Ferraris at play in the hot Floridian sunshine of late January is a very appealing prospect to those of us inhabiting these chilly Northern European climes, so the eleventh staging of the Cavallino Classic is an event which we look forward to each year.

This year's event ran from Tuesday 23rd January through till Sunday 27th and featured four days of track activity based at Moroso Motorsports Park some 20 miles North West of Palm Beach; topped off with a concours staged on the croquet lawn and adjacent 18th green of The Breakers Hotel golf course on the Saturday and finally a charity luncheon held at Donald Trump's elegant ocean-side property on Sunday. Interspersed throughout the five days were gala presentation dinners, a private jet preview at the local airport, a yacht hop, lectures, an art exhibition and a selection of spares, memorabilia and accessories - something for everyone.

There should also have been a Bonham's auction at Moroso on the Friday but unfortunately this was cancelled.

The track activity featured a driving school on Tuesday, where participants had the benefit of tuition from the likes of Brian Redman and Derek Bell, enabling them to gain additional experience for the following two track days, where their groups were interspersed with official practice sessions for the rounds of the Historic Ferrari/Maserati Challenge which were run on the Friday. Additional to the races for drum and disc-braked cars, there was also a race for 250GTOs commemorating 40 years of the tipo.

There were also some demonstration laps by an ex-Prost F1 car to enliven the proceedings and raise the decibel count.

With the expansion of the event in recent years, some of the laid-back attitude towards pit lane discipline etc. has given way to a more formal level of control, similar to that which we experience at our Club's track days, but the overall feeling is still one of easy-going friendliness and enthusiasm.

The sheer variety of cars present, both on the track and in the paddock, is amazing, many have been transported long distances in the most incredible rigs, all of which are themselves presented to a concours standard.

An exhaustive list of tipos present, together with owners and chassis numbers, would make heavy reading, so it's probably better that I make mention of some of the rarer models, many of which were specifically produced for the US market and therefore are seldom in evidence on this side of the pond. 212 Inter (both open sports and coupe versions), likewise 250MM with both spider and competition coupe bodies, 375MM (both spider and coupe), Mondial and Monza sports-racers plus a goodly selection of 250TdFs, 512BBLMs (including two in the Ch. Pozzi livery), no less than five 333SPs (one in the Giesse livery), together with a similarly decked 360 Modena, plus at least four competition Daytonas.

All of which is additional to the selection which we normally see back home at Club events.

For the record, Friday's Drum Braked Race was won by Lawrence Stroll in a 250TR, with Ed Davies in the 375MM second and Peter Giddings a distant third in the pre-war Alfa Monza. The GTO race took the form of a fifteen minute Enduro and was won by Leslie Davies, with Lawrence Stroll a very close second and Peter Sachs third in a 250/64 Series 2. The winning car had completed nine laps in 15 minutes 52 seconds when the chequered flag was waved. Ed Davies won the Disc-Braked Race in a 512 with the 512BBLMs going hard at it and sounding superb, likewise the competition Daytonas.

After the four track days, the whole show moved on to The Breakers, which provided a most elegant backdrop to the concours, tranquil and serene you might even say.

Disregarding the modern classes, which I confess are not of much interest to me, I felt that the 330/365 GTC and 2+2 classes were a bit thin in their numbers but maybe the overall capacity limit of 150 cars on the concours field is a restrictor.

The 246 Dino class, as in our National Concours, was probably the most hotly contested but I felt that our concours Dinos were certainly equally, if not better, presented.

The real creme-de-la-creme stuff occupies pride of place on the croquet lawn and what a standard!! Contrary to popular belief, the American concours marking system rewards originality and punishes over-restoration but perfection is the order of the day.

250 Lussos, 275s and no less than five GTOs (including Ralph Lauren's car in mid-restoration) and the ex-Jack Sears car, now sporting a Washington plate over its original rear number, together with 250 varients, give some idea of the scope and standard on display.

A particularly interesting car on show was the ex-Agnelli Pininfarina 375AM which has been the subject of many recent articles, in which its owners steadfastly refuse to re-do its flaking original paintwork but insist on its being in sound running order - full marks for creating a contrast to the immaculate Superamericas.

Also present was the recently UK-restored 365P Speciale three-seater owned by Luigi Chinetti Jnr. and seen at last year's FOC National Concours and in the paddock at the Brands Hatch Ferrari Festival. This car wowed them at Pebble Beach in August, where it was driven on the concours field by its owner, with Sergio Pininfarina and Piero Ferrari aboard - sadly, it was a static exhibit this time.

Ferraris in the sun, worth the trip? - you bet !!

Do it again next year? - you bet !!

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The 166MM of Jim Fuchs 275 GTB/C s/n 9057 One of five 333 SP's at Moroso: : s/n 030 375MM finished second in the drum-braked race Superb 512M.... ...and 512S finished one-two in their race The Bonhams auction was cancelled Concours scene outside The Breakers Stunning Boano Coupe Imagine the noise those pipes were designed to deliver There was a feast of GTO's This '62 GTO of Leslie Davies won its race... ...and the Stroll one came second V-12 and open intakes on a Testa Rossa     pics by Maureen Brown