Ferrari 250 GT, page #6

Auto blog

Ferrari shows off SF90's four powertrain modes in new video

The Ferrari SF90 is the newest foal in the Maranello stable, and Ferrari continues to parade it for the crowds. A new video shows how the plug-in hybrid's four powertrain modes work, controlled by buttons on the lower left side of the steering wheel. The greenest mode gets a button marked "eD," for electric driving (now that Smart's effectively dead here, someone had to pick up the eD moniker). In that guise, the 7.9-kWh battery mounted transversely behind the seats sends energy to the two e-motors up front, and can power the SF90 for up to 15 miles as a front-wheel-drive coupe. Next up, the "H" button turns the SF90 into a hybrid, with a priority on maximum efficiency. The battery sends its power to the dual e-motors in front and the third e-motor between the engine and transmission, with the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 firing to work the rear wheels as well. Under low loads, the control logic can switch from Hybrid mode to pure electric driving, then reengage the ICE on demand. Above that, a checkered flag icon represents Performance mode. Here, the ICE is always running, with the priority on keeping the battery charged. The gutsiest mode gets a clock icon, representing Qualify. This extracts all the performance available, the video indicating this is where the 1,000 CV, or 986 horsepower, comes into play. It isn't clear if Qualify is the only mode that unlocks peak horsepower, of if Performance can do so as well. In fact, we're still not sure what the SF90's effective horsepower is; Ferrari added the V8's 769 hp to the three e-motors' 217 hp to reach that total output figure, which isn't how this is usually done. We'll undoubtedly get more answers once the first drives hit the interwebs. We already have a lot of questions about that intense steering wheel and its "View Max" touch controller, and the rather comely 16-inch display.

Ferrari's bid for review of penalty against Vettel is rejected

LE CASTELLET, France — Formula One stewards on Friday dashed Ferrari's hopes of overturning a penalty that denied Sebastian Vettel victory in Canada, ruling that the Italian team had not presented significant and new evidence. Vettel, who finished first in Montreal on June 9 but was demoted to runner-up behind Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton after a five second penalty, told BBC radio he was disappointed with the outcome. Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto, who had sought a review of the Montreal decision, echoed the sentiment and told reporters the matter was now closed. "As Ferrari we are all very unhappy and disappointed. We are disappointed certainly for Ferrari but for the fans and for our sport," he said. The Italian team believed they had 'overwhelming' proof to trigger a review but the FIA revealed some of that was Sky Sports' television analysis carried out by Indian racer Karun Chandhok. The Indian, who raced in Formula One for now-defunct tail-end teams Hispania and Team Lotus in 2010 and 2011 without scoring a point, was apparently unaware that his opinion formed part of the evidence. "Er... so, can I send you an invoice Ferrari? I mean, lawyers send bills whether you win or lose a case so...!!," he said on Twitter. The stewards decided Chandhok's video was "new but not significant and relevant" and the "personal opinion by a third party." The ruling means that Hamilton, a five-times world champion, has his 29-point lead over teammate Valtteri Bottas confirmed. He's 62 points ahead of Vettel. Mercedes has won all seven races this season, and nine in a row in total, and are favorites to chalk up another in France on Sunday. Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies had said earlier that the team believed the evidence to be "quite overwhelming when it comes to establishing that Sebastian did not breach any regulations." The stewards clearly found it underwhelming. They said footage of Vettel's face camera was previously available, as were analysis of telemetry data, camera angles from the car, post-race video images and the German's witness statement. The right of review calls for a team to present significant and relevant new evidence that was not available at the time of the decision. The stewards, whose ruling is final, had sole discretion to determine whether such a new element exists.

