Ferrari Panamerican challenge announced

Two cars to drive 20,000 miles

23 July 2006 18:13 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It sounds like something out of the Blues Brothers, but Ferrari is hoping that a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, and a pair of sunglasses are going to get them further than 106 miles.

The car maker has announced that it will be putting on the ultimate trial this year - the Panamerican 20,000 challenge.

Kicking off on 24 August, the challenge, which will feature two Ferrari 599 GTB Fionranos, will journey from Brazil to New York and cover 15 stages, 16 countries and 20,000 miles in 84 days.

Rather than take the fastest and quickest route to between the two cities, the cars will be working their way through a number of key cities in the US including Las Vegas, Houston, Miami, Chicago, Toronto and Washington before heading on to New York in November.

The two specially-liveried 599 GTB Fioranos (one a Tour de France blue and the other a Rossa Corsa red) will only be very slightly modified to help them cope with terrain in the toughest parts of the route.

They will each be fitted with a special underbody protector made from 4mm thick duralumin rather than plastic and their suspension set-up will be slightly higher to cope with the difficult road conditions.

Apart from this, however, Ferrari has said that they will be regular production models powered by a 620 hp 65 V12 engine. Both cars will be equipped also with the electro-actuated six-speed F1 gearbox and transaxle transmission.

The challenge follows on from last years “Ferrari 15,000 Red Miles” tour of China by two 612 Scagliettis.