PASSION
My Every Day Ferrari: Herwig Mullens
It probably all started with Murray Walker. The much-loved BBC commentator’s sing-song intonation of “and Nigel Mansell takes the chequered flag” became part of Formula One folklore in the 1990s for the teenage Herwig Mullens. “It was on the BBC in English but we always followed it from Belgium,” he says, smiling at the memory.
That keen interest in motorsports is manifested today in what is his second season in the Ferrari Club Challenge series after having taken his Corso Pilota training: “You have to mention my great instructor, Marco Didaio”, he insists. Last month saw the man from Hasselt racing on Austria’s famous Spielberg track. He has been an on-road Ferrari driver for much longer.
Herwig Mullens channelled a teenage love of motor racing into a lifelong love of Ferrari. He buys them to drive them, and his 812 Superfast has done 25,000 km in just two years
In 2012 he bought an F12berlinetta. “I still have it. Your first Ferrari you can never sell.” He has two grown children, “and they all say, ‘no no, dad, don’t sell it’,” he laughs. When it comes to his Ferrari stable, Mullens has the same kind of direct approach that has seen the suave fiftysomething hugely successful in the world of Real Estate: “Life is too short to drive boring cars,” he opines.
There is nothing ‘everyday’ about his current “every day drive”, a beautiful 812 Superfast, whose graceful lines are enhanced by a chic ‘Grigio Silverstone’ livery. “I don’t mind putting mileage on it,” insists Mullens. “My view is, when you have a Ferrari, you shouldn’t just park it in the garage to look at it. They are made to drive.” And when he says drive, he means it. That beloved F12 now has 35,000 kilometres on it. An F8 Tributo clocked up 10,000 in two years whilst in the same period the 812 has covered 25,000 elegant kilometres.
Herwig Mullens sits at the controls of his pride and joy, the 812 Superfast that he uses as much as he can, saying: "When I park it, I always look back. Simply to admire it."
He is clearly enamoured by his current steed. “It’s a GT with the lines of a classic Daytona. Long nose. Short tail. The four-wheel steering makes you feel safe, when making turns it’s an advantage.” He long ago overcame any apprehensions about using such an eye-catching car in everyday settings:“You do get over that early step,” he says, as advice to those more cautious Ferraristi. “You know, that thing about wondering what people might be saying? But, you know what, I’m 54 years old, and whether you like it or not this is what I drive.”
Mullens perceives a growing trend of Ferrari appearing in more ordinary settings, rather than coming out only on special occasions. Nowhere is excluded. “We go on holiday in the 812, there’s wonderful luggage space. I go to the office in it. My wife does the groceries shop in it. No trouble using underground parking lots, wherever. It’s not in a museum. That’s the point.”
Mr Mullens puts his foot down in his Prancing Horse on the country roads near Sint-Truiden, to the east of Brussels
He does make one, almost guilty, confession. Sometimes, after parking his 812 Superfast outside his workplace, he’ll find himself sauntering over to the office window every now and then and gazing down at it. Fearful of thieves?
“No,” he smiles to himself, amusedly. “When I park it, I always look back. Simply to admire it.”