Exotic Pizza Delivery in an Aston, Bentley, Ferrari, Lambo or Porsche

May 31

June 2020 • By Tony Thacker with Ciro Ciampi, photography courtesy @jjs.photography, @stutheo and @sprite_photography

I’m always a little dubious about auto-centric destinations. Don’t get me wrong, I love the stuff, the ephemera, the tut but not when it’s contrived. The Sharnbrook Hotel, Bedford, UK, is not like that. In fact, there’s nothing that would tell you in this contemporary 42-room hotel that would indicate it had any car connection until that is you meet the CEO Ciro Ciampi.

Ciro, pronounced Cheero, is a total car nut, full of enthusiasm for all things on wheels and drives an eclectic variety of modern classics which gives him the reason d’être to host an array of monthly car-related events at the Sharnbrook. The season kicks off with an open-to-all vehicles Breakfast Meeting and Driveout to a location such as the Art Deco SywellAerodrome.co.uk That is followed by a Supercar gathering, an Autofest and one-marque meetings for Fords, Corvettes, Italian Cars & Bikes, etc. The final event of the year is the EBC Brakes Supercar Funday with passenger rides. You can read all about the car events here: petrolheadonism.club

As if he doesn’t have enough to do, Ciro is also a host with Gannon Pritchard creating content on Carnutz.tv currently sponsored by EBCBrakes.com, a world leader in brake technology. Carnutz.tv is one of those on-line, Top Gear knock-off lifestyle shows but it’s fun because of Ciro and Gannon’s obvious enthusiasm. TorqTalk.com caught up with the crew at Spaceport America, New Mexico, for a land speed event when they spoke to our sponsor Ron Hope of RatTrapRacing.com “A great bunch of guys,” said Ron, “capturing our passion for speed.”

Ciro is a co-presenter with Gannon Pritchard on Carnutz.tv currently sponsored by EBC Brakes. Left: Gannon interviews Ron Hope of Rat Trap fame at Spaceport International. Right: Don Weerasirie, Gannon Pritchard, Ciro Ciampi and Max Bennett.

During the Covid-19 lockdown gatherings were not allowed, nevertheless, the Sharnbrook offered a takeaway and delivery service #supercarpizzadelivery for their famous VesuviO pizzas. Imagine ordering a pizza and Ciro pulls up driving a Bentley Continental GT, a McLaren 570GT, a Mustang or a Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4. You can learn more here: petrolheadonism.club/supercarpizzadelivery

Aventador SVJ credit to @SpritePhotographysmall.jpg

One customer taking advantage of the pick up was Zack Lewis. Ciro and the Sharnbrook team were astounded when a brand new Ferrari 488 Pista pulled up for pizza and when we say brand new, we mean brand new. Zach took delivery of the stunning Cavallino Rampante during lockdown and hadn’t had an opportunity to stretch the stallion’s pistons. However, once the UK lockdown guidelines lifted a little, he took a mouth-watering 250-mile round trip to get pizza in his Pista. Zach filmed the escapade for his You Tube channel ‘Zachs Garage UK’ which gives an eye opening account of their 80 strong eclectic collection of vehicles in their own private car museum.

The Sharnbrook is ideally situated in the heart of England. It’s less than an hour to London, Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, Santa Pod, home of UK drag racing, and the air museums at Duxford. Stewart Bassett, president of USAutomotive.co.uk and importer of American auto parts also located in Bedford said, “Whenever we have out-of-town guests, we put them up at the Sharnbrook. It’s a stunning, centrally located facility and the car-related events are a bonus.”