The Italian Olympic Committee has teamed up with Ferrari in order to develop more aerodynamical materials and better technical results in preparation for this year’s Beijing Olympic Games. The partnership surrounds the development for both winter and summer sports including materials for bobsled, luge, skeleton, speedskating, sailing, canoe and Paralympic skiing events.

The agreement, which was announced on Monday, covers the period ranging from this year’s Beijing Games to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and it enables athletes to use Ferrari’s wind tunnels, reports the Associated Press.

“There are three things we have in common: passion, the ability to work as a team and the Italian flag,” Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said at the signing of the deal. “If there is even one-thousandth of Ferrari in Italian victories, we’ll be honored.”

Weighing in at 1250kg, 100kg less than the F430, the Ferrari 430 Scuderia is powered by a 4.3 liter V8 engine that produces 510 horsepower.

The dream may be over for those fans who thought Michael Schumacher could make a good showing in the world of MotoGP, unless of course they open up a scooter class.

Schumi casually dismissed the rumors that have been flying lately, somewhat egged on by his long-time manager Willi Weber, that he was attempting to make a comeback to the racing world by entering the MotoGP round at Mugello as a wild-card. Turns out it was the rumor that was the wild-card, as Schumacher took time during his Monday run of Ferrari testing in Barcelona, to call the story, “an absolute lie.” Despite that cut and dry statement of fact, it didn’t seem like the driver held any ill-will because of the false reports, as he went on to say, “At the most, I can race on a scooter.” Now there’s something that we would pay to see.

Ferrari has announced that it has established Ferrari Japan KK, which will import the brand into the land of the rising sun.

In 2007, Ferrari shipped 376 cars to Japan, a 38.7 percent increase over 2006. Japan accounts for 5.8 percent of Ferraris shipped worldwide. The wholly-owned subsidiary, in partnership with Cornes & Company Ltd – who also sells Maserati, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce – Is the first in the Asia Pacific area, as it has a subsidiary in Asia via China. Ferrari will open Ferrari Japan KK on July 1 of this year.

Ferrari have made clear progress since last year and are ready to fight for victories in 2008, Michael Schumacher said after testing the Italian team’s new car at Barcelona.

The 39-year-old German had not driven the F2008 before, but got back to action yesterday for the first of two days of testing at the Spanish circuit.

Ferrari are using Schumacher’s expertise because of the introduction of a ban on electronic driver aids for 2008.

The seven-time champion says the new car is a real step forward compared to last year’s.

“The progress is very clear,” Schumacher told reporters at the end of testing. “In all areas, it never changes, so why it should change now. It is not one thing you have to improve to go quicker, it is just everywhere.

“I feel we are ready and prepared to fight for victory.”

Schumacher predicts an exciting season, and he reckons Ferrari and McLaren will again be the main contenders.

“It will be very interesting. You have two contenders as last year, you have some questions marks about what they can or they cannot do, so it should be very exciting.”

The German said the lack of traction control and engine braking is making the driving quite a bit trickier.

“You would be surprised how much when you have to work without all the systems,” he added.

“It is just that you have to be careful, especially in the morning when it is very slippery, you have to use your brain.”

Michael Schumacher will make his debut at the wheel of Ferrari’s 2008 contender at the final group test of the pre-season in Spain next week. We have learned that the 39-year-old German, who retired from competition at the end of 2006, is scheduled to run in the F2008 on Monday, as reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen circulates in another of the Maranello based team’s Melbourne-spec single seaters at Barcelona.

It will be the first time that the two famous drivers have gone head-to-head in the same car at the same circuit, and the occasion is therefore certain to draw much attention in the racing world.

Schumacher, 39, is scheduled to hand over the F2008 to Raikkonen’s current teammate Felipe Massa for the other two days of the test at Montmelo, a municipality north of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain.

In recent months, the German has previously tested for Ferrari at Barcelona and Jerez.

Meanwhile, at the Circuit de Catalunya on Friday (today), Ferrari is exclusively conducting a full race simulation, with Massa and official test driver Luca Badoer in command of the cars.

To capitalize on the rapidly growing number of high net worth individuals in Asia Ferrari has announced it will be opening its first fully owned subsidiary this April based in Japan. Despite economic uncertainty around the globe, countries like Japan, China, Russia and India have a growing pool of big spenders with most never having previously owned an exotic supercar.

The decision to move to Japan is also a sign of Ferrari’s gratitude towards the country, which has for long been the number two market for the make after the U.S. “The Japanese market is still going for a long time to represent the largest market in Asia,” Ferrari’s Asian chief Marco Mattiacci told reporters from Thomson Financial. “This is a market that has almost 1.2 million high net worth individuals, one of the highest concentrations of wealth in the world, so there’s plenty of opportunity. The key factor is to keep being exclusive,” Mattiacci explained.

A lack of exclusivity is a worrying concern for Ferrari. Last year the carmaker sold a total of 6,465 vehicles and with the launching of the new subsidiary this year’s level is shaping up to be even higher.

Ferrari has undertaken a number of epic journeys over the past couple of years, pitting its cars against some of the roughest roads in the world during previous drives across China, the Americas and even a global relay. Now the Italian supercars are headed to India for the latest Prancing Horse adventure, which gets underway from Mumbai on February 25th and returns to the same city on May 8th having covered a route stretching more than 7,000 miles.

The carmaker will be fielding two 612 Scaglietti supercars, the same model that was used for the China 15,000 Red Miles tour in 2005 and the Panamerican 20,000 tour of 2006. A total of 50 journalists from across the world will take turns behind the wheel of the V12-powered cars over the course of a 12-stage 72-day voyage across India.

India is one of the most important new markets for carmakers around the world. The economy is rapidly expanding and with a population of more than a billion people, everybody from motorsport groups like F1 to exotic brands like Ferrari are keen to promote their brand across the sub-continent.

There will be two cars, one red and the other white, both with only minor modifications to allow them to negotiate the more difficult tracts of the tour. The modifications involve the fitting of an underbody protector made from 4mm duraluminium rather than plastic and a slightly higher suspension setting to deal with the tougher road surfaces. Otherwise, the cars are completely stock, which means they feature the familiar 540hp 6.0 V12 and a six-speed F1 gearbox and transaxle transmission.

Despite being more than three weeks away from the first Formula 1 race of the 2008 season, Jarno Trulli has already predicted that Ferrari will win the 2008 championship. After testing in the Toyota alongside Ferrari in Bahrain, Trulli declared that “the championship already looks over to me before it has started.” The F2008 was noticeably quicker than the competition, posting lap times half a second quicker than even McLaren. Meanwhile, Trulli seemed depressed about the Toyota TF108, saying that it was “unrealistic to talk about podiums.”

Just weeks before the launch of the 2008 Formula One season in Australia, a wild hare of a rumor has started making the rounds that seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher is hankering to make a return to racing, though this time in the saddle of a MotoGP sport bike.

French newspaper L’Equipe published an article, which speculated on a possible Schumacher wild-card entry for the MotoGP race at Mugello this year. It’s known that Schumi has twice shown excellent pace (shocking, we know) testing for Ducati, but new reports say that the F1 hero may have recently taken the saddle again at the Circuit de Bresse in France.

The French report goes on to say that an affiliate of Schumacher paid a visit to the MotoGP HQ in order to secure permission to enter the Mugello race.

So far the MotoGP brass are roundly denying the story to anyone who’ll listen, but consider our interest piqued. How do you think the former champion would fare on the back of a Ducati?