australian racing

Trass Family Motorsport 458 GT3 Turn 1.

Story and photos by Vince Johnson

Clipsal 500 Adelaide, South Australia, February 26 – March 1, 2014

The lunar New Year’s goat may have arrived but the horse was still rampant on the streets of Adelaide at the end of February.

The first round of the V8 Supercars Championship sees the east end of town turned into a concrete-walled, no-holds-barred circuit each year that leaves no room for error. Sadly, the Ford, Holden, Mercedes, Volvo and Nissan teams didn’t have any Italian opposition yet, but Maranello’s finest were still out on the track each day.

The Ferrari Supercar Display had its own air-conditioned marquee just inside gate 1. Headlined by the hybrid 350 km/h La Ferrari, the line-up included 288GTO, F40LM and F50. A second La Ferrari, ready for laps, was garaged in pit lane. Outside the Supercar marquee local dealer Ferrari Adelaide and Ferrari Club Australia – SA members displayed 30 current and classic examples from throughout the decades. Track time each day was described as ‘demonstration’ only, so the lack of serious run-off posed no problems and gave the marshals, as well as the public, time to enjoy the spectacle.

La Ferrari leads 458 Speciale on parade laps.

Corporate sponsorship and public donations to the Clipsal 500 official charity ‘Variety – The Children’s Charity’ saw companies’ logos across the windshields and on the giant screens. Naturally, passenger seats were filled. On Saturday and Sunday morning, the Ferrari ‘Drive for Kids’ Cavalcade gave Variety children the ride of a lifetime. Funds raised support the important work of Variety – The Children’s Charity, the Adelaide Women’s & Children’s Hospital and the Childhood Cancer Foundation. Alongside the Supercar display was Ferrari ‘Kids Zone’. Inside it wasn’t just the youngsters trying out the simulators.

Thirty years ago, the first of eleven Australian Grand Prix races was held on the Adelaide street circuit. To mark the anniversary, Scuderia Ferrari flew two F60 Formula 1 cars direct from the factory, along with the Corse Clienti team, for demonstration laps. Not that newly-signed test driver Jean-Eric Vergne was hanging about. While not officially timed, his ‘demonstration’ laps were 5+ seconds faster than the current lap record.