Hasta La Gadget!

Ferrari loves to extol the advances found in its drivetrains, but the unspoken rule is that its interior technology leaves something to be desired; unless you’re thinking of a 458’s manettino, even a less expensive car like the Tesla Model S is virtually in another league. The automaker may be narrowing that gap by putting Apple online lead Eddy Cue on the Ferrari board of directors. Without giving too much away, Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo points to Cue’s experience with the “dynamic, innovative world of the internet” as the motivation — as good a sign as any that the Maranello team wants to take connected cars seriously. Whenever the Apple Senior VP’s experience comes into full effect, we may see one of the few supercar lineups whose cabins are as advanced as the engines. Just don’t look for any tight integration with Ferrari-badged Acer gear in the near future.

Filed under: Transportation, Internet, Apple

Apple exec Eddy Cue joins Ferrari board of directors, raises hopes for truly high-tech exotic cars originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you follow cars or automotive racing all, you’re probably aware that Austin, Texas has a new F1 track that will be used this year called Circuit of the Americas. While the F1 race is still several weeks away, the track has just now been officially completed and the ribbon-cutting ceremony was performed over the weekend. As part of the festivities, hoards of rich and famous drivers turned up in all sorts of exotic vehicles.

The race track has 20 turns and spans 3.4 miles. All the Ferraris and other exotic vehicles that showed up at the track were owned by VIPs who actually got a chance to drive their vehicles on the racetrack. I know hoards of track day automotive enthusiasts who are frothing at the mouth for a chance to drive on this racetrack. The track ribbon-cutting ceremony also featured a number of race ready cars from various automotive racing series.

There were also racing cars on hand to zip around the track included a mid-engine Corvette racing car from the Grand Am series, a Lotus F1 car, and a crazy three-seat F1 car people could ride in. Mario Andretti was on hand at the event and made some hot laps around the track in an old school John Player Special Lotus 79 Cosworth.

I guess my invitation to this VIP and press event got lost in the mail. The first major racing event to be held this track will be the inaugural US Grand Prix the weekend of November 16. This is the Formula One event the track was built for. After that, I can only hope the track will be open to driving enthusiasts and various track day organizations at a decent price.

[via Jalopnik]

Circuit of the Americas F1 track officially opens is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Few brands in the sports car world evoke as much lust in car guys and gals as the name Ferrari. Ferrari has made the North American debut of a car it claims to be the fastest Ferrari ever built at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The car is the Ferrari F12berlinetta. Considering some of the epic sports cars the Ferrari has built over the years, calling this the fastest ever is a huge claim.

The F12berlinetta uses the classic Ferrari formula of a mid-front engine sports car with rear wheel drive. The car will available on the market for US deliveries starting in Q1 of 2013. As for the price, Ferrari didn’t offer official numbers, but estimates put the car at around $330,000. Ferrari pulled out all the stops to make the car compact and improve performance.

The car uses an all-new space frame chassis and body shell made from 12 different kinds of alloys. Some of those alloys were used for the first time in the automotive sector in this new Ferrari. The new metals and construction techniques resulted in a car that offers a 20% improvement in structural rigidity while reducing weight to 1525 kg. That makes this Ferrari V12 coupe 70 kg lighter than the outgoing V12.

The V12 engine under the hood has a maximum output of 730 BHP and the torque numbers of 730 pounds-foot. 80% of that torque is available at only 2500 RPM. The engine has a rev limit of 8700 RPM and uses an F1 style dual clutch paddle shifted transmission. The car is capable of going from 0 to 100 KPH in 3.1 seconds and can reach 200 KPH and 8.5 seconds.

Ferrari F12berlinetta makes North American debut at Pebble Beach is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Italy is known for many things from wine, to food, to hundreds and hundreds of years of human history. The country is also well known in automotive circles as home to some of the most exotic automakers on the planet. Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini all call Italy home as do several other automakers.

Owning a Ferrari is becoming more difficult in Italy as the government looks to crack down on tax evaders and boost its bottom line during the current period of economic turmoil. The crackdown on luxury goods by the Italian government has led to a record number of second hand high-performance sports cars being exported from Italy. In 2011, 4,923 exotic sports cars were exported from Italy and in the first five months of 2012 alone, 13,633 high-performance cars were exported from Italy.

The massive growth in exports of high-performance sports cars reflects the weaker overall demand for the vehicles within Italy. Sales for these super luxury cars are expected decline 47% in 2011 compared to 2008 numbers. Sales won’t return to previous levels before 2016 according to IHS Automotive. One significant reason why Italians are selling and exporting more exotic sports cars is that owning a vehicle such as a Ferrari makes them a target to the country’s tax auditors. That is in addition to increased ownership levies for purchasing these exotic vehicles.

Owners of exotic supercars such as Ferrari and Maserati models are being scrutinized by the Italian government in an effort to find tax evaders. Italian authorities have conducted raids in wealthy areas of the country and have stopped supercar owners to check whether or not the owner declared enough income to own the vehicle. Financial auditors for the government have been coming to Ferrari owner’s club events and checking every person at the event for tax evasion.

“Many Ferrari owners want to get rid of their supercars after the financial police came to one of our events near Rome and checked every driver,” said Fabio Barone, who heads the Ferrari owners’ club Passione Rossa.

[via Bloomberg]

Ferrari owning Italians are subject to tax audit is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Seeing any kind of classic car gathering is something special, but when 60 Ferrari F40s congregate in the same spot, it’s an event to pay attention to. 2012 marks the 25th birthday of classic (and rare) sports car, and to celebrate, 60 Ferrari F40 owners brought their cars to the Silverstone Classic this past weekend in the UK. MotorAuthority reports that this was a record-setting event for the Ferrari F40, as the last time an event like this happened, only 40 cars showed up.

That was back in 2007, when the car turned 20 years old. Now that the F40 is five years older (and still just as good looking), the Ferrari Owners’ Club of Great Britain thought it was appropriate to blow that old record out of the water, arranging for 60 F40s to show up this time around.

What makes the F40 so special? Well, aside from the fact that it’s a Ferrari, it was created to celebrate the birth of the company. The Ferrari F40 first rolled off the production line in 1987 as a celebration of Ferrari’s 40th anniversary, and has the distinction of being the last car commissioned by Enzo Ferrari before he passed away in 1988. Only 1,315 were made, and as such it has become one of the most sought-after Ferraris out there. With all of that being said, it’s no wonder that 60 F40 owners were willing to show off their cars during the Silverstone Classic.

60 Ferrari F40s congregate at Silverstone to celebrate 25th anniversary is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.