How many
people have watched a Grand Prix and wondered what must
it be like to slip down into the cockpit of a Formula
One car and experience the ultimate car while realizing
that, at the same time, this must be an impossible
dream? Ferrari, the most successful Formula One team of
all time, is making that dream a reality for a very
select few, through its F1 Clienti programme which
enables the purchase of a Ferrari Formula One car and
its use, with full Ferrari team support, at five events
a year.
Nor are
these spare cars or cars that have never seen real
action. They are the actual cars used by the legends of
motorsport. No less than 35 Ferrari Formula One cars are
in hands of private owners, including five cars driven
by Michael Schumacher and dating back to a Ferrari T312
driven by Nicki Lauda in 1975 and even a 1953 500 F2
driven by Ascari. Indeed the list of names that were the
original drivers of the these cars reads like a who’s
who of motorsport, including Alesi, Regazonni, Prost and
Villeneuve.
The doors
to this magic world of Ferrari Formula One car ownership
are just a few short feet away from the main entrance of
Gestione Sportive, where today’s Formula One cars are
prepared to do battle around the world. Here, once their
racing days are over, the cars are maintained by a team
of professional racing technicians who looked after
their charges during their time in Formula One
spotlight. They prepare the cars and customize them for
their new owners, before they are taken to Ferrari’s own
test track, Fiorano, for a shake down and driver
training for their new owners. F1 Clienti
organize a series of non-competitive events that provide
owners with the opportunity to test their car and
themselves in the same venues at which they were
originally raced. The 2006 programme includes events at
Hockenheim and the Nürburgring in Germany, Belgium’s
historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Valencia in Spain
and the Vallelunga track in Italy.
But F1
Clienti isn’t the only way to get behind the wheel of a
Ferrari racing car. F1 Clienti is part of the Ferrari Corse Clienti
programme, which organizes a host of motorsport and
motoring events.
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The Ferrari Challenge started with the 348
Berlinetta, before switching to the F355 and, from
the 2000 Championship, the F360. By 2006, with the
new Ferrari F430 Challenge (above) making its debut,
the Ferrari Challenge now runs events in Western,
Southern and Central Europe, Japan and the USA. |
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Ferrari is making the dream of owning an F1 car a
reality for a very select few, through its F1
Clienti programme which enables the purchase of a
Ferrari F1 car and its use, with full Ferrari
support, at five events a year. |
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|
The foundation stones of this unique
organization were laid in 1993, when the Ferrari Trofeo
Pirelli was created to enable the owners of Ferrari road
cars to get on the track and in 2001 this was expanded
into the Ferrari Corse Clienti, or Racing Owners,
department. In 2006 this organization will oversee the
running of the Ferrari Challenge Pirelli Trophy and the
Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge at the international
level and supporting Ferrari owners participating in the
GT Championships. Along with the F1 Clienti programme,
it is also running the Customer-Test Driver programme
for the Ferrari FXX.
The
Ferrari Challenge started with the 348 Berlinetta,
before switching to the F355 and, from the 2000
Championship, the F360. By 2006, with the new Ferrari
F430 Challenge making its debut, the Ferrari Challenge
now runs events in Western, Southern and Central Europe,
Japan and the USA. While the Challenge moves from new
model to new model, this does not mean that old Ferrari
racing cars fade away. They simply move into another
championship, the Shell Historic Challenge. More than
200 owners of classic Ferrari racing cars have taken
part in this series and it’s not an amble round a track,
these are, after all, Ferraris and that means real
racing in a unique historic role call of motorsport
legends. In 2006 there are two series, one in Europe and
a second in North America, with a total of ten events.
For owners
who want to pit themselves against rival car makers,
Ferrari Corse Clienti provides support in the GT
Championships, with the F430 GTC in the GT2 class and
the F430 Challenge in the GT3 series, plus the Ferrari
575 GTC in the GT series, enabling competition in the
FIA GT series and the new GT3 series that parallels the
main GT event.
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