Paul Arthur Frame Jr., Paul Frame Jr.,-Tutti in Pista – Ferrari’s at Texas World SpeedWay

Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 12:50:21 -0500
There was huge excitement in Texas this past weekend, I am
not talking about the last SWC football game or the Texas vs
Texas A&M rivalry. I am talking Ferraris, lots of Ferraris.
All of them at Texas World SpeedWay for the delivery of the
1st and 2nd F50 in North America and the debut of the 333SP2
in Daytona '96 trim. I was there in the capacity of driving 
instructor for Ferrari of Houston.
	Saturday:
	I arrived at the track early as usual. I like getting to a race
track earlier than most drivers. It is so different, the silence, the
solitude, almost religious. The morning silence was soon broken
by the screaming wail of an unmuffled Ferrari V-12. The revs built
in shrieks as Mauro Baldi, former F-1 driver and test driver for
Ferrari for the 333SP, drives the 1989 Ferrari F640 Formula One
car out to the pit lane. This is the same car that was driven by Nigel 
Mansell during the '89 F-1 season. We were told a F412T2 (the '95 F-1 car)
was going to show up, but that never happened. Everyone rushed
to the pit wall as Baldi screamed by at over 200mph down the
front straight, sparks flying 20 feet in the air. After 5 or 6
laps he pulled in and parked it under the Ferrari of Houston 
transporter. Now that was a wake-up call!
	Technical inspection began on the customer's cars that
were scheduled to go out on the track all day. Then it was my turn
to get behind the wheel as the first sessions of the high speed
driving school started. My job was to give instruction to 
Ferrari owners as well as drive potential Ferrari customers around
the track at speed. This was my first chance to drive the
fantastic F355. Amazing car, superb brakes and blistering acceleration
in a well-behaved forgiving chassis. The gearbox also lacked the
normal Ferrari balkiness and was easier to select. I was able to
apply full throttle way before the apex of turn 2, something not
possible in my Miata. The sound of the 5 valve engine was pure
Ferrari, simply fantastic.
	After lunch I had the chance to experience one of the
most awesome sportscars ever; a highly modified 600+bhp F40
red beast owned by Houston Personal Injury attorney Bruce Jamieson.
Not even pushing the car and it would reach 185mph down the front
straight, going through 1, 1A, and 2 at 120mph and exiting 2 at
130mph. One lap was finished in 1min 04seconds. The Formula Atalntic
track record at TWS is 1:03 and on Sunday Fermin Velez was clocked at
1:02 in the 333SP2! (Fermin lapped TWS at 0:54 during the WSC earlier
this year) The only difference was that the F40 was on Pirelli
P-Zero street tires, not racing slicks! Even in 6th gear the car would
push you deep in the seat under acceleration.
	We were given a video and slide presntation on the Ferrari Challenge
series for '96 by Gian Luigi Buitoni, President of Ferrari North America
and Umberto Masoni, National Technical Director, Ferrari N.A. It was
this time that I arranged to go out on the track as a passenger with
both Mauro Baldi and former IndyCar driver Didier Theys. Both very nice
gentlemen and very fast drivers. We were in a F355 Challenge car and it
gave me an excellent opportunity to pick the brains of two true
driving pros, at speed. Both of them had similar lines and lap times.
Definately an E-ticket ride. Sure beat creeping around the track with
some of my students in the earlier sessions.
	Ferrari N.A. provided a trackside cook-out dinner of Outback
Steakhouse steaks in honor of the '95 IMSA WSC driving champion,
Fermin Velez. It was at this time I got to "benchrace" with 
Mauro Baldi. I had met Mauro at Road America during the SCCA World
Challenge race 2 years ago. He was driving a Porsche 911 Turbo at
the time with Price Cobb. We talked about the Porsche a bit since
we had been around the Italian cars all day long. He explained
how he really hated the ABS system on the 911 race car and that
he would turn it off unless it was raining. He felt he had less
control of the car. Mauro will have been racing cars for 20 years
next year, so we talked about his very first race. It was a Renault
R5 challenge race at Mugello in Italy. The R5 was his everyday
road car and it was not prepared properly for the race, so the
officials did not let him go out for the first day of practice.
