Ferrari holds 70th anniversary ride to Baguio (and back)
IT WAS a glorious ride (and drive) through city streets, long stretches of highway, serpentine mountain roads, and finally, the refreshing scent of cool pine air.
And as road trips go, the accompanying soundtrack wasn’t from any digital playlist on Spotify.
The musical accompaniment came from an orchestra composed of hundreds, make that thousands of horses, neighing and braying in a cacophony of camshafts, pistons, and valves and heady, heavy breathing from hungry intake and growling exhaust systems.
All that mechanical operatic dissonance was a celebration of an occasion that happened 70 years ago.
Because on March 12 1947, a man named Enzo Ferrari fired up the 125 S, the first car to bear his name. That test drive on the streets of Maranello marked the start of Ferrari history. The then-modest factory quickly grew into one of the greatest internationally renowned Italian icons.
Seventy years later since the first car rolled out of the now-hallowed gates of Maranello, Ferrari celebrates its milestone anniversary all
A WORLDWIDE, WORLD-CLASS CELEBRATION
Maranello kicked off the celebrations, releasing a special video featuring a re-enactment of the first 12-cylinder to sport the Cavallino Rampante on its hood, the 125 S, driving through the factory gates on Via Abetone Inferiore and, in doing so, symbolically passing the baton of the Ferrari legacy to the LaFerrari Aperta.
From events in most
iconic places in the world, rally on the Silk Road in China, a cavalcade led by the LaFerrari Aperta in Belfast to coloring UNESCO World Heritage Sites red with Ferrari cars in Australia and an iconic exhibition in New York, Ferrari fans and enthusiasts around the world gathered to pay tribute to one of the most iconic brands ever created.
In the Philippines, Autostrada Motore Inc. opened its doors in 2012 as the official distributor of Ferrari in the country. This brought the legacy of the Italian brand straight to the streets of the Manila and all over the country, renewing an already strong love affair between Ferrari and Filipino enthusiasts.
“When we opened Autostrada five years ago, we weren’t simply opening a dealership; we were opening the doors to a new era of passion, excellence, and exclusivity as embodied by Ferrari,” said Wellington Soong, Chairman of Autostrada Motore, Inc. “Since then, we’ve built and nurtured a community of Ferrari enthusiasts who are passionate about the legacy and performance only a Ferrari can deliver.”
70 YEARS OF FERRARI, THE PHILIPPINE CHAPTER
The Philippines spun off its celebrations with a cavalcade of 23 Ferraris driven by passionate clients.
Crowds gathered around the fascinating display of Ferrari cars at the starting point at Shell North Luzon Expressway. The cavalcade drove 187 kilometres from the capital city of Manila to the Summer Capital of the Philippines, Baguio. Baguio, the most popular city in the province of Benguet, sits over 1,500 meters above sea level and attracts troves of travellers due to its cold climate within the tropical country of the Philippines.
The Prancing Horse dominated the famous route towards the City of Pines, starting with long stretches of open highway, winding roads on the side of mountains and through uphill climbs.
A series of activities marked Ferrari’s 70th Anniversary Celebration, starting with a scenic drive to Ambuklao Hydroelectric Plant. Located 36 kilometers away from Baguio, this once highest and biggest dam in the Far East situated in Bokod, Benguet, was the perfect destination that took the drivers through Pineflanked roads and cloudfilled skies. Joining in the celebration is the local government of Baguio City that led the parade of the Ferrari cars around the city. Crowds lined the streets watching a rare phenomenon of a line of Ferrari cars roaring through Baguio.
The celebrations culminated with a gala dinner at the prestigious The Manor, Baguio’s 5-star hotel located in Camp John Hay.
During the gala dinner, Soong led the toast in honor of Ferrari and all the clients and the people who have poured their passion into making the brand come to life throughout the decades:
“Tonight we celebrate the heritage of Ferrari in the past seventy years, and the legacy it will bring in the next seventy, eighty, onehundred years.”