzo Sr., would dine with customers. In Palm Beach—along with Modena, Abu Dhabi, and Sydney—Cavallino is a series of exquisite gatherings of the rarest Ferraris. But its founding purpose, simply, was to connect owners who were serious about restoring their cars to original condition.
"If it's been judged at Cavallino, I know it's the gold standard," says Bruno, who brought a 1959 250 GT Tour de France and has attended for more than 20 years. When a judge once questioned if his driver's side mirror was period-correct, Bruno came prepared with proof. Feedback that helps owners to make their cars more authentic is one of the advantages of participation. "You get the judging sheets at Cavallino. You do not at Pebble. Here, you are able to perfect the car."
Bragging rights are so guarded that Ferrari's earliest race cars, such as the 1957 335 S that Brian Ross purchased for $36 million, receive the most demanding scrutiny at Cavallino, and from Ferrari itself. Certification from Ferrari Classiche, known to collectors as the red book, is the "most final appraisal" an owner can hope to receive, says Massimo Delbo, editor of Cavallino Magazine.
"In the 1970s, getting information was the biggest problem for Ferrari owners," he says, noting how his magazine began identifying cars not by model, but by chassis number. "It went from 'This is a Ferrari,' to 'This is this Ferrari.' Every person is bringing a little slice of knowledge."
For Enzo Ferrari, the Cavallino Classic has a bigger purpose beyond the police roadblocks and polished aluminum trophies, all of which, of course, will continue.
"We are grooming a new generation of collectors," he says. "Otherwise, in 20 years, it will be like discussing cars like they are dinosaurs."
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