The Similarities Between the World of F1 and Valoriani Wood-fired Pizza Ovens

If you think about some of the most iconic things to come out of Italy, Ferrari cars would definitely be up there.  So, as we head towards the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Orchard Ovens has been comparing a grand prix car with its top-of-the-range Valoriani pizza ovens, which may not have a prancing horse emblem, but do have an iconic V.  The comparisons are actually striking!

Shape and design

A Formula 1 car triumphs or fails according to its design, with great attention paid to how streamlined or aero-dynamic it is on the track.  The same focus on shape and design underpinned the design of the original Valoriani pizza oven, back in the 1940s.  That’s when Silvio Valoriani, whose family were supplying their refractory bricks to post-war villages in the south of Italy, so that residents of Calabria, Puglia and other areas could build an oven in which to bake bread, had a brainwave. He decided it would be better to build a pre-fabricated oven, which would allow any external problems in putting the oven together to be circumvented.  

As a result, he designed the first prefabricated wood-fired oven – the Vesuvio - with four signature, interlocking dome sections. 

Having considered everything required of the oven, such as a precise air-flow and a means of retaining heat for the perfect cooking of food, he created an oven that has never been bettered or surpassed, in terms of its performance.  Many have tried to imitate it but they have never out-performed it.  We suppose that’s where a Valoriani oven and an F1 car do differ, as F1 cars are continually being improved through re-design.  Not so with a Valoriani oven.  There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, if it’s already best in class.

Materials

The materials used with an F1 car matter greatly, right down to the tyre.  If you have poor materials, you’re never going to make it to the chequered flag.  With a Valoriani pizza oven, materials are equally crucial.  But, whilst most FI manufacturers will use similar material for their cars, that does not happen with pizza ovens.  Rather than strive to have the right materials for the job, many manufacturers will resort to using elements designed for storage heaters, or incorporate metal mesh that merely causes the oven dome to disintegrate, through continuous expansion and contraction of the metal.  

This is not the case with Valoriani.  It has, of course, experimented with other materials as part of its innovation programme over the decades, but you cannot get better than the ‘cotto’ clay that it uses for the refractory elements of its artisan ovens.  It also keeps control of the production process, being the only pizza oven manufacturer to produce both its refractory ‘cotto’ clay domes and floors in-house.

Energy usage

If an F1 car consumes fuel too fast, it’s going to mean far too many pitstops and the likely scuppering of any one-stop strategy.  Similarly, you can’t get great performance out of a pizza oven that is burning off wood like crazy and dissipating all of its heat into the atmosphere.  That’s why – unlike many other ovens – a Valoriani pizza oven has a remarkable level of insulation built into its manufacture, so much so that some oven owners have cooked with snow on their oven dome and it hasn’t melted!  

Contrast this with many modern ovens that are health and safety hazards, with red-hot domes, and you can see the difference.  No oven with good insulation should be that hot externally.  Nobody should be needing to call on a safety car!

Going the distance

An F1 car is only going to win the race or put its driver on the podium if it can complete the required number of laps.  Breaking down halfway wastes all the investment that went into the car and its preparation for the race.  So too with a pizza oven. 

If you’ve paid out for a wood-fired oven, you should expect it to last the course and be with you for at least 10 years and hopefully maybe 20 or more.  That just doesn’t happen with the majority of pizza ovens on the market and yet there are plenty of examples of happy Valoriani ovens enjoying their china and diamond anniversaries with their owners in the UK.  Just saying!

Brand kudos

Formula 1 cars are very much about the livery, the logos and the brand kudos.  But so too are Valoriani ovens.  The Valoriani ‘V’ stands for quality and excellence, trust and manufacturing excellence.  It conveys the pride of a family that has been manufacturing refractory products for 135 years and who continue to be guardians of an an artisan approach.  That’s why our brand, like a Ferrari, attracts the attention of true A-listers, captains of industry and some of the most well-known people on the planet.  If we were to create a grid-walk ensemble of all the celebrities to whom we had sold ovens, it would be one of the most impressive line-ups Martin Brundell had ever interviewed!

Celebrity Valoriani oven owners

The issue is that these are not just so-called ‘influencers’ who can be paid to push an oven, but people who are so well-known that they don’t want their details splashed everywhere.  Some, however, are such big fans that they don’t mind a mention, so we can actually tell you that our grid-walk line-up would feature TV chef, James Martin (a big F1 fan, as witnessed by his recent appearance at the Bahrain GP), as well as Jamie Oliver and Oscar award-winning actress, Gwyneth Paltrow.  

Oh, and we can also say, because he doesn’t mind, that former Formula 1 Ferrari team principal, Ross Brawn, has had his outdoor kitchens designed by the Orchard Ovens team and that these feature Valoriani wood-fired ovens.

Formula 1 people perhaps understand the factors that should go into an oven and appreciate all of the things that should be in place, to get it fired up.  If you share that same eye for detail, performance and cooking vroom, please call us on 07743 847647 and let us equip you with an oven that will put you in pole position within your social circle or business area.

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Editors notes

Orchard Ovens is the domestic and commercial pizza oven supplier in the UK of Valoriani, based in Reggello, Tuscany - the manufacturer of Italy's hugely respected Valoriani pizza ovens, known as the Maserati of pizza ovens and the kings of clay. These ovens are made from superb refractory clay - cotto clay - found in the family's quarry and unique, thanks to having just the right alumina. This allows Valoriani ovens to heat up quickly and retain heat superbly, bring huge advantages to homeowners, as well as restaurant owners, hotels, pubs, mobile caterers, pizzerias, takeaways and more.

Orchard Ovens supplies some of Britain's best-known restaurants and chefs, whilst it is also a specialist creator of outdoor kitchens and wood-fired oven builds for the rich and famous, as well as everyday homeowners wishing to add value to their home and enjoy an outdoor lifestyle to the full.