Ferrari festival at Mugello with the historics

The Mugello Historic Festival gets underway today. This is a unique event for car fans featuring over 200 cars in the paddock and on track, many of them having contributed to some of the most unforgettable moments of international motor sport. Ferrari has chosen to dedicate this weekend to its own historic cars, with the opening round of this season’s Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge and the first event in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the F40.

On the card this weekend at the Mugello International Circuit is the first round of the championship for historic Prancing Cars and the venue also provides the finishing point for the F40 Trophy, a regularity race which sees 40 of this prestigious Ferrari model taking part, as 2007 sees this model joins those eligible for a “Certificate of Authenticity” from the Maranello company.

After starting from the Fiorano track and making a stop in Florence, the F40s continue on their way to the Scarperia track, crossing the famous Futa Pass, one of the most spectacular stretches of the Mille Miglia. The event continues tomorrow with a special parade on the Tuscan circuit.

Today’s programme also featured the first races in this season’s Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge, with the win in Grid A for single-seaters going to the 1960 256 F1/FL of Tony Smith, while Paul Knapfield and his 1980 Ferrari 512 BB LM won the Group C race (for cars with disc brakes.)

Tomorrow, Sunday 1 April is the main day of the event and is entirely given over to races, which also feature several other series, including the FIA Historic Formula One Championship, for cars that raced in the blue riband events in the past.