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Ferrari's third long-distance adventure in as many years got under way this week, this time an 11,000km journey through India in two 612 Scagliettis.
The "Magic India Discovery Tour" left Mumbai on Monday and will finish in the same city on May 8. Fifty motoring writers will take turns driving the two GT models during the 12-stage, 72-day event.
The passage through India comes in the wake of similar long-distance runs through China in 2005 and Panamerica in 2006. In China, Ferrari used two 612 Scagliettis. In Panamerica, it ran with two 599 GTB Fioranos. In 1997, Ferrari toured the word with an F355 to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The two V12-powered 612 Scagliettis left Mumbai on Monday and headed south along the eight-lane motorway that is the jewel in the crown of India's infrastructure. The first stage ends in the city of Goa, now a popular tourist destination once ruled by the Portuguese.
The tour continues further south to Mysore and then Trivandrum, the southernmost point of the Indian peninsula, before turning north towards Bangalore, the capital of India's technologies industry. Hyderabad and Ramosi, home to the Bollywood film industry, provide the backdrop to a stage that ends in Vizak on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The 612 Scagliettis will then drive along the east coast to the city of Kolkata (Calcutta), once the headquarters of the legendary British East India Company.
The cars' journey along the river Ganges begins from Calcutta and runs via Varanasi, a sacred city to Hindus, and Khajuraho, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its Hindu and Jain temples. From here, the tour heads to Lucknow, also known as the Golden City of the East.
The next stage traverses the Corbett National Park and Tiger Reserve named in honour of the former big-game hunter Jim Corbett.
The tour then continues on towards New Delhi, following a northerly route to Dharamsala, home of the exiled Dalai Lama, and Amritsar, the centre of the Sikh religion. The next stage runs from the Indian capital to the city of Jaipur, taking in Agra where the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built one of the seven wonders of the modern world, the Taj Mahal, as a monument to his dead wife in 1632.
The final two legs of the tour take the cars through all of the most famous areas of Rajasthan, which is home to endless palaces built by the Maharajas and also calls to Jodhpur, the final stop-off before the cars make a triumphant return to India's industrial capital.
The 612 Scagliettis will be accompanied by eight support vehicles: five Tata cars, two Fiats and one Iveco truck.
Both cars are pretty much standard versions with minimum modifications to cope with the varying road conditions. These include an underbody protector and a slightly higher suspension setting.
The two-plus-two 612 Scaglietti is the first all-aluminium 12-cylinder model to be built by Ferrari. The use of aluminium for the chassis and bodywork, along with modern production and assembly technologies, has cut overall body weight by 40 per cent and greatly improved torsional rigidity, says the car-maker.
The 612 Scaglietti has a weight distribution of 46 per cent front and 54 per cent rear.
Its V12 engine punches out 405kW at 7250rpm. Although clothed by Pininfarina, the 612 is named in honour of Sergio Scaglietti, the Modenese coachbuilder who, in the early years of Ferrari production, bodied some of the best-looking cars ever to emerge from Maranello.
