Alcoa sponsoring 20,000-mile Ferrari test drive

Alcoa is a sponsor of Ferrari's Panamerican 20,000, an 84-day test drive featuring their new, 12-cylinder 599 GTB Fiorano. The Panamerican 20,000 will cover 16 countries in South, Central and North America. It is designed to show the toughness and reliability, as well as the performance of the 620-horsepower, two-seat Fiorano, which features an aluminum space frame manufactured by Alcoa.

Alcoa will host the Panamerican 20,000 team at three stops along their 15-stage tour, which began August 24 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The first will be in Sao Paulo, Brazil, headquarters for Alcoa of Brazil. The second will be at the company's largest U.S. smelter located in Rockdale, Texas. And the third will be at Alcoa's plant in Cleveland, Ohio, which makes forged and cast products for the automotive and aerospace industries.

"The Panamerican 20,000 offers us a chance to demonstrate the shared passion for performance that characterizes the partnership between Ferrari and Alcoa in the most meaningful way possible ... on the road in one of the most challenging test drives ever devised," said Misha Riveros-Jacobson, president of Alcoa Auto and Truck Structures, the Alcoa business who makes space frames for all Ferrari Granturismo vehicles at its plant in Modena, Italy.

"The fact that we also get to show these scintillating vehicles to our employees and plant communities along the way is also a great way to link Alcoa's aluminum products, employees and stakeholders to one of the world's highest-performance automobiles," Riveros-Jacobson said.

Alcoa is Ferrari's strategic partner for the creation of advanced aluminum space frame technology. The companies began working together in the 1990s and have collaborated on four successful generations of space frames, beginning with the Ferrari 360 Modena and including the 612 Scaglietti, F430 and the 599 GTB Fiorano.

Those wishing to keep pace with the progress of the Panamerican 20,000 may do so through www.alcoa.com/passionforperformance. This site will also link directly to Ferrari Panamerican Web site.