Four thousand Fiat staff, the entire Brazilian management team and the Minas Gerais state officials from Belo Horizonte in Brazil yesterday saw off the Ferrari Panamerican 20,000. Ferrari decided to begin the Tour from the Fiat plant as a celebration of the thirtieth year of its presence in the country. Another landmark is the 9 million mark of vehicles produced that has just been reached by Fiat Automòveis. Amongst the support vehicles which are being supplied by Fiat Automòveis and Iveco is the brand new Fiat Idea Adventure which was only presented for the very first time in public on Wednesday. Yesterday's first stage left from Belo Horizonte and is set to race through Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paolo and Curitiba. Foz do Iguazu will be reached after six days of driving and after having covered over 2000 km.

The Panamerican 20,000 route is divided into 15 stages corresponding to the changeover points for the various teams of journalists taking part. The Tour got underway yesterday 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 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.

An event dedicated to Iveco will follow, as Iveco is providing three back-up and spare parts vehicles, two Daily vehicles and a City Class minibus. Iveco is developing a big presence in Brazil with a range that is continually evolving. Equally important is the role played by the other Italian partners: Pirelli which will provide three kind of tyres suitable for all environmental conditions among which a new tyre developed especially for Ferrari; Saima Avandero, co-ordinator of the expedition that will ensure the complex customs procedures on a voyage that will cross 17 borders; and, to conclude, Buonitalia that will promote Italian culinary excellence to the world.

Moreover, Shell is behind the 599 GTB Fioranos in a very visible demonstration of the close technical partnership between Shell and Ferrari. Shell is providing a suite of Shell V-Power performance fuel and Shell Helix and Q lubricant products for the Ferraris and a dedicated Shell technical support team will accompany the cars from the start in Brazil to the finish in New York.