Maserati Owners Rush To Drive The Maserati Way!

HOMEBUSH, Australia – January 21, 2009: Maserati owners around the world are rushing to learn to drive the Maserati way with the legendary car maker revealing that it has less than ten places left for Maserati owners around the world on its first course of the year, in April, the remaining courses filling up quickly.

“It is clear that the word of mouth from previous years on the quality and excitement of the Master Maserati Driving Course is boosting demand,” says Edward Butler, General Manager of Maserati Australia and New Zealand. “In past years the majority places on the courses have been taken by our dealers booking places on behalf of customers. But this year has seen the majority of places taken by customers going direct to Maserati to claim one of the increasingly rare places in the 2009 programme, such is their desire to enjoy this unique driving experience.”

Open to both aspiring and existing Maserati owners, the Maserati driving courses have been developed and perfected to provide the perfect blend of theory and practice. They ensure that participants may enjoy an in-depth drive in the full Maserati range learning new driving skills, honing their safety ability behind the wheel and learning to cope with emergency situations.

The Master Maserati Driving Course, with tuition provided by drivers from Formula One, World Rally Championship, Indy Car and European and World Touring Cars, uses the latest Maserati models including the new GranTurismo S and the new Maserati Quattroporte.

On the race track skills are taught with an on-board instructor and with a pace car while, using the same telemetry system used in Formula One, in the classroom every subtle nuance of how a car is driven may be examined. As well as race track experience, the course includes skidpan use and different road surfaces to fully simulate real world conditions.

The courses are held at the demanding Varano track near the Italian city of Parma and Maserati offers two levels of course in its 2009 programme.

The Master GT Course provides an introduction to performance driving over a two day period, including selecting the ideal line to take through corners, exercises in rapid changes of direction, controlled slides and braking techniques.

The Master Maserati High Performance course is dedicated to the new GranTurismo S and how to fully exploit its magnificent performance to the maximum, both in terms of safety and driving excitement. This is a highly personalised and specialised programme dedicated to enhancing the particular skills and abilities of each participant. The driving section of the course is matched by a detailed and thorough examination of the telemetry from the drive cars that enables each participant to hone their skills to a new level.

Leading the instructors is ex-Formula One driver Andrea de Adamich, who competed in Formula One during one of its most testing periods, 1962 to 1974, when cars were fast, but had none of the safety or driving assistance fitted to racing cars today. During this period he drove for Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, McLaren, Brabham and Surtees. As the commentator for Italian TV coverage of Formula One since 1979, he is also the Italian Murray Walker!

Ivan Capelli – whose most recent race was in a Maserati at Sandown in November – has driven with success in Formula One, Formula 3000 and Formula 3. Domenico Schiattarella includes winning the Le Mans 24 hour race in his talented career, as well as racing in Formula 2000, the FIA GT Series and, of course, Formula One. Alessandro Fiorio represents the rally world in the Maserati courses. At just 22 he won the Group N World Rally Championship and he has claimed three wins in the World Rally Championship, finishing two seasons in the top three in the world. These drivers are joined by Piero Liatti, a talented Touring Car racing driver and Andrea Piccini, one of Europe’s leading Sports Car racing drivers.