With H.R. Owen Ferrari’s showrooms open to customers once again, and London bursting back into life, Ferrari Mayfair and South Kensington took two of the latest Ferrari icons to the capital’s most renowned landmarks.
As the darkness drew in, H.R. Owen Ferrari’s Roma and SF90 Stradale demonstrators gracefully manoeuvred out of the showroom and into the night, accompanied by automotive photographer Alex Penfold. With their first stop at the once-bustling theatre district of the West End, including Shaftesbury Avenue, the cars lined up for their first shot.
Sitting side-by-side the different design approaches are immediately obvious, despite both being instantly recognisable as products of Maranello. The Roma’s ‘50s and ‘60s-inspred flowing lines, reminiscent of the early Ferrari GTs of La Dolce Vita sits in contrast to the SF90’s low-slung mid-engined styling.
The powertrains are equally diverse, with Roma utilising a turbocharged V8 engine developed from a family that has won International Engine of the Year for four years running. With the 620cv and an 8-speed DCT transmission, the Roma accelerates from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds. The SF90, meanwhile, has a four-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid powertrain, combining a 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged internal combustion engine and three electric motors, for a total of 1,000cv.
From the West End, the cars headed down to Pall Mall and the beautifully historic frontage of St James’s Palace before heading East towards London’s financial centre. With their V8’s reverberating through the night, the Ferraris parked at the entrance to Bankside on Southwark Street, illuminated by the Italian Tricolor, for a striking visualisation of the British-Italian partnership between H.R. Owen and Ferrari.
Continuing east, the Ferraris took their place in front of one of London’s remarkable vistas; a mixture of old-meets-new, with glass-fronted skyscrapers set against the timeless beauty of St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s a clear parallel with the cars themselves, products of the very latest engineering innovations and technologies but with the spirit and heart of the very first models envisioned by Enzo Ferrari.
With the first rays of sun piercing the darkness of the night, both the Roma and SF90 Stradale began navigating back to the beautiful surroundings of the Ferrari Mayfair and South Kensington showrooms. And after a night of driving the genius of Ferrari design and engineering becomes immediately obvious; no matter the surroundings or the situation, a Ferrari is always the most beautiful and exhilarating option.
