Filed under: Performance, Etc., Government/Legal, Ferrari

Last summer, Maserati held a competition to identify the best garages in the world. There were two categories: Concept and Existing. While the concept winner was pretty spectacular, the existing garage was breathtaking. Remember the glass-walled garage in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? The one that Cameron launched his father’s vintage Ferrari California Spider through? That was a pretty amazing garage and similar to Holger Schubert’s Maserati competition winner. The difference is that Schubert took that concept one step further and simply built a 10-foot concrete bridge to his glass-walled living room.

The ultra-modern room won the Maserati contest, which was actually done in conjunction with Architectural Digest magazine. It’s decorated with “stylish furniture, a built-in bookcase and a flat-screen TV that slides on tracks past walls of glass that frame an ocean view.” Oh, there’s also that immaculate Ferrari 512 BBi sitting front-and-center.

The living room garage is part of a $1.5 million remodel that product designer Schubert has undertaken on his Brentwood home. Although initially granted permission by the city to build the bridge so he could better comply with off-street parking regulations, Los Angeles officials are now asking him to tear it down. Neighbors have apparently complained about the bridge and see it as a safety risk as well as a bad precedent for homes in the area. Schubert thinks they’re just pissed that his remodeling project is taking so long. It’s been about five years so far. We think they’re just jealous of the gorgeous grigio Boxer.

It’s not over for Schubert. There’s still a slim chance he might be able to save the award-winning garage by getting a zoning variance or winning a court reprieve. We wouldn’t hold our breath if we were him.

[Source: Los Angeles Times]

Report: Award-winning garage may lose its driveway originally appeared on Ferrari News on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Ferrari

Ferrari got seriously caught with its pants down last year in Formula One. When Felipe Massa was sidelined with a head injury halfway through the season, the Scuderia found itself without a viable replacement after Michael Schumacher proved unfit to take his place, veteran test driver Luca Badoer failed to rise to the challenge and Giancarlo Fisichella didn’t manage to score a single point. But the venerable F1 team is learning from its mistakes with the launch of the Ferrari Driving Academy.

Similar to the programs run by Red Bull and Renault, the Ferrari Driving Academy was established to foster young talent along the ladder to Formula One, starting way down in karting. The program is run by Luca Baldisserri, the strategist who replaced Ross Brawn during his sabbatical and who currently serves as the team’s track manager.

The first pupil selected for the program is Jules Bianchi. The young French driver, managed by former Ferrari CEO Jean Todt’s son Nicholas, is the scion of a successful racing family: his grandfather Mauro Biachi won the FIA GT Championship three times, and his great uncle won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and competed in nineteen grands prix. Jules himself won the French Formula Renault 2.0 title in 2007 and the F3 Euroseries in 2009, and following his test for Ferrari in December, has scored a podium finish in his debut in the GP2 Asia series. Not a bad start, so we’d better keep our eyes open for Bianchi and future Ferrari Driver Academy pupils making their way up the ladder. Press releases after the jump.

[Source: Ferrari | Image: Mark Thompson/Getty]

Continue reading Ferrari Driving Academy already yielding results

Ferrari Driving Academy already yielding results originally appeared on Ferrari News on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Auctions, Ferrari

Very rarely does a Ferrari 250 GTO come up for sale, and if it does, you’ll probably never hear about it. Most sales are done behind closed doors, and the amount of said transactions are almost never disclosed to the public. That’s just part of the mystique behind the world’s most valuable car, and it’s partially why the cars are so coveted. Just 36 examples were built between 1962 and 1963, each still in existence and easily carrying an eight-figure price tag. A few years ago, a 250 GTO supposedly changed hands for nearly $30 million, but no one can completely confirm the rumor.

We will, however, have more details about the next sale of a 250 GTO. RM Auctions have announced that they will be doing a “private treaty sale” of 1963 250 GTO chassis #4675GT. The car has been in possession of its current Japanese owner, Yoshiho Matsuda, since 1996 (a low point for the value of the car compared to the high prices of the late 1980s), and it has an extensive racing history.

