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Ferrari, BMW lend expertise to Olympic bobsled, skeleton, luge

LONDON — There are plenty of reasons why the sport of bobsleigh is sometimes referred to as Formula One on ice, but few as obvious as Italy's World Cup sleds. Resplendent in Ferrari red, and with a set of team sponsor Pirelli's P-Zero tyres painted on the sides, they are even liveried to look like racing cars. Ferrari, Formula One's most glamorous and successful team, have worked with the Italian federation, whose sleds run without sponsor branding at the Olympics, since 2010 and in the run-up to next month's Pyeongchang Winter Games. Former rival BMW, title sponsor of the World Cup, has long partnered the U.S. bobsleigh team, while McLaren teamed up with Britain's bob and skeleton athletes for the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia. "There's always the link between the Formula One companies, or any motor company, and skeleton and bobsleigh," says Rachel Blackburn, the engineer who has been involved in Britain's skeleton program since 2006 and who used to work for McLaren. "There's the Ferrari sleds and the BMW sleds ... when we were at McLaren it kind of made a good story," she told Reuters by telephone from her home in Dubai. That somewhat manufactured rivalry has died down in the years since Sochi, with McLaren no longer involved and Ferrari's presence low key. But the worlds of grand prix motor racing and sliding sports still have plenty in common. Bobsled, luge and skeleton are among the fastest of Olympic sports, with bobsleds reaching speeds over 90 mph. Drivers are subjected to gut-wrenching G-forces, and crashes can be fatal. And then there is the ongoing debate about cost controls, the direction of future rules, preserving a level playing field and obsessive secrecy — all endlessly recurring themes in Formula One. 80 mph on a tea tray Blackburn said skeleton, where riders hit 80 mph on what has glibly been compared to an oversized tea-tray, sits somewhere between Americas Cup yachts and Formula One cars in terms of speed and aerodynamics. "Applied engineering is far more interesting than the pure stuff, so when its applied to something that's fun and exciting it does make it a lot easier to solve problems," she said. "There is the Americas Cup, sailing, Formula One and the high speed ice sports as well. It's the same concept.

Do we finally know which hybrid hypercar is fastest?

In order to properly compare and contrast the performance characteristics of competitive automobiles, a number of variables have to be sorted out. For instance, to diminish the human component, the same driver must be used for each lap, that driver has to be capable of wringing the maximum level of performance from each vehicle, and they should all be checked and prepared to make sure they are within manufacturer specs before hitting the track. Speaking of which, the conditions at the track – and, of course, it goes without saying that the cars have to be tested at the same location, on the same day – have to be as similar as possible. Naturally, arranging all of these variables is difficult, if not impossible, and that's especially true when the contenders are the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and Porsche 918 Spyder. As range-topping models from well-established performance players, these three hybrid hypercars are often lumped into the same category. But which one is fastest? Well, that's been a tough nut to crack, in part because the manufacturers themselves haven't always been willing to play along when it comes time to test these machines head-to-head-to-head. And so, with all that (probably unnecessary) preamble out of the way, we present to you the video above, in which this particular vehicular pedestal is toppled. All three cars are owned by a man named Paul Bailey, they were tested on the same day at the Silverstone circuit in England, and each had British Touring Car driver Mat Jackson at the helm. We're not going to spoil the results, other than to say that all three vehicles were incredibly fast and within spitting distance of one another at the finish line, as you would expect. Intriguingly, this video is said to be part one in a three-part series, so we have more Ferrari vs. McLaren vs. Porsche action to look forward to. Related Video: News Source: TheSUPERCARDRIVER via YouTube Green Ferrari McLaren Porsche Convertible Coupe Hybrid Performance Supercars Videos porsche 918 spyder mclaren p1 silverstone hypercar ferrari laferrari laferrari

Ferrari SUV officially being considered

A new report from Bloomberg seems to confirm that Ferrari is very seriously looking at creating some type of SUV. The news outlet reports that CEO Sergio Marchionne said the sports car builder will come to a final decision on the crossover in 30 months. This of course means that actual production will be several years off, if it happens at all. He also referred to the hypothetical crossover as an "FUV," which we assume means something like Ferrari Utility Vehicle or Fast Utility Vehicle. We doubt it's something offensive, but Marchionne has been quoted as preferring to be shot than have Ferrari build an SUV. If we had to guess whether Ferrari will build an SUV, we would go with, yes. Both Car Magazine and Bloomberg have reported that the company is in the early development phase of some utility vehicle. Both sources also mention similar details such as the fact that it will be based on the all-wheel-drive GTC4 Lusso platform and that there will be a hybrid powertrain option. Adding an SUV of some sort to the Ferrari line-up could also provide an opportunity to score a healthy number of sales and grow the company. According to Bloomberg, Marchionne said any sales expansion would have to be balanced with maintaining some exclusivity. But even if Ferrari sold just 2,000 units a year, as mentioned in a previous report, that would still be a 25-percent increase over the roughly 8,000 cars Ferrari sold in 2016. That number of vehicles would also keep Ferrari close to the 10,000-vehicle-per-year target Marchionne proposed a couple of years ago. Besides the chance for growth, building a Ferrari SUV would also keep the company in direct competition with other sports car builders planning their own utilities. Aston Martin will begin producing its DBX crossover sometime in 2019 and Lamborghini will reveal its production Urus SUV in December. Related Video: Featured Gallery Ferrari GTC4Lusso T: Paris 2016 View 17 Photos News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Drew Phillips Ferrari Crossover SUV Future Vehicles Performance Sergio Marchionne