The Olympic Torch celebrates in Maranello the Ferrari-Pininfarina relationship

Turin – The Olympic Torch realized by Pininfarina arrives at Maranello. Tomorrow January 14, for the 36th stop of the torch bearers’ run towards Turin, the emblem of Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games will pass through the streets of the “Prancing Horse”, where it will ideally celebrate the long-lasting and prolific relationship between Pininfarina and the most known and representative brand of the Italian excellence in the world, Ferrari. 
The Torch Bearer will arrive at Maranello coming from Modena. The arrival is expected at about 12 at Via Giardini/Abetone Inferiore, where the flame will be brought by Dario Benuzzi (Chief Test Driver of Ferrari GTs) in front of the historical entrance of the Ferrari plant and then inside the factory, where it will be handed over to the official test driver of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Luca Badoer. He will bring the Torch on a red Ferrari F430 spider driven by Amedeo Felisa, Vice General Manager Ferrari. The Torch will proceed through the Ferrari Gallery, where a short press meeting will be held. Next stop instead will be in the town streets. This leg of the journey, unlike the one inside Ferrari, will be visible by the public.
The transit of the Torch through Maranello and Ferrari is in the run that crosses nine communes and four provinces on January 14: the run of the Flame also involves, besides Maranello, Modena, Formigone, Fiorano Modenese, Sassuolo, Casalgrande, Reggio Emilia, Sant’Ilario d’Enza and Parma, where it will arrive at 5.25 p.m..

Left from Rome last 8 December, one month later the Torch confirms its excellent performances: even though over 5.500 units have been lighted, we never experienced neither a flame extinction nor any other inconvenience. The Torch is a Pininfarina’s competence-concentrated product. Pininfarina is Official Supplier of Torino 2006 with a significant economic investment. According to the agreement signed with Toroc, in fact, Pininfarina is responsible for the design, the engineering and the manufacturing of 12.000 numbered Torches of the Olympics and 150 for the Paralympic Games, free of charge. Compared to the Torch of Athens 2004, the flame designed by Pininfarina had to respect requirement far stricter. The performances required by Toroc had leaded to prefer a fine-looking flame with great visibility and resistance to a more fragile and light one. More in details, the requirements for the Olympic Torch by Pininfarina were: visibility to the distance of 100 meters also in the daylight, resistance to rain, snow, temperatures from –20°C to +25°C, to the wind up to 120 km/h to altitudes up to 5000 meters.