News January 11 2006

2007 marks 60 years for Ferrari

Ferrari will celebrate its 60^th birthday  on 11th May 2007 - marking the date Enzo Ferrari produced his first car, the Ferrari 125 Sport, which won its first Grand Prix two weeks later. Since that day Ferrari has scored more than 5,000 race wins, won more races and championships than any other team in Formula One and produced a run of legendary road cars, from the Ferrari 166 MM, unveiled at the 1948 Turin Motor Show, to the 2006 launch of the Ferrari 599 at last year’s Geneva Motor Show.

To mark the occasion Ferrari is planning celebrations around the world, starting with the “Ferrari 60 Relay” across five continents where participants will carry the Ferrari baton embossed with symbols of the 60 greatest moments in the company’s history. The relay will bring together Ferrari clients and their cars representing every model and era.

The event will start in Abu Dhabi on 28th January, site of the future Ferrari theme park, visit Australia and New Zealand in March, and finish in Maranello on 24 June, crossing more than 50 countries in 148 days.

The baton for the Ferrari 60 Relay was specially created to symbolize the history of the company, from its first success at the Rome Grand Prix of 1947 to the Ferrari FXX of 2006. Ferrari owners will carry the baton around the world in their cars. Each country along the way will dedicate to Ferrari an object representative of their local culture and traditions. The local Italian Embassies will then forward the objects to the Farnesina Palace in Rome for an exhibition of the whole collection. Once the exhibit is over, the objects will be auctioned off in Maranello, with the proceeds going to a charity organization.

From Abu Dhabi the long relay will proceed to Dubai, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. From the Emirates it will head east, to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. From Oceania it will fly to South Africa and then on to Latin America, reach Mexico, and from there continue on to United States and Canada.

Then to Europe, where it will cross Portugal, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, the United Kingdom, Greece, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Turkey. It will then go through Egypt and Lebanon, and finally to Italy, where it will run through all the major cities finally arriving, after a special ceremony in Rome, in Maranello.

The central theme of the final events is technological innovation pioneered by Ferrari – the company is assembling its 60 most important innovations, ranging from aluminium calipers for disc brakes to the electric differential and the F1 gearbox.

As part of the events Ferrari is also organising its first Concours d’Elégance: a series of events on the track, at the factory and at the Galleria Ferrari in Maranello celebrating the elegance of the Ferrari. An Opera Omnia book will be published on the company’s history, a collection of pictures and data on all the road cars and race cars built by Ferrari.

© italiancar.net 11/1/07