This year marked the 17th annual Ferrari event in Palm Beach hosted by John and Alicia Barnes. Entitled “A Convention of Ferrari Owners and Enthusiasts…†it delivered as promised with even more things to do this year than during any of the previous sixteen.
The Chris Cox 250 GTO # 3445 is getting ready for the track.
First it started out with private test days at Moroso Motorsports Park scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. This was capped off by a welcome reception and art gallery preview at the host hotel, The Breakers. Thursday is the first official day at Moroso for the Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge. In fact, this was the 8th anniversary of this event being held during the Classic and there were some spectacular vintage Ferraris, Maseratis and pre-war Alfa Romeos to be seen and heard.
The drivers of the vintage Alfa Romeos seemed to be the true heroes out on the track. Although their center of gravity seems literally 3 feet off the ground, sporting very tall and narrow tires and skinny drum brakes, theses cars are extremely fast and have little in the way of the safety equipment we take for granted today. When the vintage series drivers took a break many Ferrari enthusiasts used the opportunity to exercise their favorite car around Moroso’s high speed circuit. Although F-40s, F-50s and Enzos are quick, the lucky drivers who drove 333 SPs appeared to be the fastest. During an evening reception on Friday, the winners were awarded their well earned trophies.
Not everyone was at the track on Thursday and Friday. In fact, during the day on Thursday the hotel served lunch and provided the starting point for the more genteel Grand Driving Tour of Palm Beach. Here about 80 vintage Ferraris motored around the town nose to tail with stops at the Ocean Ridge Park, the Mar-a-Lago Club and the Chesterfield Hotel , eventually ending at the airport just in time for the yet another event.
246GT Dino next to a Mustang at the Jet Avation show.
Once the Tour arrived at Palm Beach International Airport, a fantastic reception was held at Jet Aviation. Here cars, jets and fashion provided a lovely backdrop for a very large gathering of enthusiasts who stayed well into the balmy Florida evening. Ferrari North America also seized this occasion to unveil their new lightweight 430 Scuderia.
On Friday one really needed some time management skills to do it all. After spending all day at the track, the Cavallino people brought back a long time favorite, the Yacht Hop. This event takes place at the large Rybovich-Spencer yard and allows participants to go on board yachts up to 170 feet long for a complete tour of the boat while enjoying cocktails and hors d’ouevres.
The crowd favorite was the yacht which had a helicopter on the upper deck looking like something out of a James Bond movie. After this, it was off to the Breakers for a Champagne Awards Party for the winners of the track event.
Despite all the activities up to this point, Saturday is actually the most important as 150 Ferraris including the best vintage cars are on the lawn at the hotel to be judged. This year there was a special display to recognize the 250 GT LWB Tour De France model and some very fine examples were there. The 365 GTB/4 Daytona was also specially honored. Ferrari North America also set up a large display to speak to car owners about their new Ferrari Classiche program. Ferrari personnel explained and demonstrated that they can provide the authenticity certification, technical support and restoration/maintenance services for any vintage Ferrari.
Jack Croul’s 1949 166 MM Touring Berlinetta Le Mans chassis number 0026.
Saturday evening found everyone in the Grand Ballroom for the reception, dinner and awards ceremony to honor the concours winners. The Ferrari Scuderia Cup for the outstanding competition car was won by Jack Croul for his 1949 166 MM Touring Berlinetta Le Mans chassis number 0026. The winner of the Gran Turismo Ferrari Cup for the best GT car was Peter Kalikow for his recent Pebble Beach winning 1958 250 GT PF Cabriolet # 0813.
Wayne Nelson’s 400 Super America # 2407 SA was a People’s Choice
award winner at Mar-a-Lago.
Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club was the host for a fabulous charity brunch on Sunday morning. At this venue, the experienced judges who were extremely busy the previous day got a break and it was the People’s Choice that ruled. Interestingly this was the first time there were some cars other than Ferraris on display. A beautiful blue Lamborghini Miura SV and a vintage white Jaguar XK-120 surprised the guests.
However, the day was not yet over and after the Brunch, many guests headed over to the Airport Hilton to take in an all new show named Classic Sports Sunday. At this venue, Ferraris vied for attention with Lamborghinis, Fiats, Jaguars, Corvettes and a very nice BMW 507 roadster from the late 1950s. Finally the Cavallino Classic came to a close but everyone in attendance was already planning to go to an ever expanding event in 2009.