We saw the car at the Pebble Beach Concour d’Elegance back in 2004, and while its Series II bodywork isn’t quite as stunning as earlier models, it’s still an extraordinarily beautiful car. If you’ve got millions of dollars just sitting around, now is the time to break out the checkbook and buy your very own rolling piece of V12-powered Italian artwork. Hit the jump for the official press release from RM or click the high-res gallery below for a beautiful studio shot plus several of our photographs from our 2004 encounter with the car.

Non-Studio Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: RM Auctions]

Continue reading Ultra-rare 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO up for sale by RM Auctions… will it set a record?

Ultra-rare 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO up for sale by RM Auctions… will it set a record? originally appeared on Ferrari News on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Ferrari, Racing

We know, we know. The pace set on track tests doesn’t necessarily indicate how a given team, car or driver will perform in an actual race, let alone across a whole season. But it’s hard not to read too much into it when we’ve been waiting for a sign since the end of last season, when the winningest team in all of motorsports - which has been working on this car since the middle of a dismal last season - with its veteran driver recovered from injury, and with a two-time World Champion taking the helm for the first time, when all these elements come together and the team absolutely dominates.

Half of the F1 teams that’ll be competing for honors this season descended on Valencia for three days of official testing. And when all was said and done, Ferrari had dominated the time sheets on each of the three days. The first two days saw Felipe Massa run the new car, setting the fastest times on both days. Then Alonso took his turn on Day 3, beating Massa’s time and everyone else’s in the process - including returning seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher in the new Mercedes and reigning champion Jenson Button in the new McLaren.

For his part, Alonso was quick to quell speculation. Reliability, fuel loads, yadda yadda yadda. But when this is the first and only indication we have of how the season is shaping up, we can’t help but sit back and stroke our five o’clock shadows in contemplation. We invite you to do the same while viewing the mega gallery of on-track images below.

[Source: Ferrari]

Pics Aplenty: Alonso, Massa dominate Valencia testing in new Ferrari F10 originally appeared on Ferrari News on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Safety, Videos, Lamborghini, Ferrari

People… people! How many times do we have to tell you not to brag about your illegal activities on the Internet? The latest to run afoul of this bit of common-sense is an employee at St. Louis Motorsports, an exotic car dealership. The offense? Driving dealer-owned Lamborghini and Ferrari models at speeds of up to 150 mph on public roads. In the slow lane. As you can already predict, the local Chesterfield police didn’t pull over the Italian exotic-driving dealer employee - he incriminated himself by recording his high-speed escapades and posting them on YouTube. Genius.

Equally predictably, the city’s local Fox affiliate went to St. Louis Motorsports owner Jim Mills to ask him if he knew that his driver had been speeding. His explanation? He says that the offending driver was a rogue employee and that he has since been reprimanded. Mills also said he was not aware that the driver was driving at a high rate of speed - even though the dealership was aware of the videos. Sounds a bit like horse dung to us. We’re not altogether sure what Mills means by “reprimanded,” but if it was one of our employees caught driving one of our $200,000 vehicles, they’d be kicked to the curb with a quickness. If that employee’s actions later led to a visit from the Fox affiliate, well, we’d fire them twice. Hit the jump to watch the Fox 2 News footage.

[Source: Fox 2]

Continue reading Video: St. Louis exotic dealership employee nailed for 150 mph test drives on YouTube

Video: St. Louis exotic dealership employee nailed for 150 mph test drives on YouTube originally appeared on Ferrari News on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Car Buying, Performance, Ferrari

A couple of years back, Ferrari was widely rumored to be working on an “entry-level” model to slot in below the F430 (since replaced by the 458 Italia). The result was the California. And all the while they were working on it - with test mules lapping Fiorano like an F1 driver recovering from a head injury - company spokesmen declared that the true entry level for new Ferrari owners was a pre-owned Ferrari. Now the famed automaker from Maranello is putting its money where its mouth is with the new “Power Warranty”.