One of Niki Lauda's 1975 championship F1 cars is going to auction

If you've been looking to add some Ferrari F1 cars piloted by legendary drivers, this is your year. On top of Michael Schumacher's 2002 Ferrari F2002 going to auction by RM Sotheby's, Gooding & Co. just announced it will be selling a 1975 Ferrari 312T used by the late Niki Lauda to win that year's championship. The auction house also says this is the first time a Ferrari 312T has been offered at auction. This particular car is chassis 022, and like all 312T's, it featured a flat-12 engine and a transverse transmission. The model was new for 1975 and replaced the troubled 312B3. Lauda, having won the championship in 1975, obviously had a good year with the model, but also with this particular car. He won the French Grand Prix, and took second and third in the Dutch and German races respectively. He also secured pole positions in every race he ran in it. Since leaving racing, this Ferrari has gone to various collectors. The seller is a collector from the U.S. who acquired the car in 2008 and had it fully restored. After that, the car made an appearance at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it took third in class. So this Ferrari has both racing and show pedigree. The Ferrari will be offered at the Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach auction this August. The auction house expects it to sell for between $6 million and $8 million.

Michael Schumacher’s championship 2002 Ferrari F2002 set for auction

RM Sotheby's November auction in Abu Dhabi might still be months away, but Formula 1 just gave racing fans a huge reason to get excited for the event now. F1 and Sotheby's announced 10 early entries for the auction, and the most special of the bunch is the 2002 Ferrari F2002, Michael Schumacher's championship-winning race car. Schumacher dominated the field throughout the 2002 F1 season by finishing first or second in every race. That season, he won in Australia, Brazil, San Marino, Spain, Austria, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Japan. Schumacher didn't use this exact car, chassis No. 219, for every race, but it is the vehicle he was driving when he won at the French Grand Prix, where he secured his fifth drivers' championship title (his teammate Rubens Barrichello took second but had about half as many points as Schumacher). Ferrari, having won all but two races that season, also took the constructors' championship that year. After its time in competitive racing, 219 was used as a test car for the remainder of the 2002 season before eventually retiring the next season. Since then, it has been owned by various private collectors. The F2002 was an absolute force of a machine. It used a 299.66-cc 90-degree V10 that made 823 horsepower at 17,800 rpm that paired with a fused titanium seven-speed gearbox. The car's structure was a honeycomb and carbon-fiber composite monocoque. Steering was mechanical power-assisted rack-and-pinion. It also had carbon-ceramic composite brakes and a suspension setup with independent push-rods, twin wishbones, torsion bar springs and telescopic shock absorbers. So how valuable is a car with this much history? Well, a 2013 Gooding & Company auction at Pebble Beach offered F2002 chassis No. 220, and it sold for $2,255,000. We expect this car to easily surpass that number. However much it sells for, RM Sotheby's says "a percentage of proceeds" will go to the Keep Fighting Foundation, which is inspired by Schumacher. Mark the date on your calendar: November 30, 2019.

Ferrari seeks review of Canadian Grand Prix penalty decision

Ferrari has asked for a review of the stewards' decision that cost Sebastian Vettel victory in the Canadian Grand Prix, a team spokesperson said on Monday. Vettel finished first in the race in Montreal on June 9 but lost the win after a five-second time penalty for going off track and returning in what stewards deemed to be an unsafe fashion. Mercedes' Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton was declared the winner instead. Significant and relevant new evidence that was not available at the time is required for a team to submit a 'right of review' under article 14 of the governing FIA's International Sporting Code. The spokesperson said Ferrari, who last week dropped a planned protest against the penalty, had formally requested the review but gave no further details "due to the sensitivity of the matter." Stewards will now have sole discretion to determine whether such a significant and relevant new element existed, with their decision final. If the review is deemed admissible, a secondary hearing will be held. Mercedes has won all seven races so far this season, and the last nine in total, with Britain's five-time world champion Hamilton now 29 points clear of Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas in the standings. Vettel, who was furious with a decision that caused an immediate controversy, is 62 points adrift of Hamilton. Formula One holds its eighth race of the 21 round season in the south of France this weekend at Le Castellet circuit, where the penalty is likely to remain a major talking point. The Williams team requested a right of review last season against a three-place grid penalty handed to Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin, arguing that significant and relevant new elements had emerged. Stewards unanimously rejected the move. Motorsports Ferrari Mercedes-Benz Racing Vehicles F1 Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti gets the shooting brake treatment

