It’s official: Santa has ditched his sleigh in favour of a Ferrari. Rumour has it that the reindeers (now unemployed) are taking him to the Labour Court.

Only kidding! Just for one day, Santa decided to hitch a ride in the luxurious and powerful Ferrari GTC4Lusso T – and who can blame the old chap? It was all for a good cause; Autosport International exhibition and Ferrari teamed up with Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity, which brightens the lives of seriously ill children by granting their wishes and granting hospital ward wishes, to deliver some Christmas cheer to children at Birmingham Children’s Hospital today.

Santa was on hand to take delivery of a sack full of Ferrari teddy bear gifts for the children from the Ferrari, before meeting the children in the hospital’s Renal Unit. Youngsters on Ward 1 – aged from six days to 17 years old – were delighted when Santa turned up to pay them a special surprise visit.

After handing out all of the gifts and posing for pictures with the children on the ward, Santa was on hand to take fulfil a few Christmas wishes and show the children around the turbocharged V8 supercar outside. Its V8 produces more than 610 horsepower and was an instant hit with the children as they got to sit in and take a look around the car with Father Christmas himself.

The GTC4Lusso T can go from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.5 seconds – enough to make Rudolph look seriously slow. We assume that Santa will get back to the North Pole in record time. (Fingers crossed that the Ferrari has winter tyres…)

Charleen Clarke

My friends call me a glomad (a global nomad lest you don’t get it). That’s a particularly apt word, because I am always trawling all corners of the globe, looking for stories. As a result, I have slept in some seriously strange places – on a bed of ice in the Arctic circle, on the floor in a traditional Japanese hotel, on the sand dunes in the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan … and even on the floor of a Thai cargo ship. Mostly however I tend to sleep on aircraft (if I had a dog, he would bark at me when I eventually come home). I am passionate about trucks, cars, travel, food, wine, people and hugs – so I write about all these things. Except the hugs. Follow me: www.twitter.com/womanonwheelsza