News April 13 2006

March a big month for Ferrari in Australia

It was all happening in March if you were an Australian Ferrari fan - 60th anniversary celebrations saw a cavalcade of Ferraris driving around Sydney and Melbourne and an F1 Ferrari screaming down Lygon Street in Melbourne. Here's what happened, as reported by Ferrari Australia...

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Ferrari storms the Harbour Bridge

Just 24 hours after the streets of Melbourne resounded to the sounds of hundreds of Ferraris, it was Sydney’s turn today (Sunday 4 March 2007) as more than 100 Ferraris – beating Melbourne’s 88-strong parade - filled the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a high performance Cavalcade to celebrate Ferrari’s 60th Anniversary.

Overnight the diamond encrusted platinum Ferrari 60th Anniversary Baton, which is circumnavigating the world linking 10,000 Ferrari owners and more than six months of celebratory events, arrived in Sydney, ready to lead the parade across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, itself celebrating an anniversary this year.

The Ferrari 60th Anniversary Sydney Cavalcade was flagged off by New South Wales Premier, the Hon. Morris Iemma, who handed the 60th Anniversary Baton to the lead car, driven by Tony Granziani, the dealer Principal of Sydney’s Ferrari dealer, and then flagged-off the first of 100 Ferraris.

“With all due respect to Melbourne, when it comes to Australian Icons, there is only one Sydney Harbour Bridge and, therefore, it was essential that the Ferrari 60th Anniversary Baton crossed the Bridge,” says Kevin Wall, General Manager for EAI, the Australian Ferrari importer. “Our plan was to have 60 Ferraris, one for each year of the remarkable history of Ferrari, but such was the enthusiasm for the event from our owners that in fact some 100 Ferraris took part in the event, or to put it another way, the value of the Ferraris crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge today is rather more than the £4.2 the Bridge cost 75 years ago!”

More than just a celebration for Ferrari, the owners and fans have used the event to provide a unique experience for members of Best Buddies Australia, the non-profit organisation dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disability by organising opportunities for one-to-one friendships with wide range of members of the community.

“One of the key aims of Best Buddies is to provide involvement in life enhancing events and functions to build confidence and develop life skills,” says Kevin Wall. “Events don’t come much more life enhancing than being in a parade of 1,043 Ferraris over the Sydney Harbour Bridge! We are honoured to be able to provide this opportunity, as well as being able to help raise funds for Best Buddies Australia.”

Taking part in Sydney’s Ferrari 60th Anniversary Cavalcade were modern cars like the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and classics such as the 250 GT as well as just about everything in between because Australia has a longer in Ferrari’s history than any other country – other than Italy, of course. These included super cars such as the F40 and F50 (models celebrating 40 and 50 years of Ferrari respectively) the Ferrari 328 and the 355 and 360 Challenge models.

“Ferrari has been in Australia for most of its 60 year history, providing excitement and success on race tracks and unique high performance cars Australian owners,” says Mr Wall. “The past three days have demonstrated not just the passion that Australians have for Ferrari, but also the respect in which it is held for its technological advances, the contribution it has made to safety and environmental impact, and, of course, how it has made the world a much more exciting and beautiful place!”

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