Over 120 Ferraris gathered at the base of the Eiffel Tower is Paris on Friday as the Ferrari 60 Relay arrived in the French capital city, the tour which is celebrating the Maranello company's 60th anniversary. On display were models from every era, from the mythical 125S, the first car to bear the Prancing Horse logo, to the recent 599 GTB Fiorano. On this occasion, the Ferrari clients passed on the baton featuring the sixty most important events in the company's history.

Over three hundred Ferraris were involved during the first four French stages before arrival at Ville Lumière. They visited some of the most scenic sites in France along the way, from Biarritz on the Atlantic coast to Cannes on the French Riviera, crossing the Principality of Monaco. Also on the itinerary was the historic circuit of Pau and a rallying route on the Col de Turini. The stretch from Cassis to Lyon included a memorable stop at the Nimes Garon air base where the Ferraris were accompanied on the runway by military fighter jets.

Yesterday's grand finale in Epernay, the home of champagne, witnessed a toast to end the French chapter of the international Ferrari 60 Relay. From here it is on to the Benelux countries over the next few days and to England later this week.

The relay is involving over 10,000 Ferrari owners and their cars of all ages. They 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. The relay first started in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, and made its way across the Middle East to Asia, Australia and Africa before arriving in the Americas, where events were held in Miami, Sao Paolo, Mexico City, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Toronto and Montreal.

The Ferrari 60 Relay arrived on its European leg on 2nd April, the baton heading to Portugal where the cars first stopped in the marvellous city of Sintra, around 30 km from the capital Lisbon, to admire the fabulous Palacio Nacional. In the square right in front of the Palace a 125 S arrived the festive baton of the Ferrari 60 Relay on board
 

The testimonial was handed over to the representative of the Italian embassy, along with a caravel made out of glass. Later the Tour proceeded through the streets of the city centre, eventually arriving in the capital Lisbon, before arriving the next day in Spain. Three days in Spain followed, and the baton arrived in France on the 10th April.

After reaching Pars yesterday the baton heads for Luxembourg (today), Belgium (16th) and Holland (17th). Then it's across the channel to the UK (18th-21st), before travelling to Greece (24th-25th), Russia (27th-28th), Finland (29th-30th), Sweden (2nd-4th May), Germany (7th-10th), Switzerland (12th-13th), Austria (14th-15th), Czech Republic (16th), Hungary (17th-18th) and Slovenia (19th-20th). Turkey (25th) will wrap up the European-wide leg up before the Tour briefly heads for the Lebanon and Egypt, returning to Italy (30th) to start a month long celebratory journey round Ferrari's home nation, culminating in a three-day long celebration event at its hometown, Maranello (23rd-25th May).

The Ferrari relay baton is made from in turned, lacquered aluminium and bears 60 enamelled symbols representing the most significant events in the company's history (the image depicts the only Prancing Horse in platinum and diamonds created especially by Damiani). The relay baton was created by designers Marco Morosini and Matteo Mezzanotti of the Morosini studio and manufactured by VeCa using Formula 1 technologies with assistance from Editalia Gruppo Istituto Poligrafico and Zecca dello Stato on the symbols. A strictly limited edition of just 500 numbered batons will be made in all. The batons will be used by the participants in the great Ferrari celebratory round the world relay.