Ferrari 70th Anniversary

Maranello, Italy 9-10 September

HOW DO YOU celebrate reaching your 70th birthday? That’s simple – you invite your closest friends to your home for a great big party. This is what Ferrari did on at its famous Fiorano test track, just down the road from the firm’s factory in Maranello.

The anniversary festivities kicked off with a rally, around 900 cars descending on Ferrari’s home from starting points in different European capitals, including London, Geneva, Frankfurt and Prague. One highlight was a drama evening, with cars and actors taking to the stage for a play depicting how Enzo Ferrari realised his dream of taking the fight to the motor sport elite with cars bearing his surname. Just to underline the importance of the gathering, the likes of Piero Ferrari and Sergio Marchionne were front row and centre.

There was also a concours d’elegance with 115 of the best historic examples of the Cavallino Rampante under the critical eyes of a 30-strong judging panel. Those wielding clipboards included the likes of engineering great Mauro Forghieri, stylists Leonardo Fioravanti and Lorenzo Ramaciotti, and coachbuilders Fiorenzo Fantuzzi and Oscar Scaglietti. Honorary judges numbered several aces who found fame driving for the Scuderia, such as Targa Florio heroes Nino Vaccarella and Arturo Merzario.

The Best in Show prize for GT cars went to British collector Ronald Stern for his one-off 1986 Testarossa Spider. Built by Pininfarina for Giovanni Agnelli, to celebrate his 20th anniversary as president of Fiat, and finished in his favourite hues of silver with blue stripes, the car was retained by Agnelli until 1991 when it was given to a friend of the family. Stern acquired the car last year, still in highly original condition having covered less than 20,000km in 30 years.

The silverware for the top competition car was awarded to a 1953 340 MM with coachwork by Vignale. Chassis number 0280 was used by Luigi Villoresi and Piero Cassani to win that year’s Giro di Sicilia, and by Giannino Marzotto to claim Mille Miglia honours shortly thereafter.

The car has since been in the collection of Umberto Camellini for several decades. He’s the son of Mario Camellini, who was the world’s first Ferrari dealer and a close friend of Enzo Ferrari.

This Vignale-bodied 340 MM was the perfect choice of car to represent Ferrari’s unparallelled motor sport heritage.

From top Judges from a 30-strong panel award a 250 GT owner; 330 P4, 250 GT Zagato and 340 MM Vignale were among the star cars; one-off Testarossa Spider won Best in Show, GT cars.