Maranello, Italy -- This year marked the 60th anniversary of the legendary automaker, Ferrari, and the company marked this milestone with a series of events that concluded with four days of celebrations held from June 21st to June 24th in Maranello, Italy.
Maranello was the finish line for a spectacular "relay race" across five continents where participants carried a baton embossed with symbols of the 60 greatest moments in the company's history.
The "Ferrari 60 Relay" kicked off on January 28th in Abu Dhabi, site of the future Ferrari theme park, and wrapped up in Maranello on June 24th, after traversing nearly 50 countries in 148 days.
The Relay course was set up to cross all of the countries of the world in which Ferrari operates. Ferrari employees, Ferrari dealers and Ferrari customers were all involved – carrying a specially designed torch symbolizing the 60 most significant events in Ferrari history.
A contemporary and iconic symbol, the Relay Ferrari 60 torch is a bright red cylinder – capped with a Ferrari “prancing horse” emblem – around which other symbols of the 60 milestones of the company history are wound in a bright metal spiral effect. These icons range from Ferrari’s victory at Le Mans in 1949 to its six straight FIA Formula One World Champion Constructor titles, 1999-2004, all interestingly enough have been fuelled by one oil company, Shell.
From the Middle East through its key Asian markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand, Relay Ferrari 60 crossed to Australia and New Zealand before leapfrogging to South Africa and on to the big South American markets. It then headed north through Mexico and crossed the United States in March. The Relay resumed in April in Europe, traversing 18 countries before spending three weeks crossing Italy and arriving at Maranello just in time for the massive homecoming celebration.
Because of its historical link to Ferrari, Shell provided support for the Ferrari 60 celebrations. The central theme of the final events was technological innovation pioneered by Ferrari in the 60 years of its existence. For the occasion, Ferrari assembled its 60 most important innovations, ranging from aluminum pliers for disc brakes to the electric differential and the F1 gearbox.
Against this backdrop Ferrari organized its first concours d'élégance as well as a series of activities on the track and at the company’s factory
The 60th anniversary of the Prancing Horse in Maranello kicked into high gear as the Relay culminated in the four days of festivities. Ferrari owners, from all over the world, descended on the fabled car maker’s hometown with over 1,040 red cars in order to celebrate their favorite automotive brand while driving on the famed Fiorano test track. The celebrations ended on a Sunday with the prize-giving ceremony for the winning cars of the Concours d'Elegance Ferrari.
Choosing a winner among this sea of beautiful and rare vehicles was a tough choice for the judges of the Concours. The cars were all extremely high level, but choices had to be made in the GT category and from the Sport category racers. The 1954 Ferrari 375 MM won "Best of Show"; the prize was handed over by Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo and Marquis Claudio Rangoni Machiavelli, President of Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara Group.
The 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 won "Racing Best of Show" and the prize was handed over by Ferrari CEO Jean Todt, and Alberto Viganò, Head of Worldwide Marketing Pirelli S.p.A.
Beyond the fact that the two winning cars are extremely rare models of the history of Ferrari, they both have a very special value: the 330 P4 is a triple winner of the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona, while the 375 MM is the car that was custom-made for director Roberto Rossellini, who owned it until 1964.
About 100 cars were shown within the frame of the Concours in two categories (road cars and racing cars), with 15 categories (early GTs, classic GTs, open 250 GTs, the Superamericas and the Specials, the 275 GTB, the 275 GTB4, the 275/375 GTS and the 365 Californias, the last Berlinettas with front engine, and the special series of the road cars: the first racing cars, the 12 cylinder Sport, the 4 cylinder Sport, the 250 GT Berlinetta, the racing Berlinettas, the Sport with rear-mounted engine for racing).
After the Ferrari drivers had greeted the guests on the grandstand and the Frecce Tricolori had concluded their stunning show, the historical F1 cars entered the race track: from the 1947 125 S to the 2006 248 F1, all of them driven by former and actual Ferrari drivers: Ivan Capelli (with a 1932 Alfa Romeo P3), Nino Vaccarella (1040 Auto Avio Costruzioni 815), Luca Badoer (375 F1), Gerhard Berger (500 F2), Andrea De Adamich (Dino 166 F2), Felipe Massa (312 T), Jody Scheckter (312 T4), René Arnoux (126 C4), Jean Alesi (F1-90), Michael Schumacher (F2004), Kimi Raikkonen (F2007) and again Schumacher with the FXX. Piero Ferrari drove some laps with the 125 S, the first car ever built at the works in Maranello in the year 1947.
Meanwhile the charity auction, held on Saturday evening, was a great success: the vast collection of objects given to Ferrari around the world, plus the bonnet and the underbody of the F2004 (donated by Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo and sold for 50,000 Euro) brought in 220,000 Euro, which will be handed over to the paediatric clinics of Bologna and Modena.
An Opera Omnia book will be published on the company's history and will include a collection of pictures and data on all the road cars and race cars built by Ferrari.
When it comes to performance, Ferrari is one of the most uncompromising brands in the world. Ferrari demands the best and accepts no less for its products. This celebration showed how much this heritage means to Prancing Horse lovers all over the world.
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