In order to entice prospective owners and counteract the notorious unreliability of older Prancing Horses - its part of their character, say the faithful - Ferrari has launched a 24-month warranty on a wide range of certified pre-owned models in the 360, F430, 550/575, 599 and 612 ranges, including all variants: coupes, roadsters and lightweight models, no more than eight years old and with no more than 90,000 kilometers on the odometer.

The warranty is optional, includes roadside assistance, and can be purchased by current owners to extend their existing warranties. Details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Ferrari]

Continue reading Ferrari offers 24-month Certified Pre-Owned warranty

Ferrari offers 24-month Certified Pre-Owned warranty originally appeared on Ferrari News on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been almost a year since the Ferrari 599XX made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, and we’ve seen the factory-fettled racer quite a few times since. Each of those times has been either in a dealership or on a show floor, though, and the 599XX has yet to be seen running in anger. Until now.

Just ahead of Ferrari’s test of their new Formula 1 car at the Ricardo Tormo circuit outside of Valencia, the 599XX turned its first wheel on-track with none other than Felipe Massa behind the wheel. Massa led a group of seven cars around the circuit, the others piloted by the lucky members of Ferrari’s Corse Clienti program. Fortunately, we might just get to see the 599XX here in the States, as Ferrari has planned various events in America, Europe and Asia for their most special customers.

Filed under: Motorsports, BMW, Ferrari, Racing

There’s no easy way to design and build a new F1 car, but the road to Valencia has been longer for the Sauber team than its competition. The team quite nearly missed the chance to race this year after BMW withdrew its support and a subsequent deal to sell the team fell through. But team founder and namesake Peter Sauber managed to get the funds together to buy his team back, and after narrowly acquiring a spot on the 2010 grid, this is the first fruit: the Sauber C29.

Technically, the team still bears the BMW Sauber moniker, but it’s not the Bavarian automaker’s engine under the cowling: it’s Ferrari’s. The name game is simply a formality. Having run Maranello’s engines for years in the pre-BMW era under the Petronas brand, both Ferrari and Sauber are used to the arrangement.

Petronas is also gone, migrating to the rival Mercedes GP team (and not, as might have been assumed, to the Malaysian-backed Lotus team). As you can see, the C29 - the third car to make its debut during the Valencia test session - was unveiled with no sponsor branding whatsoever. Rumor has it that both drivers - 38-year-old veteran McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa and 23-year-old rookie Kamui Kobayashi (who impressed in his debut for Toyota last season) - have brought sponsorship along with them, Kobayashi in particular linked to Panasonic, which sponsored Toyota’s cars until the Japanese automaker’s withdrawal last season.

With BMW or without, Sauber’s made the grid, but the team still has a long way to go. Have a look at the high-resolution images in the gallery below and the press release after the jump.

[Source: BMW Sauber]

Continue reading Sauber launches a sober C29 for the 2010 F1 season

Sauber launches a sober C29 for the 2010 F1 season originally appeared on Ferrari News on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big deal, you say? Another F1 car, you say? Well it’s a big deal in Faenza, where Scuderia Toro Rosso is based. That’s because, in accordance with new regulations, this is the first car designed and built entirely in house since Red Bull acquired the team in 2005.

The STR5, then, might as well be called the STR1, because its predecessors were all designed by its sister team Red Bull Racing. Now STR’s on its own, and this is the sword it will wield for the 2010 Formula One World Championship. Like other teams, Toro Rosso designed its car around the double diffuser which it adopted after a clarification to the rules mid-season last year. Also like its competitors, the STR5 abandons the KERS regenerative braking system, but takes on a bigger fuel tank in light of the new ban on mid-race refueling.

MotoGP racing star Valentino Rossi has ventured from two wheels to four a few times in the past, and he’s always come away smiling when given the chance to strut his stuff on a Formula One track. This latest testing session, though, has left many highly impressed and others understandably worried.

Various reports have put Yamaha’s star rider into the Ducati paddock come 2011 or so, but after registering times around the Mugello circuit in an F2008 racer that were just two-tenths of a second behind Kimi Raikkonen’s outright lap record of 1:21.67 (set in the same car, for what it’s worth), Yamaha team manager Davide Brivio said, “The greatest danger is Ferrari.