 Up close and personal - a fabulous motoring machine at the Moët & Chandon Tour  Collector's items - a rare gathering of 21 of the worlds most exclusive sports cars in the Napa Valley for the Moët & Chandon GTO 45th Anniversar  A clean break ... chef Thomas Keller and Jean Berchon, co-organizer of the GTO 45th Anniversary Moët & Chandon Tour at the French Laundry on Day  A little tour through Napa Valley's most beautiful vineyards  Inaugural dinner Moët & Chandon GTO 45th Anniversary Tour in the cellars of the Napa Valley Reserve  The Ferrari 250 GTO's driving back from the Meandowood to the Pacific Coast and back to the Napa Valley  The Ferrari 250 GTO's driving back from the Meandowood to the Pacific Coast and back to the Napa Valley  The spectacular Napa Valley foreshore, site of this year's Moët & Chandon GTO 45th Anniversary Tour  On the road for the opening of the Moët & Chandon GTO 45th Anniversary Tour  The GTO belonging to the owner of the Michael Kors label, Lawrence Stroll, glides through the giant Redwood forest  The Pacific Ocean forms an idylic backdop, all the better to show off "The Mona Lisa of motoring"  Rout One ... as fabled for its magnificent serpentine curves as for the beauty of its ragged cliff faces  The Ferrari 250 GTO's driving back from the Meandowood to the Pacific Coast and back to the Napa Valley  Dominus Estate, belonging along with Petrus to the Moueix family  Tom Price & 250 GTO  On your marks .... for the Prix de la Regularite  Lucky number 7 soars ahead on the Infineon Racetrack  The GTO's in hot pusiut of the Moët & Chandon Prix de la Regularite ath the Infineon racetrack  Beauty, elegance, efficiency .... on the Infineon racetrack  Lunch at the Keller Estate, before an exclusive visit of the winery and its extensive private collection  The 2007 Moët & Chandon Tour ended at Napa Valley Reserve, where it began  On the road throughout the Napa Valley vineyards, a last class photo before a Mexican barbecue, served with wines from the Napa Reserve |
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Ferrari 250 GTO 45th Anniversary Meeting - Napa Valley
Napa Valley, California, 21 – 25 October 2007
Whereas previous 250 GTO anniversaries have been celebrated in France and Italy, the 45th anniversary gathering moved across the Atlantic to California, where a celebration of this iconic Ferrari took place in the Napa Valley across the Golden Gate Bridge to the north of San Francisco.
Only thirty six 250 GTOs were produced between 1962 and 1964, and amazingly all examples still remain in circulation. Well, maybe not so surprisingly in recent years, as they have become one of the most sought after and valuable cars on the planet, but in the late sixties the majority were just spent racing cars, with little value. It is understood that a UK collector has recently paid 14,000,000 Euros for chassis number 5095 GT, so with twenty 250 GTOs plus a 4 litre example at the reunion, we were looking at a combined value in the order of 294,000,000 Euros (circa £212,000,000 or US$430,000,000), cruising the Californian highways and byways!
The anniversary meeting was based at the Relais & Chateaux Meadowood Chateau, deep in the Napa Valley’s vineyards, with the welcome dinner party prepared by chef Pascal Tingaud. Maurizio Parlatto, the head of Ferrari North America, was a guest at the dinner and gave each entrant a gift of a Ferrari Classiche jacket. The next morning the multi million dollar cavalcade left the vineyards of the Napa Valley for a journey that took them through the spectacular Redwood forests, en route to the Pacific coast at Mendocino. The second leg took the party along the scenic narrow and winding coastal road, to the Dominus vineyard of Christian Moueix, before heading back to base at Meadowood. In the evening there was a sumptuous dinner at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry restaurant. Day three saw the participants head to the Infineon circuit at Sonoma for some laps of the circuit. Tom Price set the fastest lap with his 250 GTO, 3943GT, whilst Nick Mason in chassis number 3757 GT, set the fastest non-American lap. The final day of the event was another relatively gentle scenic tour during the morning, with a barbecue lunch at Napa Valley Reserve. A further afternoon tour preceded the farewell party in the evening at the Harlan Chateau, attended by Frédéric Cumenal, chairman of Moet & Chandon, who were instrumental in organising the gathering.
» Ferrari 250 GTO Register Participating Cars/Owners | 3387GT | Blue Met'/White stripe | Bernard Carl | 3413GT | Red | Greg Whitten | 3445GT | Blue/Yellow Stripe | Chris Cox | 3451GT | Red | Lawrence Stroll | 3505GT | Pale Green | Eric Heerema | 3527GT | Dark Red | Lord Irvine Laidlaw | 3607GT | Red | Robs Walton | 3647GT | Red | James McNeil Jnr. | 3705GT | Red/RWB Stripes | Ed & Leslie Davies | 3729GT | Red | Jon Shirley | 3757GT | Red | Nick Mason | 3767GT | Green/Yellow nose | Sir Anthony Bamford | 3943GT | Red | Tom Price | 4091GT | Dark Red | Peter Sachs | 4219GT | Dark Blue | Brandon Wang | 4293GT | Red | William “Chip” Connor | 4399GT | Red/Pale Blue Stripe | Sir Anthony Bamford | 4675GT | Red | Yoshiho Matsuda | 5571GT | Red | John McCaw | 5575GT | Red | Carlos Hank Rhon | 4 litre GTO | 3765LM | Red | James Jaeger |
David O’Neill
12/2007
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