Ferrari Challenge Series - Historical Records and Information

This has always been an exciting place to share information and learn something new each day about our passions with Ferrari - the cars, the owners, the company, the trips to Maranello, and of course the racing.

My love affair with the marque started as a little kid, and then grew as I became a teenager and got my license and first car, and then my first Ferrari.

Being exposed to so many ownership experiences along the way eventually led me to the purchase of an F355 Challenge car to restore and enjoy on the track.

This was a fantastic experience that also involved researching the history of my car to add missing information to complete the car's records. I touched base with owners on my car's team that ran in the series, the sponsoring dealerships, their crew chiefs, and other team members. This passionate group was generous with their time, records, and stories to help me complete the history of my car to share with others.

And along the way, the history project for my ONE car, turned into a project to help locate the histories of OTHER challenge cars for fellow owners, and OTHERS.

It became clear to me that it would be very important to try to locate, save, and share all of this information for the challenge series for each year it ran - from the start with the 348 challenge series to those still running today. I was worried that the paper trails from the beginning years would be lost to time in this old school era prior to our current digital society.

My research has been ongoing since 2014. There were many trips to meet with the players involved back in the day and much correspondence with current and former owners. It was challenging and fun tracking down records, photos, official documents and the many magazines, newsletters, newspapers, programs, and books from back in the day.

I look forward to this "pinned" thread becoming a great starting point for Tifosi to enjoy reading about the history of the series and cars and being able to get "behind the scenes" insight. I hope those who are researching their own challenge car records will make some amazing discoveries here. I'll do my best to present the information in a chronological order so that it will be easy to follow along. My emphasis has been on the North American Ferrari Challenge Series but there is also much information here on the other Series and cars worldwide as well.

I welcome submissions of additional verifiable information to include and assist in filling in any gaps as we go.

All of the information presented is from public records and sources and available to anyone with the desire to hunt it all down. General sources include, Forza magazine, Cavallino magazine, Ferrari World magazine, Ferrari Annual Yearbooks, Prancing Horse magazine, Assorted marketing materials from series sponsors, and many, many more.

Very Special Thanks also go to:

Dr Stephen Earle and Tom Papadopoulos
Stephen Barney, Tom Jones, Tom Jackson, Tim Robertson, Leo Hindery
Barry Wolinsky, Erik Dumas, Tony Jomha, Miki Bellagarda, Ad de Koster
Giuseppe Risi, Anthony Nevotti, Ryan Dehogne, Ferrari of Houston
Nick Mancuso, Ferrari of Lake Forest

And many other owners and participants from back in the day around the globe. On with the Show.

Robb

 

Ferrari began the non-professional racing in 1993 with European and Italian Series

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the European Series for 1993:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the Italian Series for 1993:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

1994 brought Tifosi an expanded series with a European Series, a North American Series, and a Japanese Series. The popularity of the racing took off.

Here is the long list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the European Series for 1994:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the North American Series for 1994:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the Japanese Series for 1994:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

I will proceed next to add information on the list of drivers for the '95 thru '99 Series next so that the serial numbers, race numbers, and team information is at the beginning of this pinned thread and is easy to quickly access.

Then I will circle back around to add race records, bulletins, and behind the scenes information on both the 348 and F355 Challenge cars and series before moving ahead to the following years. Viewers can always send me a pm with any comments or information so we can keep this thread as clean as possible.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the North American Series for 1995:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the Japanese Series for 1995:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the 348 - European Series for 1995:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - European Series for 1995:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the 348 - Japanese Series for 1996:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the 348 - North American Series for 1996:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

In 1996, Ferrari again expanded the series as use of the F355 grew.

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - Pacific Series for 1996:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

edit - several drivers added with more country info and race numbers. Found a new magazine article from Hong Kong...

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - Japanese Series for 1996:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - North American Series for 1996:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

I always have a bit of an eyebrow go up when I read someone stating that there are 106 F355 Challenge Cars out there. As you can see, there are over 100 that competed in JUST the European Series in 1996... So 106 Factory Challenge cars - yes, primarily AFTER 1996. But if you ask how many raced in the series, the answer is over 300 worldwide. Feel free to add up all of the drivers and their cars at the end of the reveal.

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - European Series for 1996:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

The 1994 European information was printed a bit small to be legible on the thread because of the high number of drivers. So I have broken down the file into about 25 drivers per max section on the jpegs and pdf's so that it is easier to read / print.

Please check the "last edited" date / time in the lower right hand corner so viewers can see if something has been updated and you can download the latest copy.

I am thankful for the assistance from our European members that have been providing some missing line items so that we can have as complete a record as possible.

I will continue to add to the Special Thanks area on the first post. It really is amazing to see that this information will not be lost to time...

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - North American Series for 1997:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

edit - Added the final missing driver's serial number from Ferrari of Houston.

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - Japanese Series for 1997:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - Pacific Series for 1997:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

edit - info added

 

Ferrari again expanded the series to Venezuela in 1997.

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - South American Series for 1997:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - European Series for 1997:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - North American Series for 1998:

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I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb

edit - Added missing drivers' serial number from Ferrari of Houston.

 

Here is the list of participating drivers with their cars and serial numbers for the F355 - South American Series for 1998:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

I've attached a jpeg for quick viewing here and also attached a pdf that should be printable for those wanting that ability.
I will plan on updating any gaps in the information as new information is discovered.

Robb