Ferrari is counting on this car for its future - and we drove it

Matthew DeBord/Business Insider

In 2014, my son, James, and I drove up to Watkins Glen International, a storied racetrack, to watch a Ferrari race. We did not, however, make the drive in a Ferrari.

Last year, Ferrari kindly lent us a California T, the company's "entry-level" car - its base price is $198,000 - to make a sort of return visit. The Cali T is now an important vehicle for the prancing stallion now that it's a public company and need to grow beyond its current 7,000-cars-per-year in sales.

At the New York Stock Exchange in 2015, when Ferrari - ticker symbol RACE - began trading, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO and Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne said that many of the 9,000 cars the Italian sports car maker will sell in 2019 will be Cali Ts.

Ferrari shares have endured a slide since the IPO, down 30% since last October.

But of course there is Ferrari the stock and Ferrari the cars. So what is the California T like to drive?

When James and I went to the Glen in 2014, we watched a Ferrari Challenge race in which the contestants run in Ferrari 458s. In 2015, we attended the Six Hours of the Glen, an endurance race featuring teams from a variety of automakers - Porches, BMW, Aston Martin, Mazda, Corvette - alongside Ferrari.

It was an interesting weekend with a long drive in a cool car and a race that was heavily affected by the weather. Mixed in was a jaunt around the original Watkins Glen road course, where after World War II racers battled it out and before the now famous raceway was built.

We had a lot of fun - check it out.