Video: Maranello Motorsport’s hidden Ferrari gems

YOU wouldn’t guess from the outside facade, but Maranello Motorsport in Richmond, Victoria is one of the leading Ferrari garages in the world.

The unassuming two-storey brick storefront’s exterior, nestled between an overpass and the East Richmond train station, hides some of the rarest road and race cars to roll out of Maranello in Italy.

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The business, owned and run by managing director Mark Coffey, has been operating in Australia for 25 years, and in that time has become something of a pseudo-factory race team and local workshop.

If you have a Ferrari road car, or an itch to race a Ferrari, Maranello Motorsport is the place you need to go.

Wheels was recently invited inside its walls to get up close and personal with a pair of very special Ferraris.

In any other garage, a stripped-down 488 GT3 race car and a pristine 250 GTO Series 2 re-creation would take up the entirety of your attention, but not at Maranello Motorsport.

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The purpose of our visit was to witness in person an FXX (one of just two in Australia), and a F40 GTE (only seven were built worldwide).

These two models are some of the most extreme track-only weapons to come from Maranello’s rolling hills in Italy, and speak to the kind of business Coffey has established.

When it comes to Ferraris, Maranello Motorsport’s bonafides are unmatched in Australia. The race team has scored two Bathurst 12 Hour victories (and is the custodian of one of the first 488 GT3 cars to ever be built), and a well-earned reputation for the immaculate servicing and restoration of road cars and racers.

It might be easy to miss at first, but next time you’re in Richmond, pop by Maranello Motorsport, have a peek through the Burnley Street factory’s windows, and you might just spot some of the rarest metal in the world.