For our video guy Ciro De Siena, this was a lifelong dream come true, to drive a manual, open-H gate Ferrari.
That's the thing these days, Ferrari don't make manual gearboxes anymore, and so if you do want to drive a manual Ferrari, you need to convince someone who owns one to let you drive it. This is not easy...
And so luckily the stars aligned and the beautiful Crossley & Webb dealership had this particularly special 2004 Ferrari 575M Maranello going up for auction this month. We weren't even entirely aware of just how rare this car was.
Ferrari only ever made 2 056 575's, and they only ever made 246 manuals. And this is a right hand drive - there can't be many of these around, and as far as we know, this is the only manual 575 in South Africa. We hope you enjoy this video as much as Ciro and the team enjoyed making it.
For more information on the Crossley & Webb auction, go here.
About the car
Ferrari 575M
Engine: 5 748 cc V12
Gearbox: 6-speed manual
Power: 379 kW at 7 250 rpm
Torque: 589 Nm at 5 250 rpm
0-100kph: 4.2 sec
Top speed: 325 kph