26 Oct 06
We must be an incongruous sight. All around me, red-shirted Ferrari-types are lobbing personalised luggage into a giant red van. The support crew consists of 18 people in seven different vehicles. Iveco vans are joined by diminutive Fiats and, of course, the two Ferraris - one red and one blue.
'The next few days will be one of the toughest legs of the tour,' says Enrico Goldoni, as he hands me a radio and ushers me into the blue 599. In normal life, Goldoni has the enviable job of orchestrating Ferrari's road-test team, but now he must lead two £171k supercars through some of the world's most dangerous countries.
'It was difficult leaving Maranello [Ferrari HQ], but getting the cars through such varied terrain is a huge challenge. This is really a crazy thing to do.'
Today's stage is relatively short and so we indulge ourselves with a visit to the Valle La Luna. An eon of floods and wind has created a scene that, as its name suggests, resembles the surface of the moon. It would be surreal enough without the presence of two Ferraris and if you were a conspiracy theorist, you really could imagine Neil Armstrong taking 'one small step for man' in the dusty desert.
Eventually, we drag ourselves away and head north to the copper mining town of Calama. We travel everywhere in convoy, with Goldoni leading the way in a Fiat Idea. At times it's frustrating, but it's also sensible. Even the good roads in Chile can be strewn with rocks and the occasional llama.
