14 October 2002: For a six-year-old from Leighlin in Carlow, it was the greatest day yet for a little big fan of Michael Schumacher. Not alone did Kevin Lennon's hero win the final race of the season, breaking some new records as he did so, but Kevin got to sit alongside a car driven by the same Michael.

It happened yesterday in Pratts of Carlow, local Fiat dealers, the second stop on a round-Ireland display trip for the red Ferrari. He posed (above) with dealership owner Clive Pratt, who said having the racing car for the weekend was 'a dream come true' for him also.

It was a fitting weekend to have the car, as Clive officially opened his much-upgraded new showrooms and service facilities on Thursday night. Over the three days through Sunday, many thousands of Ferrari and Schumacher fans trooped through the showrooms.

The F2000 car was the one with which Ferrari, after over 20 years of effort and disappointment, finally won both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ World Championships 2000.

The car is touring Fiat dealers because Ferrari is part of the Fiat group and the lessons learned from all those victories on the F1 racetracks are applied to the Fiat road cars.

The other appearances – all at weekends to ensure the maximum number of people will be able to get along- is as follows:

Oct. 18,19,20 at BBC Fiat, Balmoral Industrial Estate, Navan;
Oct.26, 27,28 at Westmeath Motors Group, Mullingar;
Nov. 1,2,3 at J&C Motors, Lanesboro Rd, Roscommon;
Nov. 8,9,10 at Old Chapel Cars, Bandon, Co Cork;
Nov. 15,16,17 at The Sweep Garage, Waterford;
Nov. 22,23,24 at John Linnane Motors, Rathnew, Co Wicklow.