In both cities Ferrari owners will be carrying a unique baton as part of world wide relay involving more than 10,000 Ferrari owners around the world, which started in Abu Dhabi in January and which finishes in Ferrari’s Maranello home in June.

In each of the two Australian cities there will be 60 Ferraris in each parade, one for each year that Ferrari has existed. In Melbourne, the Parade will start at Southbank at 9 AM on Saturday 3rd March and travel around the City Link, over the Bolte Bridge, through Royal Park to Lygon Street. Here the Ferraris will be displayed as part of the day-long ‘2007 Grand Prix Festival Celebrating Ferrari’s 60th Anniversary’, which will include the demonstration of a Ferrari Formula 1 car.

The following day in Sydney at 11 AM on Sunday 4 March another 60 Ferraris will depart from Willoughby led by the Ferrari 60th Anniversary Relay Baton to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge before going through The Rocks to be displayed at the lower level of the International Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay.

“There has never been one Ferrari parade like this in Australia, so two of them, totalling 120 Ferraris on two consecutive days is the very definition of unique,” says Kevin Wall, the General Manager of Ferrari in Australia.

“Between the two events, virtually every year of Ferrari production will be covered, from the very first Ferrari road cars, to the latest Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. It will be a visual and, with all those V8 and V12 engines, an audible feast!”

Ferrari is celebrating its 60 year history that started when Enzo Ferrari produced his first car under his own name, the Ferrari 125S on 11th May, 1947. Just weeks later this first Ferrari won its first Grand Prix in Rome.

Ferrari road car – or as the company prefers, GT car – production started the following year with the Ferrari 166 MM Touring, the first of a line of V12 powered cars that has lead to the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, the latest product of the Ferrari factory in Maranello.

From this history of Ferrari, the two parades will include:

• Ferrari 275 GTB (1964): The first Ferrari with fully independent suspension featured a 3.3 litre V12 engine.
• Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 (1964): Enzo Ferrari himself tested the first 330 GT 2+2 and used it as his personal transport. An elegant grand tourer with 245 km/h performance from its 4.0 litre V12. More than 1,000 were built by 1967.
• Ferrari 275 GTB/4 (1966): The 300 bhp 3.3 litre V12 engine propelled this Ferrari sports car to a top speed of 260 km/h.
• Ferrari Dino 246 GT (1967): Today’s Ferrari F430 can trace its roots, in its mechanical layout, styling and ethos, back to the compact mid-engined coupé that debuted in 1967 and brought mid-engined road manners to the road.
• Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (1968): Better known by its unofficial name, the Daytona.
• Ferrari 308 GTB (1975): The 308 initiated the mid-engined layout around a V8 engine that remains at the heart of the F430 today. The 308’s styling has been described as one of the most beautiful cars of all time.
• Ferrari F40 (1987): Even by Ferrari standards, the F40 built to mark the company’s 40th anniversary was the last Ferrari devoid of electronics, making its performance – 0-100 km/h in 4.1 seconds and 324 km/h flat out – raw and demanding, as well as blindingly quick, even 20 years later.
• Ferrari 550 Barchetta (2000): By the turn of the century, the Ferrari range had shifted into its present configuration, mid-engined cars with V8 power and front engine layout for the V12 sports cars. The 550 Barchetta harked back to the very first 166 MM as an open top version of the Ferrari 550.
• Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (2006): The newest model.

Ferrari is celebrating this history world wide with a relay event of which the events in Sydney and Melbourne are the Australian legs. The relay started in Abu Dhabi on 29th January, 2007. After the Middle East, the journey goes across China, Japan, Australia, South Africa, America and the whole of Europe and will end at Maranello on 23rd June, 2007.

The relay will involve over 10,000 Ferrari owners and their cars. These will act as symbolic “bearers” of a specially commissioned relay baton adorned with 60 badges symbolising the most extraordinary events in the marque’s 60-year history.

Ferrari embarked upon this 12 months of celebrations having just ended a year that saw the company manage 5,650 car deliveries to its worldwide dealership network, a new record.

About the Relay Baton