June 27, 2002
Story and photos by Marcel Massini

		--- PHOTO GALLERY --- All photos by Marcel Massini [click here]

The long-awaited Grand Prix of Montreux on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, was held on the weekend of 22 and 23 June 2002. Montreux is situated 20 minutes south of Lausanne right on the shores of Lake Geneva. It is famous for its Casino and the sensational Jazz Festival.

Sixty-eight years ago, in 1934, the first Montreux Grand Prix took place. Scuderia Ferrari aces such as Guy Moll, Achille Varzi and Count Carlo Felice Trossi participated with Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3s. Other competitors included Goffredo Zehender in a Maserati 4C, Whitney Straight, Philippe Etancelin, Hugh Charles Hamilton and Benoit Falchetto in Maserati 8Cs and Raymond Sommer and Gigi Soffietti in Alfa Romeo 8C Monzas.

In 1977, a retrospective event was held in Montreux and Hermann Lang and Juan-Manuel Fangio were present. In 1984 the 50th anniversary of the Montreux Grand Prix was held and was a huge success. In 1990, the-then vice-president of Club Ferrari Suisse, Philippe Meylan, organised another outstanding historic event at Montreux. This time it was completely focused on Ferrari with guest star Jean Alesi among the many VIPs. However, the event experienced very bad weather and two days of heavy rain. Happily, this was not the case this year as it was very hot and humid during the entire weekend. Collectors from four different countries (Austria, Germany, France, and Italy) came to Lake Geneva and enjoyed a wonderful weekend.

For this year's event, Ferrari was again chosen as the marque to be celebrated. More than 20'000 spectators attended the two-day event. The budget exceeded 600'000 Swiss Francs and there were four main sponsors: Bernard Nicod SA (real estate), the famous Casino de Montreux, San Pellegrino (mineral water) and Swisscom Mobile. Entry for the spectators was completely free and a free shuttle bus service was provided. A huge exhibition of many historic Ferraris was held in the Place du Marché, with its Art Déco area recently completely renovated. On Saturday a karting event in nearby Villeneuve had been organised for the Ferrari owners and also a Golf tournament in Aigle. Saturday evening the traditional "Soirée Ferrarissima", an elegant gala dinner, ended the day at the fashionable Montreux Palace Hotel.

The Montreux retrospective is not a vintage race event, and no actual competitions took place. However, the ex-Michael Schumacher Formula One Ferrari 2000 was spectacularly driven through the streets of Montreux and along the Lage Geneva shores by Dutch owner and collector John Bosch. Four factory team mechanics were present in Montreux to prepare this car. Among the star cars were Jo Vonlanthen's Ferrari 500 Formula 2 , an ex-Niki Lauda Ferrari 312 T2 Formula One of 1976, plus the ex-Jody Scheckter Ferrari 312 T4 Formula One. Also in attendence were Corrado Cupellini's Dino 246 Formula One of 1959, a 340 America Barchetta Touring (Chassis #0114 A of Louis Frey), a 500 TR Spider Scaglietti (Chassis #0610 MDTR of Giancarlo Galeazzi) and a newly restored 750 Monza Spider (#0554 M/0562 M owned by Erich Traber). Arthur W. Zafiropoulo's 2002 Villa d'Este Best of Show-winning Ferrari 342 America Cabriolet #0234 AL was prominently displayed in Montreux. In addition to the 750 Monza, Erich Traber displayed his little 212 Export Coupé Vignale, chassis #0096 E, which was driven on the road from Berne to Montreux.

Non-Ferraris paraded through the streets included a Maserati 8 CM ex-Philippe Etancelin, a 1938 Maserati 6 CM ex-Brazil, the 1956 Monaco-winning Maserati 250 F owned by Peter Heuberger and the ex-Toulo de Graffenried Maserati 4 CL.

Over 100 Ferraris were entered at Montreux, and we can only mention a few. A dark red 250 GT Coupé Ellena owned by Zurich-based dealer Konrad Lutziger, was impressive, as were the no fewer than four 250 GT SWB Berlinetta (Chassis #1875 GT, 2177 GT, 2563 GT and 3577 GT). Adding to the list were the 275 GTB Speciale Competition (Chassis #06021) with a 250 LM-type nose, a dark blue 250 GT SWB California Spider (Chassis #3665 GT), a dark red 250 MM Spider Vignale (Chassis #0288 MM with an engine numbered #0290 M) and two 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competizione (#13855 of Max Lustenberger and #14429 of Arnold Meier).

Many of the cars came from local collectors based between Geneva and Aigle. Several of the older Ferraris had not been seen in public in the past fifteen years. From Germany came a black 250 GT Coupé Pinin Farina (#0975 GT) and two of the legendary, ultra-fast five-liter 512 Ms of 1971 were also present. Three 275 GTB/4s, all of them owned by Swiss collectors, showed up as well. There were, however, no 250 GTEs observed during the meeting but the newer cars such as the 360 Modenas or 550 Maranellos and several F40s and F50s were well represented.

The organising committee consisted of Ezio Vialmin (President), Harry John (Tourism Office), Pierre Massard (Golf promoter), Claude Callet (Security Chief), Patrick Francey (Circuit and Karting organiser), Dominique Massard (PR and Media), Adriano Cimarosti (renowned sportscar journalist and book author), Ange Barde (winner 2001 Ferrari Challenge Europe) and Jean-Claude Doriot (community of Montreux). The 2002 Montreux Grand Prix weekend was a huge success and is likely to be repeated in the next ten years.