For this was a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, the grand finale of a months-long birthday party in honor of Ferrari’s 60th year of creating the world’s most passion-stirring automobiles.
It happened over four sweltering days at Pista di Fiorano, the Prancing Horse’s private track next door to the sprawling Maranello factory. Secret F1 and GT test mules were hidden away and the grounds opened to a claimed 1040 racing and production models from every point along Ferrari’s complex and turbulent history.
In addition to tire-burning demonstrations of 10 historic F1 cars by the likes of Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Jody Scheckter and Niki Lauda, the festival included a huge concours d’elegance, the ceremonious finish of a globe-circling relay that began in January and a detailed presentation of technologies by which Ferrari is projecting its racing past into its road-car future.
While acknowledging that past and present are important, company chief Luca di Montezemolo stressed it is the “next car” that has always been most significant to Ferrari. A special technical presentation on the opening day of the 60th-anniversary celebration showed ways Maranello plans to put its F1 expertise into GT models to come.
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