Ferrari auto news

Official: Ferrari unveils new step-nosed F2012... snow be damned [w/video]

Few things can stand between a Ferrari and the finish line. Not rain, not sleet and certainly not snow. So while the latter fell in prodigious quantities on Maranello, where Ferrari was planning to unveil its latest F1 challenger yesterday, that didn't stop the Scuderia from showing it off to the world, through the magic of this newfangled invention they're calling the "internet".

The F2012 you see here is the fifty-eighth F1 car built by Ferrari, comprising a chassis and powertrain developed and produced entirely in-house: a rarity among F1 teams, particularly in these past few years since major manufacturers like Honda, Toyota and BMW withdrew from the sport.

The most prominent change to the car's form over the F150

Official: Ferrari F1 launch snowed out in Maranello

If you grew up in a sufficiently northern climate, you probably remember staying eagerly tuned in to the local radio or television station, praying on a cold day that enough snow would have fallen for them to close the schools. Well that's what's happened in the Modena area in northern Italy, but while the school children may be celebrating in their jammies, the racing fans among them will be disappointed to learn that the snow has caused the launch of the latest Scuderia Ferrari single-seater to be canceled.

Enough snow, as you can see from the photo above, has fallen on Maranello to not only close down the team's private Fiorano test track - which was supposed to be used for the car's first demonstration run - but also all the roads leading to and from the site, preventing the motorsport press from getting there.

Ferrari will undoubtedly reschedule or make alternate arrangements to unveil the new car, but for now, the latest scarlet speedster will have to stay under wraps. Official announcements can be found after the jump.

Continue reading Ferrari F1 launch snowed out in Maranello

Video: Watch as a Ferrari FF goes rallying in the snow

Ferrari has had its share of drivers who knew their way around a snowy rally course. Gilles Villeneuve, for example, was famous for the drifting techniques he picked up racing snowmobiles in his native Quebec. And Kimi Raikkonen, for another, left the Scuderia for the World Rally Championship where he exercised his Finnish roots. Thing is, both of these top drivers were gone from the Ferrari roster long before the company introduced the FF as its first all-wheel-drive car.

That's where Markku Alen comes in. The former World Rally Champion took the FF up to the Arjeplog track in the north of his native Sweden, just an hour's drive south of the Arctic Circle, to stretch it out in the snow. Fortunately, he also brought a film crew along. While Ferrari's shot footage of the FF playing in the snow before, none of it came out quite as majestic as this clip. Follow the jump to check it out.

Continue reading Watch as a Ferrari FF goes rallying in the snow

Official: Alonso and Massa get a pair of Ferrari-red Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8s

There's no end to the perks of being a Formula One racing driver, especially if you happen to drive for Scuderia Ferrari. As if piloting one of the fastest F1 cars on the grid weren't enough, Ferrari has gifted each of its gifted drivers his own 458 Italia, Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari and Maserati GranCabrio, to name just a few. And something tells us that if either Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa wanted anything else from the expansive Fiat-Chrysler product range - say, a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, for example - that would hardly pose a problem.

That's exactly what the talented duo got the other day at the Fiorano test track at Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, where the first two examples of the new SRT8 in Europe were delivered to the pair of stars. Certainly, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 has plenty to love, what with its 6.4-liter Hemi V8 and 5-second dash to 62 mph, but Fernando And Felipe got more than that.

These two unique examples were decked out in Rosso Corso , with matte black front grille, a black offset racing stripe, black roof, carbon fiber trim and white accents. Ride height was lowered by 1.5 inches on unique forged and painted 20-inch alloys, and the interior has similarly been decked out in red leather accents and top-stitching and even yellow dials on the instruments.

Nice work if you can get it. All you have to do is convince the most victorious team in motorsport that you've got what it takes to be world champion, and you can have one too. Otherwise you can follow the jump for the press release and scope out the high-res images in the gallery above.

Continue reading Alonso and Massa get a pair of Ferrari-red Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8s

Report: Pininfarina P4/5 Competizione going hybrid?

Race cars are going hybrid these days. Formula One racers store regenerated brake energy. Porsche packs a flywheel into the 911 GT3 R. Just the other day, Toyota unveiled its new TS030 Hybrid endurance prototype. And now even Jim Glickenhaus' one-off Ferrari-powered, Pininfarina-designed P4/5 Competizione is said to be getting a hybrid powertrain.

Emerging reports from Europe indicate that the GT prototype is preparing to return to the Nürburgring-based VLN series, but this time, it'll be packing some electric boost. That bit is tipped to come from a system provided by Magneti Marelli that's similar to the Kinetic Energy Recovery System it developed for Scuderia Ferrari for use in F1. The 4.0-liter V8 will continue providing principal motivation, but the added jolt of power could be just what the team needs to conquer the Green Hell with green(er) propulsion.

