The International Maserati Centennial Gathering celebrating the company’s 100 year anniversary is due to begin in Modena on Thursday, 18 September, and end in Turin on Saturday, 20 September 2014. The three day gathering will see a succession of exhibitions, parades, a regularity race, a track test, a visit to the two Maserati factories and a concours d’elegance. Cars and collectors from all over the world are expected to be in attendance.
A hundred years have gone by since, in December of 1914, Alfieri Maserati and his brothers Ettore and Ernesto opened the first car repair workshop in a basement on Via de’ Pepoli, Bologna. Here, before Italy entered the First World War and in the months that immediately followed the end of the conflict, they began to prepare and modify cars for themselves – the three Maserati brothers were also capable drivers – and the gentleman drivers of the period. These were the first steps of a company that in time was to become an international icon of Italian motoring.
The Maserati Centennial Gathering will begin in Modena on Thursday, September 18, with the arrival of the historic and contemporary models that will be taking part in the event and will be displayed in significant urban spaces. The program for the afternoon involves a visit to the Exhibition at the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari dedicated to the Maserati Centennial and then to the historic Viale Ciro Menotti factory. Here, where Maserati GranTurismos and GranCabrios and the Alfa Romeo 4C roll off the production lines every day, dinner will be served.
The next day, Friday, September 19, the participants will make their way to Turin. The first stop will be the San Martino del Lago Circuit near Cremona, which will host track sessions and pay homage to Baconin Borzacchini and his Maserati V4 ‘16 cylinder, in which the Italian driver set the world record over the Flying 10 Kilometres on 28 September 1929. The historic Maserati convoy will then parade through the streets of Cremona before racing on to Turin where they will line up in the majestic Piazza Castello. A gala dinner at the Reggia of Venaria palace is set for the evening.
Scheduled for the morning of Saturday, September 20, the third and final day of the event, are a visit to the Avv. Giovanni Agnelli Plant, where Maserati Ghiblis and Quattroportes are built, and the final leg of the regularity race, in the direction of the Basilica of Superga. The Concours d’Elegance in Piazza San Carlo taking place in the afternoon will be the concluding finale to the three day gathering.
As a prelude to the three day gathering, there will be an opportunity on Wednesday 17 September, for Maserati collectors to have their photographs taken with their car next to the famous Fountain of Neptune in the historic centre of Bologna, which was the inspiration for the Maserati trident logo and to see the exact location – Via de’ Pepoli 1 – where Maserati was born, one hundred years ago.
Source: Maserati