I was invited to attend a private event held at a farm in Keswick VA called Castle Hill Cider. The event was a collaboration between a Ferrari owner and US Trust to bring their clients and their cars together for a car show.

Photo C Dougherty

John, the owner of the Farm let me drive his Ford F-1 to the show, and I couldn’t think of a better way to arrive!

The cars that were invited would have been the envy of any car show organizer! This 500 Superfast is a local Virgina resident.

This Lusso is owned by the same family for its whole life and is an unrestored ultra low mileage orignal car. John’s GTC can be seen in the background, that you’re all familiar with, so having two unrestored low mileage Vintage Ferraris at this show was just fantastic!

I may be partial to Vintage Ferraris, but I loved seeing all the other cars in attendance. There was a Gullwing Mercedes, along with a 300SL.

Lunch was catered in a tent right next to the cars with samplings of Cider from the farm. This venue is normally used for weddings and large gatherings, but worked really well for this car show.

The rarest of the rare at this show was a Porsche 904/6. This original car sounded great with its flat 6 engine and un-muffled exhaust.

We did what we loved most, which was talk cars and look at some neat machinery.

To contrast the day, I asked John for a drive in his Ferrari FF. This is Ferraris modern interpretation of a 2+2, in the form of a “sports wagon” design and from certain angles it looks a lot like a 5/4 scale model of a BMW Z3 Coupe! Besides the usual modern technological advances we find in modern Ferraris, like a Formula One paddle shifting gearbox and a sophisticated traction control system, this car has 4-wheel drive. Regardless of the tech, I wanted to experience the difference between this car and past 2+2s I had driven. I didn’t push the car with the owner sitting next to me, but the car certainly felt more than capable.

The true experience was when John got behind the wheel and put the car through its paces in the back roads of VA despite the usual and unusual obstacles when going fast. I love the thrill these high performance cars provide, but always feel the actual capability can’t be felt until you push them well beyond legal limits to find them. Thanks for the ride John!