Report: Ferrari FF converted to run on bio-ethanol packs 875 hp

There are drawbacks to every kind of alternative to burning fossil fuels in our cars. Electric cars don't have enough range.Hybrids are burdened with what essentially boils down to two parallel powertrains. Hydrogen is limited to where it is available. Bio-ethanol has its own drawbacks, but don't tell that to the performance enthusiast. That's because E85 - similar to what IndyCars run on but mixed with 15% pump gasoline - is not only a renewable and cleaner source of energy, it also provides more power.

Take the Koenigsegg Agera R, for example. With 927 horsepower on tap from ordinary 95-octane gasoline, the Koenigsegg is already one of the fastest, most powerful cars money can buy. But fill it with E85 and it offers up almost 1,100 hp. Now a Norwegian firm is offering an aftermarket bio-ethanol conversion for the Ferrari FF that provides a similar transformation.

Whereas the stock FF (which could now just as easily stand for Flex Fuel) already drives a prodigious 650 horsepower to all four wheels, the converted version packs a whopping 875 hp for a sub-three-second sprint to sixty, all the while dropping the car's emissions figures by some 80%. The conversion costs just €1500 (less than $2k) - rather insignificant considering the FF's $300k+ sticker price - and has reportedly been fitted yb an authorized Ferrari dealer to at least one customer's car, though that doesn't mean it's covered by (and very well might invalidate) the FF's warranty.

Lee Iacocca's Ferrari F40 up for auction

Supercars play a volatile and ever-changing game of one-upmanship. With each new generation outperforming the last, it takes something truly special to endure the test of time. The Ferrari F40 is such an icon.

Built to celebrate Ferrari's fortieth anniversary, the F40 was the most extreme Ferrari ever produced to date, and the last to be ushered into production under the watchful eye of its founder Enzo Ferrari. Popular demand saw its original intended production run of 400 expand to over 1,300, but just 213 were made for the American market. This one is noteworthy.

This particular F40, you see, was built for Lee Iacocca during his tenure as chief executive at Chrysler. When the CEO of a major automaker orders a vehicle from another automaker, it says a lot. Even more so in this instance, because when this Ferrari was built, Iacocca's Chrysler also owned Lamborghini - Ferrari's longtime rival.

With fewer than 300 miles on the odometer and three owners in its twenty-one year history, this F40 is set to cross the auction block in one week at RM Auctions' event in Arizona. Follow the jump for the full listing, and check out the extensive image gallery for a closer look.

Continue reading Lee Iacocca's Ferrari F40 up for auction

Official: Ferrari 458 Spider configurator goes live

If we had the money to splurge on a new exotic, we'd take a long, hard look at the Ferrari 458 Spider. Unfortunately, we don't, so we'll settle for playing with Ferrari's latest online configurator instead.

Just launched for the 458 Spider, it lets would-be buyers and dreamers spec out their roadster with 38 colors, six wheel designs, and dozens of exterior and interior trim options to choose from.

Click on through and have some fun. You can start working towards buying one tomorrow.

Alonso and Massa slalom Ferrari FF coupes on the slopes [w/video]

Ferrari factory drivers are used to racing in all sorts of conditions: under the baking sun, in the pouring rain, at night and at sunset. Competing in the snow has historically been beyond their usual purview, but then again, Ferrari never made an all-wheel-drive vehicle before. That's where the FF comes in.

The Ferrari Four, as you may recall, channels its 660 horsepower to all four wheels through an innovative new all-wheel drive system that ups the traction but ditches much of the weight penalty usually associated with these types of systems systems. Ferrari has taken the occasion of its annual Wrooom event - a pre-season retreat at Italy's Madonna di Campiglio ski resort - to demonstrate the FF's abilities by putting its star Formula One drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa behind the wheel for a downhill slalom.

So who won? Ferrari says it was a dead tie. But while we don't believe that bit any further than we could throw one of their sportscars (light as they may be), there ought to be plenty of time to see which driver is quicker when the F1 season kicks off in a few months. In the meantime, you can check out the video and press release after the jump, along with our high-resolution gallery above.

Continue reading Alonso and Massa slalom Ferrari FF coupes on the slopes [w/video]

Video: Watch a Volvo Amazon wagon race a Ferrari 599... and win

We're more than happy to admit we have an intense fondness for the classic Volvo Amazon, especially in wagon form. Among its many virtues are its timeless styling, rugged Swedish structure and, with its range of four-cylinder engines, reliability and economy.

Fast, however, it was not.

At least, not in stock form. But at least one enterprising man named Mattias Vöcks, who works for none other than Koenigsegg, decided to build an Amazon that was debuted back in 2006 at the SEMA Show in Vegas with a bit more power. As in 600 horsepower, courtesy of a turbocharged 2.8-liter inline six-cylinder engine. Yep, that ought to do it, eh?

In fact, it's enough power to embarrass a Ferrari 599 in a straight line. Don't believe us? Check out the video after the break for some terrifyingly fast turbo brick action.

Continue reading Watch a Volvo Amazon wagon race a Ferrari 599... and win