The British leg of the marathon relay celebrating Ferrari’s 60th Anniversary started in Belfast this week at the beginning of a four day adventure which will see a fleet of V12 Ferraris visit official Ferrari dealers in the UK.

Ferrari owners from Northern Ireland, Scotland and the north of England will join the tour at various stages along the route, with dealerships taking the opportunity to reward loyal and prospective clients with the opportunity to drive a 599 GTB Fiorano, a 612 Scaglietti, or one of their own Ferrari Approved V12s from recent memory, such as the classic 575M or the stylish 456.

The UK leg of the tour starts with a drive from Charles Hurst Belfast, crossing to Stranraer then to Graypaul Edinburgh. After a driver change-over, the tour then continues down the East Coast before arriving for a welcome reception at JCT 600 Leeds.

Ferrari GB have provided four of Ferrari’s flagship V12 models, two 599 GTB Fiorano and two 612 Scaglietti, for motoring journalists to drive between Ferrari’s Official Dealers during the four days of the Ferrari 60 Relay UK Tour.

Tthe following day, the Ferrari 60 Relay has another early start, departing from Manchester, from where it will visit Graypaul Nottingham, Stratstone Little Aston before ending the day at another evening reception hosted by Dick Lovett Cardiff, Ferrari’s only Official Ferrari Dealer serving Wales. The Ferrari 60 Relay started in Abu Dhabi on 29 January and will travel throughout the Middle East, China, Japan, Australia, South Africa, America and the whole of Europe before ending in Maranello on 23 June. The participants in the tour will be received at the various Italian embassies in the countries they pass through en route to Maranello. On 16 June, the Ministry for Foreign.

Affairs will host a special display of gifts donated by each country through which the baton passes at the Palazzo della Farnesina in Rome. On 23 June there will be a charity auction by Ferrari, with gifts being donated by each country through which the baton travels, and the proceeds of which will be donated to charity. A unique Vertu phone, designed and handcrafted at the company’s headquarters in England has been created from the Ascent collection to commemorate the British leg of the tour and this phone – number 1 of 1 – will be the gift presented for auction to the Italian Ambassador in London.

The Ferrari 60 Relay baton which travels through each country was designed and created to symbolise Ferrari’s history and is topped by a dazzling platinum and diamond Prancing Horse made by Damiani. It also features 60 enamel symbols designed by the Intesta e D’Adda, Lorenzini, Vigorelli and BBDO advertising agencies, and by creative talents Alessandro Migliorini of Area Creativa, Marco Morosini, Enzo Naso of the eponymous studio and Wolfgang Seidl of Seidldesign.

The UK leg of the Ferrari 60 Relay is designed to promote the incredible Ferrari Racing Days spectacular at Silverstone which takes place from 8-9-10 June. Featuring the UK round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli with over 30 equally matched Ferrari F430 Challenge cars jostling for position on one of the fastest F1 Grand Prix circuits, and the ultra-exclusive FXX which will be making its only official UK appearance, Ferrari Racing Days will be an action-packed weekend of Ferrari festivities which will appeal to Ferrari clients and the ever-faithful Tifosi.

Ferrari Racing Days at Silverstone will be the UK focus of Ferrari’s 60th Anniversary and, quite appropriately, will also feature the Ferrari Shell Historic Championship in which classic road and race Ferraris compete in three different categories to relive the golden era of motorsport. Ferrari’s customer motorsport division, Corse Clienti, are also supporting several Ferrari clients who will be demonstrating a range of famous and historic F1 cars from the company’s illustrious racing past.

Ferrari Racing Days at Silverstone will be the only opportunity to see all four activities (Challenge, FXX, Historic, F1 Clienti) together in the UK, and it is the only time that all these activities will be seen together outside of the Finali Mondiali, Ferrari’s end-of-year racing celebrations.

The Ferrari Racing Days will also be the focus of the 40th Anniversary of the Ferrari Owners Club in the UK, with an incredible display of 40 examples of the iconic F40 supercar which remains one of Ferrari’s most memorable performance cars. With Ferrari owners from all over the UK invited to participate in the Ferrari Racing Days and the Ferrari Owners Club’s 40th Anniversary, it is expected that Silverstone will see the largest gathering of Ferraris in one place in 2007.

The global Ferrari ‘relay race’ spanning five continents and some 50 countries got off to a rousing start in Abu Dhabi back in January of this year.

The Ferrari 60 Relay was organised to mark Ferrari’s 60th birthday and will involve the participation of over 10,000 Ferrari owners and fans who will be driving a vast array of Ferrari models from the past six decades.

The race began at the future site of the Ferrari theme park in Abu Dhabi and is set to wind up here at Ferrari headquarters on June 24th, after 148 days.

Participants are carrying special batons which have been embossed with symbols of the 60 greatest moments in Ferrari’s history, from its first success at the Rome Grand Prix of 1947 to the Ferrari FXX of 2006.

On hand for the sendoff was Piero Ferrari, the company’s vice president and son of founder Enzo Ferrari, who in his address recalled his legendary father who he said had “the intuition to create a marque which could symbolise Italian talent and uniqueness”.

From Abu Dhabi, the race moved to Dubai, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. From the Emirates the race headed east, to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. The next leg was in South Africa and then to Latin America, up into Mexico and from there to the United States and Canada. Ferrari Relay 60 will then move to Europe, where it will cross Portugal, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain, Greece, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Turkey. After brief stages in Lebanon and Egypt, the race will finally tour Italy to end in Maranello.

Each country visited during the relay race will dedicate to Ferrari an object representative of its local culture and traditions. These will then be sent to Rome for an exhibition at the foreign ministry, which will be inaugurated when Ferrari 60 Relay visits the capital on June 16.

Once the exhibit is over, the objects will be auctioned off in Maranello, with the proceeds going to a charity organization.

Another initiative to mark Ferrari’s 60th anniversary will be the creation of a special model of which only 60 cars will be made, each linked to one of the 60 events which defined the company’s history.

These will include historic Grand Prix victories, legendary models like the GTO and F4 and people who helped make Ferrari what it is today.