CHASING THE SUN

HAS FERRARI’S POSER BECOME A PROPER PRANCING HORSE? WE TAKE THE BACK ROADS TO SAN REMO IN THE NEW PORTOFINO M

- TRENT GIUNCO

THE SUN IS PERFORMING its daily party piece as it makes its final approach to the horizon. Tinges of orange and yellow fill a sky dotted with the odd wisp of altostratus. The coastal Victorian town of San Remo is doing a poor impression of the Italian Riviera but in a pandemic world where overseas travel has been made virtually impossible, this is as close as I’m getting to a beach in Sanremo anytime soon. For a fleeting moment, in the former fishing town that gains its name via Ligurian influence, I can dream of an alternate life of wanderlust. The weather is playing the ultimate game of smoke and mirrors because, despite the gin-clear visibility and lowering sun, it’s bitterly cold. The in-car read-out displays 12 degrees, but the wind-chill factor is making me question its legitimacy.

It’s this kind of deception that’s almost unwittingly bestowed upon the Ferrari Portofino. Ironically, the cheapest, ‘entry-level’ Ferrari requires the most work to sell. Its ethos and design brief come across as contrived to purists; a model born purely out of necessity to lure new money to the brand. A cynic could claim it’s a lifestyle GT for posing instead of a driving tool that burnishes the badge rather than only borrowing from it. Even the marketing bumf seems to work that little bit too hard to convey its legitimacy. Yet, now with an M designation or Modificata in Ferrari-speak, there is a new narrative. The story now turns to its dynamic ability as the plot moves away from mere aesthetics and badge hierarchy.