Hot Cars and Cool Diamonds in River Oaks — Houston’s Ferrari Festival Ups the Glamour

Vroom, vroom! That might have been the expected sound track for Houston’s Ferrari Festival kickoff soirée at Valobra Master Jewelers. But actually the hot wheels were relatively quiet as they filled the parking lot of the holiday-decked jewelry emporium.

Marking the nature of the celebration, the new Ferrari 296 GTB, a plug-in hybrid, was parked just outside the Valobra entrance. The first customer deliveries of the totally new Ferrari model are arriving this month. So it was an oh-la-la moment for auto aficionados.

This is the first Ferrari road car fitted with a six-cylinder turbo engine, which produces 830 cv maximum power. This means that the driver can rocket 0 to 60 in less than 2.9 seconds. Hold on to those Centurion cards as this Ferrari has a base MSRP of $338,255.

Host Franco Valobra welcomed Ferrari owners, friends and fast-car enthusiasts to the champagne-filled evening.  The bubbly was courtesy of Madame Zéro, the French champagne that was created by Houstonian Matthew Massey. Fueling the merriment was wait staff from SilverStone Events passing trays of seasonal party foods.

The Ferrari Festival was founded by Ferrari-owner Valobra, luxury car diva Diane Caplan, and Tony  Nevotti of Ferrari of  Houston as a way of celebrating the remarkable autos and raising funds for charity. All of the $400 registration fees for Ferrari owners as well as the suggested entry fee of $5 for guests were dedicated to Texas Children’s Cancer Center. The event is one that is truly for the love of the Ferrari.

The kickoff party could be said to be as much for the love of Ferraris as for fine jewelry. The diamonds and fabulous jewels showcased in the Valobra vitrines were dazzling and oh-so-tempting. In fact, we noted more than a few party guests conducting a bit of Christmas shopping.

PC Seen: Lisa and Stan Duchman, Roslyn Bazzelle Mitchell and Derrick Mitchell with their son Derrick Mitchell Jr.; Julie and James Goughary; Ross Koller; James Gillebaard; Honee Michaels; Derek Flynn; Jackie and John Melfi; and Lisa and Patrick Myatt.