Ferrari to Embark on Challenging "Panamerican 20,000&qu

[Yeo]

Maranello, July 20 th, 2006 - After the enormous success of last year's "Ferrari 15,000 Red Miles" tour of China by two 612 Scagliettis driven by a team of international journalists, Ferrari is delighted to announce another tough challenge for this year, the Panamerican 20,000. On August 24th, two gleaming examples of the Prancing Horse's just launched 12-cylinder model, the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, will begin a long journey from Brazil that will take them through 16 countries and across 20,000 miles (32,000 km) to New York where they are scheduled to arrive on November 17th. A total of 50 different international journalists, each one representing the most important publications from all over the world, will take turns behind the wheels of the two sports cars, during the 15-stage, 84-day tour.

Every Ferrari naturally conjures up images of the track and motor racing at its finest. As the most powerful production model ever to be built at Maranello, it is easy to imagine the 599 GTB Fiorano going through its paces on the world's circuits. Uniquely, however, not one but two of this stunning new model are about to embark on an adventure that will take them to the precarious mountain roads of the Andes and the dirt tracks of Central America, along a route so tough that they really will experience the same conditions as the very earliest racing cars. A new challenge that really will put the cars and their reliability to the test in no uncertain terms.

This is far from Ferrari's first foray into this kind of adventure, however. To celebrate the marque's 50th anniversary in 1997, a F355 embarked on a massive world tour over five continents with 147 journalists taking turns at its wheel as it passed through their various nations. The "World Tour", as it was known, was designed not only to communicate how strong the company was but also the reliability of the F355, a model that would prove of enormous strategic value in Ferrari's development. The "World Tour" proved an extraordinary success and the car arrived back at the very spot in New York from where it had started on March 18th, after a massive 75 days on the road.
The latest and most spectacular Prancing Horse road trip was, of course, last year's "Ferrari 15,000 Red Miles" tour. This was a feat never before achieved by any other car manufacturer: a 24,000-kilometre dash right across China in two virtually unmodified production 612 Scagliettis. This time 51 Chinese and international journalists drove the cars from the start line in Beijing all the way to the finish in Shanghai over 45 days. En route the cars visited 37 different cities and climbed to an altitude 5,231 meters in the mountain passes of Tibet.

The Panamerican 20,000 will be divided into 15 stages over 84 days and will take the two Ferrari 599 GTB Fioranos through 16 different countries. The route will also wind its way through the most famous areas of Pre-Columbian and Native American historical interest. They will visit the Foz do Iguazu falls on the Argentinean-Paraguayan border having first stopped off at the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and Sa� Paulo and then crossed the tropical rain forests around Curitiba. After the Falls, they will drive through the Argentinean pampas before powering up through salt plains of Chile and Bolivia. From there they will make their way along dirt roads to La Paz and through the spectacular countryside around Lake Titicaca, which, at 4,000 meters, is the world's highest lake. The 599 GTB Fiorano's entry into Peru will be the first contact with the Inca civilisation: the sacred valley of Cuzco, the peaks that guard Macchu Picchu and the mysterious lines of Nazca. But then it's on to Lima and back to sea level again. From there the Tour makes its way past the towering volcanoes and deserts of Ecuador to get to Colombia. Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala will make up the tropical South American leg of the Tour and will also provide the first encounters with the vestiges of the Mayan civilisation. One of the most magical views on the entire American continent, the ruins of Palenque, will greet the Tour which, after it passes through Mexico City, will make its way up into the United States via Baja California. The American leg of the Tour will take the cars all the way from Los Angeles to Houston taking in Monument Valley en route, before they drive on to Miami and then Washington. After that they continue on to Chicago and Toronto (Canada) before finally making their way to the finish line in New York.

The Panamerican 20,000 will be receiving invaluable assistance from the various Italian diplomatic services in the states it passes through, particularly with regard to security and customs issues. Its partners on the Tour will be some of the Prancing Horse's most loyal sponsors: Shell (V Power, Helix and Q, fuel and lubricants), Alcoa (technical partner and manufacturer of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano's aluminum chassis), Case IH (a Fiat-owned company worldwide leader in the production of agricultural machinery) Pirelli (supplier of specialist tyres for the different terrains being covered), the Fiat Group (support vehicles), Puma (clothing), Saima Avandero (transport of cars and spare parts), Buonitalia (a company working to promote Italian products worldwide).

Assistance and spares will be provided by six support vehicles: three Fiat cars which will be replaced by three Alfa Romeos in Mexico, and three specially equipped Iveco trucks. As the Tour's technical partner, Shell will be providing a specially equipped vehicle and its own team of technicians for the entire duration of the Tour.

The Tour begins from Fiat's Brazilian headquarters at Belo Horizonte and will visit the main Case IH plants at Curitiba (BR), Racine and New Holland (USA), and the Iveco facility at Sete Lagoas (BR) to pay homage to these important members of the Fiat Group.

The Route and Main Stages
The Panamerican 20,000 route is divided into 15 stages. The stages also correspond to the changeover points for the various teams of journalists taking part. The Tour gets underway on August 24th from Belo Horizonte and six days later the cars will make their way into Foz do Iguazu 2,000 km away. From there they head west to Argentina and onto San Pedro de Atacama in Chile which they will reach after five days and 1,800 km of driving through pampas and the first of the salt plains. This is where the toughest part of the tour begins and will see the cars climb to altitudes of more than 4,000 metres in the Andes. They will head north setting a course for La Paz in Bolivia which they reach on September 7th after four more days on the road and having added another 1,100 km to their mileage as they zoom down the dirt roads through the salt plains.

After 1,700 km and 6 more days on the road, the cars will drive into Lima where they will encounter the vestiges of the ancient Inca civilisation. The next four stages to Mexico will take them through spectacular landscapes en route to Quito, Pasto, Cartagena, Panama, Managua on an 8,000 km, 18-day dash.

The two Mexican stages, which start from Palenque on October 13th, traverse the lands of the Aztecs and the Mayans as well as Baja California. It will take 10 days to cover this 4,500 km distance. From Las Vegas, the Tour turns east, calling to Houston and also making its way through Monument Valley and Dallas, before arriving into Miami on November 3rd. This 6,000 km stretch will take 9 days to complete. At this point, the Tour will move north to Washington before arriving into New York on November 17th having first called to Chicago and Toronto. A 5,000 km dash that will take 11 days in all.

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[Yeo]

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