Popping your Ferrari cherry will always be a memorable experience.

Up until this week, my sole experience of a prancing horse was a well-used Ferrari F430 manual track car, that felt as used as its 94,000 miles hinted at.

Our four-seater Fezza was always going to offer a more opulent, rounded experience. Departing Autocar Towers in Teddington on Thursday afternoon, I confess to being slightly nervous of the car that measures 4.9m-long and 1.9m-wide. But that quickly evaporated once on the move – the FF is comically docile and easy to drive around town.

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I’d read a lot on the Ferrari FF’s ability to cross countries at an impressive rate of knots. However, it’s not until you experience the car for yourself with its stonking 651bhp 6.3-litre normally aspirated V12 motor, four-wheel drive, 91-litre fuel tank, seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and practical four-seat layout that you realise how exceptional it really is.

Before I knew it, the three-and-a-half hour drive to Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire had been despatched and I arrived at the event Thursday evening completely fresh with no aches, but dilated pupils from that booming V12 motor.

A slight hiccup Friday morning when the scrutineers failed my crash helmet (and no spare being available) meant the possibility of not being allowed on the course. That could not happen and I had to find a way by any means necessary.

There’s a wonderful sense of camaraderie at the Pageant of Power, with fellow drivers genuinely going out of their way to help me. All-round top guy Ric Wood (owner of that Astra DTM V8 touring car) and his team of engineers put me in touch with a motorsport shop 10 miles down the road that stocked MSA-approved crash helmets. I thanked the racing gods.

The kind gents at Advantage Motorsport in Tattenhall sourced me the right-sized helmet over the phone and a quick dash there-and-back found me back on the start line 40 minutes later (thanks guys).

I’d done as much homework on the track as possible (reading Robbie Kerr’s track guide) and even walked the 1.2-mile course. However, it’s not until you’re on the start line staring down the narrow path to the first bridge that you realise this sprint course brings a whole new meaning to ‘threading a needle’. Especially in the FF.

During my debut Friday run I left the Ferrari’s ‘box in auto mode and the Manettino stability control in ‘Sport’ which allows a bit of slippage and play. Six-to-seven tenths was the aim here, just getting a feel for the track and dealing with the looming pressure of collecting my P45 from my desk on Monday morning if I binned the car.