Since 1964
The Fiat of Italy Cup is the perpetual trophy contested each year by the Fiat car clubs of Australia. Since 1964 it has been the prize at the very heart of their national gathering.
The Cup was born of a friendly rivalry between two clubs. In late 1963 the Fiat Car Club of Victoria proposed a motorkhana against the Fiat Club of New South Wales, and the two met at Wagga Wagga, roughly halfway between them, over the Australia Day long weekend of 1964.
The contest was such a success that the clubs resolved to hold it every year. What they needed was a prize worthy of the occasion, and Fiat itself would provide it.
Fiat Australia lent its support, and Fiat S.p.A. of Turin supplied a magnificent silver urn for the competition. Its base is engraved, "Fiat of Italy Trophy, presented for annual competition between the Fiat Club of N.S.W. and the Fiat Car Club of Victoria, by Fiat S.p.A. Turin, Italy 1964," with the Fiat Car Club of Queensland added from 1972.
The cup itself is said to carry a far older story, its origins reaching back to the European motor racing of the 1920s. However it came to Australia, it has been the trophy the clubs play for ever since.
How it is won
The Cup is settled on the Motorkhana, a test of precise, nimble driving against the clock. An outright champion is crowned at every running, and the winning name and year are engraved on the trophy's base, a perpetual record now stretching back over sixty years.
None has left a deeper mark than Victoria's Richard Carlson, who made the Cup his own, taking the outright title more than a dozen times across three decades.
The field is as varied as Fiat itself. Little 500s, 1100s and 1500s lined up in the early years; today everything from classic X1/9s to modern Abarths takes to the same course, generations of the marque sharing one friendly rivalry.
From a two-club challenge, the Fiat of Italy Cup is now contested by Fiat owners from across Australia and New Zealand. It is still keenly fought for, and it takes pride of place among the sporting events at the Fiat Grand Gathering.