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NEWS
Maserati centenary celebrations roll on
100 years of Maserati won't be quickly forgotten as the company sequentially rolls out the celebrations in three countriesItalian car-maker Maserati is certainly making the most of its first 100 years.
The company was a major presence at this year's Monterey Car Week in the USA, and followed up with static and active displays at the Goodwood Revival in the UK over the weekend. A comprehensive selection of historic competition cars at the British event strutted their stuff – including no fewer than 16 Maserati 250F F1 cars from the heady racing days of the 1950s – 10 of which were fired up to participate in the Richmond Trophy race for front-engined 2.5-litre Grand Prix cars.
Among the F250 open-wheelers was the car driven to victory by the legendary Argentinian driver Fangio in the 1957 German grand Prix at the Nurburgring. The drive to haul in Ferraris driven by Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins after a pit stop is regarded by many as Fangio's finest, if not the finest-ever drive in the history of motor sport.
All this has been a build up to what might be considered the real deal as the car-maker prepares for the Maserati Centennial International Gathering that will be the culmination of the official celebrations.
Involving more than 200 Maseratis from past and present, the event kicks off with a prologue in Bologna on Wednesday, September 17, where participants will be able to visit the premises from which the Maserati brothers Alfieri, Ettore and Ernesto Maserati began their operations as race-car builders on December 1, 1914. This opportunity will then be followed by a trip across the block to visit the Piazza del Nettuno, the statue of Neptune that inspired Maserati brother Mario in his design of the Maserati trident badge.
But the event will truly get under way in Modena the next day, with a gathering in the Piazza Grande, Piazza Mazzini and Via Emilia that will be followed by a parade to the Maserati factory on Viale Ciro Menotti, located on the same site established after the business was taken over by the Orsi family – with the Maserati brothers still playing a part in the business – in 1937. Here, participants will dine among the state-of-the-art production lines producing the Maserati GranTurismo and GranCabrio, and the Alfa Romeo 4C.
On September 19, the celebrations will continue as participants travel the same route used in 1929 when a 16-cylinder Maserati V4 driven by Baconin Borzacchini set the world record for the flying 10 kilometres with an average speed of 246.069 km/h on September 29 in Cremona. The route was closed to traffic for the record attempt, which was conducted over a partly-unpaved section of road.
The destination for the evening will be the Reggia di Venaria, in Turin, where a gala dinner will be held in preparation for the third and final celebrations on the next day. These will include the final section of the regularity competition on the climb to the basilica of Superga and a tour of the Grugliasco plant, before the big wind-up at a Concours d'Elegance that will be held in the heart of Turin in the late afternoon.
Merely the sound of the places and street names is enough to quicken the pulse...
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Written byCarsales Staff
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