Filed under: Motorsports, Ferrari, Racing
The Ferrari F430 Challenge isn’t on our normal scope of motorsports coverage, but when we heard that the series, along with the Corse Clienti cars, were going to be at Miller Motorsports Park we immediately started checking on flights. This year is the first time the series has come to the state-of-the-art track outside Salt Lake City, and hopefully it won’t be the last.
If you aren’t familiar with the F430 Challenge, it’s a spec racing series put on by Ferrari specifically for owners. Professional drivers, instructors or anyone involved in the sale of Ferraris or parts can’t drive in the series. Since each of the cars is exactly the same – a race-prepped Ferrari F430 coupe with 490 horsepower – the playing field is level. Think the races are a bunch of rich guys doing parade laps around the track? Think again. The drivers are extremely competitive and it’s not uncommon to see the cars bumping fenders and jostling for position. That was the case at Miller Motorsports Park, where there were several off-track excursions into the Tooele sand and various bits of body panels, splitters and diffusers left on the tarmac.
It makes for good entertainment, and we highly recommend attending any of the four remaining F430 Challenge races in North America this year – Infineon Raceway, Montreal, New Jersey Motorsports Park and Watkins Glen. If you can’t make it, then you’ll just have to settle for our high-res gallery below.
Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
Ferrari F430 Challenge makes first appearance at Miller Motorsports Park originally appeared on Ferrari News on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
On a quick trip into Hyde Park I couldn’t resist filming a couple of cars I saw: 01. Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Coupe 02.
A Turkish singer just set a land speed record, making him the fastest man on the planet when his Ferrari F430 averaged 182 miles per hour during a record run down a runway at an airport in eastern Turkey. Now, if 182 mph doesn’t sound fast enough to set a world land speed record, know that the driver was blind… and alone in the car. Metin Senturk became the fastest blind man driving solo with his Guinness-verified speed of 292.89 kilometers per hour (182 mph).
Senturk was followed down the runway by his driving coach, former rally driver Volkan Isik, who relayed instructions to Senturk via radio. The driver is a pop singer in Turkey who has been blind since the age of three. He said that the record run, “was really hard, like a dance with death.” When Senturk emerged from his borrowed car, he was told by the Guinness people that he had bested the old record of 284 kph, held by a British bank manager.
Filed under: Etc., Ferrari, Middle East
If you thought it took a long time to get to the top of the list and take delivery on a newly-assembled Ferrari supercar, that’s nothing compared to the time that has gone in to building the brand’s first theme park. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi has been under construction for two years now, and is finally set to open its doors to the public sometime later this year. And when it does, it will be not only the first theme park in the region, but the first of its kind in the world.
The major attractions at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will comprise some 20 rides, including two roller-coasters: one based on an F1 car, running at speeds at upwards of 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph) and shooting straight up through the massive scarlet roof structure 62 meters into the air.
The second is what you see pictured here, the GT Racing Coaster. That attraction will run two four-seat cars (styled after the F430 Spider) on parallel tracks in a race to the finish line. This is the first image we’ve received of the coaster car, and we can’t help but wonder why they don’t go with a 458 Italia-inspired car at this point. Follow the jump for a video on the park’s construction.
[Source: CarScoop]
Continue reading Video: Ferrari World roller coasters pull into the station in Abu Dhabi
Video: Ferrari World roller coasters pull into the station in Abu Dhabi originally appeared on Ferrari News on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Ferrari F430 is a sports car produced by the Italian automaker Ferrari from 2004 to 2009, as a successor to the 360. It debuted at the 2004 Paris Motor Show.[1] European left-hand drive sales began in November 2004, but right-hand drive sales did not start until Spring 2005, and the North American market did not get the F430 until Summer 2005.[citation needed] Its replacement, the Ferrari 458 Italia, was unveiled on 28 July 2009 and is expected to go on sale in Spring 2010 jeremy clarkson, Top sixth, Porsche, 911, F430, 355, 360, jaguar, RX7, RX8, EVO, Skyline, R32, R33, R34, 959, fifth gear, ferrari best car ever
Italian pub, Quattroroute reports Ferrari will show its first road-going hybrid next March at the Geneva Motor Show. Based on the 599 GTB, the Ferrari hybrid is expected to use a derivative of the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) used on the prancing horse’s Formula One cars during part of the 2009 season.
The KERS setup and the concept will reportedly use a lithium ion battery pack, and based on the diagram (right) the road car will have the battery and the power electonics mounted on either side of the rear transaxle, with an electric motor incorporated into the transaxle itself. If the road car is similar to the race car, this will essentially be a mild hybrid system providing automatic start-stop, regenerative braking and electric boost. Judging by the battery size, Ferrari won’t offer any pure electric propulsion. The system is expected to boost urban driving mileage by over 30 percent from the current 8.7 mpg (US) to a slightly less miserable 13.8 mpg.
If you checked out the images we posted of Felipe Massa’s return to Maranello, you may have spotted the returning Brazilian driver chatting with one Jean Alesi and wondered what he was doing there.
The French driver raced for the Scuderia from 1991 through 1995, scoring a handful of podiums and a solitary grand prix victory in Montreal. Along with longtime team-mate Gerhard Berger, Alesi switched places with Michael Schumacher to Benetton-Renault in 1996, then bounced between a few other teams before retiring from Formula One at the end of 2001. Since then he’s been competing in DTM and then headlined the new Speedcar Series.
With the ill-fated Asian stock car series now deceased, however, the racing world has been wondering what the retired F1 driver would try his hand at next, and on Tuesday they got their hint when Alesi showed up at Fiorano to test the Ferrari F430 GT2. Alesi’s slated to race for AF Corse, the team run by Amato Ferrari, who shares strong ties with both Maranello and Maserati but no direct familial relation despite the common name.
AF Corse is the reigning two-time champion in the FIA GT series, but is reportedly preparing to tackle the European Le Mans Series, including its headline event, next year. The test session apparently exceeded expectations, paving the way for the 45-year-old driver to race Ferraris once again, for the first time in fourteen years, next season.
![7e22b6a94c630op Unexpected winner crowned at Nürburgring 24 Hours [SPOILER]](http://ferrari-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/7e22b6a94c630op.jpg "Unexpected winner crowned at Nürburgring 24 Hours [SPOILER]")
