MIKE:
On Saturday May 11 eighteen of us made the early morning trip to Nick’s farm on the outskirts of Ashover (most found it OK!)
With over 40 years of Ferrari experience, Nick Cartwright has a class leading team of Ferrari engineers working to help create a unique centre of Ferrari excellence. At his home, with stunning views overlooking Ogston reservoir, we were hosted by Nick, and his son Jim, who entertained us with their extensive and detailed knowledge of the 35+ cars they had housed in three custom made garage/showrooms on the site, among which included a Ferrari Roma, F12 Berlinetta, Spider F1, 430Coupe (Mike's favourite!), 599GTB , 360Moderna and 6 immaculate Dino’s from the late 1970’s.
Many of the cars on show were low mileage examples which Jim told us were bought from them as investments and hardly used (seems like sacrilege) with some even ending up in people’s homes on display!
Nick and Jim are both keen racers and were kind enough to show us their extensive trophy display from around the world.
We were lucky to have wall to wall sunshine on the day and received tea, coffee and cake on the terrace before departing (although some of us had difficulty finding their correct car to leave in – no names no pack drill!!)
Many thanks to Nick and Jim for a super and informative tour of their lovely home and cars.
NIGEL:
Derbyshire Region Events are arriving quickly now that the better weather has reached us. Saturday 11 May saw 18 eager members make the highly anticipated visit to Nick Cartwright Ferrari. Nick and two of his sons, Jim and Ben, are Classic Ferrari restoration specialists working in the heart of Derbyshire, and his other son Billy, is an elite athlete. Nick and Jim race these beautiful cars at various classic car events throughout the summer and Ben is about to start racing himself.
It didn't disappoint. Nigel counted 26 Ferraris spread across two converted barns/garages. And just to make it a multi brand car display, there was a Lotus Elan, and also Nicks “runaround”, a Porsche GTS alongside our members collection of Jaguars, and one or two “rogue members cars” which made it into the secure site.
Jim greeted us at the gate and Nick joined partway around our tour which was due to last an hour, but ended up as two and a half. So much to see, with Jim sharing his in-depth Knowledge of every car on site, and Nick personally serving Coffee and Tea, and three different flavours of homemade cake.
As we were finishing our refreshments, Nick asked if we had seen the Dino garage. Jim opened up barn number three, where 5 immaculate Dino’s sat in a room laden with Ferrari memorabilia. A fantastic time was had by all and as we departed in the early summer sunshine, Jim said, “we will get you down to the workshop next time”. We can’t wait!
Thanks to Mike for organising the event, and to Mike and Nigel for excellent reports and Nigel for the photographs.