As much as we love shooting brakes, since they're basically two-door wagons, the world clearly isn't willing to buy them. Most remain concepts or just designs. But someone took up Dutch coachbuilder Vandenbrink on its design for a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti shooting brake. The company finished the car this year, and the results are impressive. The shooting brake's roof fits the existing roofline of the Ferrari well, and the car's signature wide haunches haven't been hidden. The hatchback also looks like Ferrari included it from the beginning, making the car look like a precursor to the FF and GTC4Lusso. The skylights in the roof are also fascinating, and they surely make the rear seats less claustrophobic. Vandenbrink's choice of the 612 Scaglietti is a good one, too, even if it was partly dictated by the fact the company penned this design over a decade ago. It's a classic grand touring car designed to be fast but comfortable. Its large size, particularly its prominent prow, suits a long-roof design, too. The one part we slightly question are the rear pillars, which even with some creases to break them up, look a bit large and out of place. This is currently the only example of the 612 shooting brake, but Vandenbrink is happy to build additional cars on request. The company says it will work with buyers every step of the way to make sure their example is customized exactly as they wish, from the paint to the equipment. Vandenbrink even suggests it could make one geared toward horse riding or falconry. There's no price for the vehicle, though, which is probably due to the fact that each one will be custom ordered and the cost will vary. And this is undoubtedly a car you can't afford if you have to ask the price. Vandenbrink is also happy to create one of a few other sports cars, such as a roadster version of the 599 GTB Fiorano. All you have to do is ask and bring tons of money.

Ferrari hails Vettel as the 'moral winner' after 'stolen' F1 race

MONTREAL — Ferrari hailed Sebastian Vettel as the moral winner of the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday while the German raged at being robbed of victory by race stewards. "They are stealing the race from us," the angry German exclaimed over the team radio as he was told he was under investigation after running off the track and into the path of Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton. Vettel was given a five-second penalty, finishing first but having to hand victory to Hamilton. "No, no, no. Not like that. You have to be an absolute blind man, you go on the grass how are you supposed to control your car? This is the wrong world," the Ferrari driver yelled after being notified of the penalty. "It's not making our sport popular, is it? I mean, with these kind of decisions," he told Sky Sports television after the podium ceremony. He had earlier parked up in the wrong place and stormed straight to the Ferrari hospitality area before returning to the pitlane. There he rearranged the numbers in front of the cars, switching the 'one' board from Hamilton's car to the space where his Ferrari should have been. "If it had happened to me I would have kicked the damn board and thrown it against the car," said Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, whose team has now won the first seven races of the season. "I am of course biased for Mercedes, and I say there is a rule that says you need to leave a car's width when you go off the track and I think his instinctive reaction was 'I need to protect that position' and maybe that was a tiny bit too far." Wolff said he was surprised by the stewards' decision but also defended them. The officials included experienced Italian racer Emanuele Pirro, a former F1 driver and five times winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race. "I think the stewards up there need to be people that need to be supported," said Wolff. "There is Emanuele up there, it doesn't go any more professional and experienced than Emanuele. Said Vettel, "People want to see us race and that was, I think, racing. I hope the people come back, that's the main thing obviously... it's just a shame when we have all these little funny decisions." Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto indicated there could be no appeal by the Italian team but said there was no doubt about the real winner. "It's not down to us to decide, and that's the sport. But certainly if you look at the crowd, everybody I think today believes that there was nothing Sebastian could have done," he said.

