Ozzy's Ferrari driving experience

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by: Tyler Morris
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Word Count: 403
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 Time: 12:12 AM
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When it comes to the writing a list of the trappings associated with a hugely successful international career as a rock star, along with magnums of champagne, mansions and over-sized swimming pools, a super car (or fleet thereof) would generally feature pretty highly - irrespective of the driving experience and skill the rock star in question might have.

So, it's interesting to relate the recent story of Ozzy Osbourne (real name John Michael Osbourne), former singer with Black Sabbath and acclaimed "Prince of Darkness". Bearing in mind his well documented drug and alcohol excesses and iconic performances (he famously bit the head off a dead bat on stage), Ozzy is the stereotypical rock star par excellence and one would have thought that fast cars would have featured heavily throughout his life.

However, it's only recently that, at the age of 62, Ozzy Osbourne passed his driving test. While he's now beaten his drug and alcohol addictions and is clean and sober, anyone who ever saw his family's TV show "The Osbournes" will know that he's still far from impulsive. So, having passed his driving test, he promptly went out to a luxury car dealership in Los Angeles (where he currently lives) and bought a Ferrari with just 20 miles on the clock - one of the handy things it's possible to do when you've amassed a fortune in excess of £100 million.

Needless to say, Ozzy's Ferrari driving experience was short-lived and, soon after informing his wife Sharon that he was "going driving", he lost control of his new purchase and crashed it into the back of another car. Sharon Osbourne, who recounted the story on her US TV chat show, says that Ozzy panicked somewhat after the shunt, leaping from his Ferrari to apologise to the unfortunate driver in front. As it turned out, the other driver was a lawyer and was immediately on the phone to the police, despite Ozzy's protests that it was "only a minor thing", subsequently lamenting "it's just my luck, I hit Perry Mason - it's like, of all the people in the world!"

The incident has obviously had a lasting effect on the Prince of Darkness and Godfather of Metal, who whose driving days are numbered - he will not be getting behind the wheel again for fear of causing another accident. None of which is very rock and roll but, perhaps, at Ozzy's age, it's for the best.

About the Author

Tyler Morris writes about Silverstone and their driving experience days.