I've spoken to James at Graypaul and he has said he will contact the factory again when he returns from holiday in a week or two, but along side that I've emailed the UK Owners Club and the International Liaison Officer Roger Epsztajn has kindly responded with the following information...
"Miles
Not surprisingly everyone wants to know what the factory are organising for next year. I am in reasonably frequent contact with Roberta Bicocchi and she is the factory officer responsible for club activities and liaison (as well as being Harald Wester’s PA). She believes that they will be ready to release their plans during the Swiss International Maserati Rally to be held between the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] and 22[SUP]nd[/SUP] of September 2013.
For the 80[SUP]th[/SUP] they held an ambitious rally that started in Cortina in the Dolomites and by way of Riccione on the Adriatic coast made its way to Modena, staying at a different location on each of the 3 nights. Bad weather (heavy rain and landslides) entailed the cancellation of much of the Dolomite programme but everyone eventually re-grouped for the remainder of the programme.
For their 90[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary, celebrated in even grander style, they organised 3 rallies. One for the classics, one for the modern cars and one high visibility rally (of 90 cars, 1 for each year) with current production models, all driven by celebrities. These 3 rallies had 3 starting points, all merging for the final weekend in Rome and a grand assembly in front of the Coliseum (to be addressed by the Italian President). Some 120 classic cars received a police escort for a 2 hour tour of Rome on the Sunday morning to great public acclaim and noise. I can only guess that they will want to do even better this time.
In that era the most significant club had been the Registro Maserati, but this club had recently folded. The factory announced during this event the formation of the new “Maserati Club” (confusingly with the same name as the UK “Maserati Club”). Though this club was intended to be fairly independent and at first chaired by Maria Teresa di Filippis it is very strongly supported by the factory. There are a plethora of small local clubs and biturbo clubs etc in Italy, but none of them are probably as capable of running a large event.
There is every reason to believe that the plans will be spectacular, especially as they need to raise their public profile as part of a strategy to expand sales from 6,500 to 55000 in 3 years!
Roger."
I have to say I wasn't aware of what Maserati organised for the 80th and 90th Anniversaries, but in light of Rogers details, the centenary could be a truly memorable celebration to be part of.
Once I have actual details of the plans, which should be before the end of September, I'll post them here and we can begin to make concrete plans.
Miles.