3.1 2009 Modena Terra di Motori - Day 1

It's “Modena Terra di Motori” again, and despite the bad weather I headed for the downtown area, where loads of exotics and some classics were expected to invade the streets and squares.
I wasn't there in the morning, so maybe I missed something.

Apart from the exhibition of cars, there are also some other events going on, as discussion meetings, conferences and others in which some personalities report about their memories or knowledge related to the brands of the Modenese area and the men behind them.
One of the theme this year was the legendary driver Tazio Nuvolari.

I didn't participate to any of these, both because I was busy at University and because honestly I wasn't completely interested: Lately I'm just interested in forms, bodies, mechanical solutions and such. Facts, personalities, memories, epic battles and glorious races aren't on top of my list, as if they were what was going on around the subject, rather than the main actors.
And the subject, obviously, it's the car.

For the moment, let's be focused in what was there, leaving the comments to the end. Tomorrow will be another busy day.



On one hand there is Maserati organizing every year an official stand with at least three cars, some gadgets (from their official shop), and recently engines or mechanical parts for the pleasure of people like me.
This year I found the recently unveiled Quattroporte GT S and GranTurismo S Automatic, and the moke up GranTurismo MC Concept. Also a exploded/see trough model of the engine of the GranTurismo S Automatic was exposed, probably being the more interesting part of the stand.




On the other hand there is Ferrari, which isn't officially present at the event, despite being the only reason why Modena is world famous. Even worse the main square which is also the largest is reserved only for Ferraris, brought by the local Ferrari Club. Unfortunately that means there isn't something really organized, just some members driving there the cars, or even bringing them back home just because it's cloudy and it could hail (oh, come on!).
So while last year at a certain time the square was basically red colored, today there were just two cars...before one left town. They were a 308 Quattrovalvole and a GTB Turbo.













For the first time, this year Lamborghini was present too...unofficially.
There were four cars, among which a yellow Miura SV, brought by some customers probably trying to revive the rivalry between the two brands. The rest of them was composed by a Murcielago LP640, both the Roadster and the Coupe version of the Gallardo LP560/4 and a Diablo VT.
Pro and cons.
Pro: the cars weren't behind any sort of fences so it was possible to be very close to them both in order to take pictures and to appreciate the details and such.
Cons: kids and less-smart-than-a-kid adults were all over the cars, so it was quite difficult to take some decent picture, touching or pawing the bodies, or even opening the doors and seating in them without asking any sort of permissions, for the pleasure of the owners.





Then there was Pagani.
Last year it was the first time they were present with their own stand, with a black and orange Zonda F Coupe, and their own dark grey and grey Zonda S Roadster.
This year I was expecting, or hoping, to see the new Zonda R or the Zonda Cinque, but I had to change my mind. For what the Pagani guys said, tomorrow will be the same.
The stage was all for a bare carbon fiber Zonda F Roadster, which I already met when last summer I visited the factory, and they were readying the car for a tentative to beat the Nurburgring lap record for open top cars. Since I never heard something about that lately, I think they never even tried in the end, more likely because Nissan, Corvette and Dodge were already raising a fa-boy-war and it could have been a good idea to take some distance from it.
























As usual there were also three smaller areas in which other clubs could show their cars.

In one of them only military vehicles were supposed to be hosted, as it was last year, but the “Circolo della Biella” club brought also a Maserati Ghibli Spider, a Chevrolet Corvette C3 Convertible, a Dodge Custom Royal, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider, a Cadillac 355 Limousine and an Ansaldo 4C.
For as regards the military vehicles, there was an original Wyllis Jeep, and an Alfa Romeo Matta.





Moving to another square, two poorly exhibited Fiats: a 124 Sport and a 1300.




Finally, every year a central alley is dedicated to racing cars by another local club.
There were plenty of cars and even pretty different from last year (which in turn was identical to 2007, line-up wise).
It's a long list: Abarth Fiat 128 Sport L, Lancia Delta Integrale 8V, a modified Ferrari 360 Challenge, Maserati GranSport Light, VW Golf GTI mk1, Abarth Autobianchi A112 (2x), Renault 5 Turbo, Fiat 131 Racing 2000/TC, Abarth Fiat 124 Sport, Fiat 124 Sport (2x), Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior, Lotus Elise mk2, Porsche 356 90, Innocenti Mini Cooper 1300 (2x), Moretti 750, Fiat 500 L, Abarth 695, Renault Gordini 8, Lancia Fulvia rallye 1.3 HF, Lancia Delta HF Integrale (road going car), Abarth Fiat 131 Mirafiori, Audi quattro, Fiat Topolino, Peugeot 205 Rallye and Opel GT/E.




So, that's all for today.
I don't know if I'm going to post all the hundreds of pics I took, and excuse the poor quality of these, I've posted them in a hurry.
Picasa is quite short on storage space, and it's the only one, as far as I know, which doesn't acquire the rights on the material you post or upload.
Any advice would be highly appreciated.


All images copyright: Damiano Garro