There were 96 cars entered in the race and they were qualified in
heats of 33 cars. Since he had no practice times, he had to 
qualify at the back of the pack and qualified 34th. He finished his
first race in 16th place with a very damaged car. He explained that
unlike America, auto racing in Europe is a full-contact sport. This
feeling was further expressed by my fellow instructor Seth Taylor,
who has spent the last year in Europe competing in the Elf Formula
Renault series.
	It was getting late and I had a long drive back to Houston
so I left the track around 9:30pm with a very permanent smile on my face.
	Sunday:
	Saturday was devoted to Ferrari racing and the Challenge Series.
Sunday was devoted to the F50 sports car. We had a few on-track
sessions with the owners and potential customers. As usual the
normal schedule was switched around and we had a demonstration of the
Ferrari 333SP2 WSC race car, driven by Fermin Velez. The 333 sounds like 
a jet fighter mated to a Ferrari. The Ferrari mechanics pushed the 
Formula One car out to the pit road and the car started then quit. Then
it wouldn't start again. Someone in the crowd joked, "You know it
sounds so much better when the mechanics say,'the damn thing
started this morning' in Italian." The F-1 car finally fired
as the 333 was entering the fast pits finished with his 5 laps.
Mauro took the F-1 car out for a screaming 5 laps, spining once
in turn 3. Nothing sounds like an unbrideled Ferrari V-12 at
full song. I kidded Mauro about his spin and in a thick Italian
accent he said, "hey, you are allowed one speen every 5 laps!"
	We all retired under the Ferrari presentation tent for the
unveiling of the F50. First we saw a really cool music video showing
the concept of the F50. The video contained Nikki Lauda, Gerhard Berger,
and Jean Alesi all of which are no longer at Ferrari. Both Berger and
Alesi obviously enjoyed throwing the car around the Fiorano test track
and the country roads around the Ferrari factory. There will only
be 55 F50's sold in North America. To cut down on the speculation
market each buyer leases the car for the first 2 years and cannot
bring it outside the state that he leases it in, unless it is on a
Ferrari transporter. For $487,000 you get a car that has a carbon
fiber moncoque tub chassis with a 700bhp 4.7L V-10 as a stress member.
Coilover, pushrod, multilink suspension, and ventilated cross-drilled
brakes from the F40LM race car. The car is a spider and comes with a 
hard top, emergency soft top, and dual hoop composite roll bars.
Laminated carbon fiber is everywhere inside, even on the shift knob.
The classic Ferrari gated shifter is topped by a carbon fiber knob 
that has a silver prancing horse embedded in the laminate. No
air-conditioner, no radio, no CD-player, no cup holder. You want music? 
Press down on the accelerator you will then have beautiful music 
exiting the rear of the car. The first F50 in North America, a red 
one of course, was delivered by Gian Luigi to Californian Paul Goldenberg.
The second F50 in Belgian racing "fly" yellow was delivered by the
World's fastest human being, Carl Lewis, to Houstonian Paul Frame.
At that time Paul Frame's F50 was started and roared out on to the 
banking at TWS. After a few hot laps all of the Ferraris at the
event were invited to the front straight for a photo-op. The cars were
lined up with the yellow F50 in front, followed by the 333SP2, F355
Challenge, and F640 F-1 car. Then a whole montage of Ferrari's from
a '86 Group B 288GTO, to a '96 512TR and everything else. They were
lined up 3 abreast from the start-finish line and into turn 4 on the
banking. There were well over 50 Ferraris. All of them then began a few
parade laps.
	The F50 was taken out for a few more hot laps. It was then that
we all saw Bruce Jamieson's modified F40 out-horsepower and pass the 
yellow F50 down the front straight. Very impressive. We all wondered
if Paul was actually pushing his brand new toy. Later Paul Frame
was looking for a license plate so he could drive his car back to Houston.
Unfortunately there was pretty heavy traffic on the way back home.
	The weekend was a fantastic affair that could not have happened 
without Paul Frame, Ferrari North America, Giuseppe Reese, owner of
Ferrari of Houston, Tony Nevotti, GM of Ferrari of Houston, and the
Houston Region of the SCCA. I would not have been there had it not been
for Caroline Wright, Chief Instructor for Ferrari of Houston. Thanks
Caroline.
				-Mac Atteberry.
For more information on Paul Frame Jr.visit paularthurframejr.brandyourself.com.