Vettel hopes to pull off some Ferrari 'tricks' to end Mercedes F1 dominance

MONTREAL — Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari has a few tricks up its sleeves for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix and will need to conjure up something special if it is to end Mercedes' magical run. Six races into the season, Vettel is not ready to wave the white flag and concede the title to Mercedes, which has racked up six straight wins, five of them with 1-2 finishes. But the German admits the battle had reached a critical juncture. "The next races will be really crucial for us to try and get back to the front and give a much harder time to Mercedes," said Vettel, who finished second in Monaco last month for Ferrari's best result so far this season. "It will be crucial to do it rather sooner than later, but at the moment I am not too fussed, I am not looking at, 'OK this is the date.' "Clearly we are behind, clearly there is a big margin between Mercedes and the rest and we have to lose that gap and get ahead otherwise it will be difficult to turn around. "That is as much realism as you can get."Vettel won from pole position in Canada last year and Mercedes has suggested the high-speed circuit could again favor Italian rivals whose season has yet to get into gear. But Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will like their chances as well on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Hamilton was fastest in Friday's early practice, but damaged his car when he hit the wall in the afternoon. The five-time world champion sits 17 points clear of Bottas at the top of the standings and in his bid to equal Michael Schumacher's seven Canadian Grand Prix victories between 1994 and 2004. Not that Mercedes needed another boost, but Hamilton and Bottas will have new and upgraded engines in their cars for this weekend's race. Ferrari has already introduced its first upgraded powerplants of the season, but Vettel was optimistic tweaks to the car would benefit them on a circuit that plays to some of their strengths. "There is always little tricks you can do, the question is whether they make a difference," Vettel said. "But I am not sitting here trying to paint things black we haven't done a single lap this weekend so I am quite optimistic it was a strong track for us last year. "We have some tricks up our sleeves whether they work or not we will see.

Ferrari 458 Challenge's door pummeled by passing Mazda

Sometimes, following the simplest rules of driving can make the biggest of differences. For example, had the driver of this Ferrari 458 Challenge racecar checked his mirror before getting out, maybe a passing car wouldn't have plowed into the door. Oops. A viral video has been making the rounds this week showing a nightmare scenario between a track-focused Ferrari and a pedestrian Mazda sedan. The Ferrari is seen slowly driving through a tight street before stopping to talk to somebody through his extremely tiny race-adapted window. The driver is told to park on the side of the street, while onlookers take photos and video. Unfortunately, the driver was so focused on parking and getting out, that he opened his door without checking for incoming traffic. The door swings open right before what appears to be a Mazda 3 drives through the street. The door is obliterated, and the video stops. The 458 Challenge debuted in 2010. It has a 570-horsepower V8 from the 458 Italia, but its weight, handling, and driving characteristics were significantly altered for racing. The gear ratios and transmission were adjusted for better low-end torque, it has stiffer springs and a lower stance, upgraded brakes, and thinner body panels. Right now on DuPont Registry, there are a variety of 458 Challenges for sale ranging from about $125,000 to roughly $200,000. All said, Challenge Ferraris are intended for track use only. Maybe the driver should have listened?

European Auto Group in Texas building a six-speed manual Ferrari 458

In February, European Auto Group in San Antonio, Texas, went public with our kind of wonder car: A Ferrari F430 Scuderia with a gated six-speed manual transmission. The standard F430 did offer a six-speed manual from the factory; the hardcore Scuderia version did not. It took a lot of work, and EAG apparently did the work right; Matt Farah called the coupe "The world's greatest Ferrari." CarBuzz spoke to EAG owner Art Bartosik about what's next, and Bartosik spilled just a bit of goss about the car he'll soon reveal: a Ferrari 458 with a gated six-speed manual. Whereas the 430 Scuderia didn't offer a stickshift, the 458 Italia wasn't even designed with one in mind. The 4.5-liter V8 with 562 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque only ever swapped gears with the Italian carmaker's dual-clutch F1 transmission. The 458 has a manageable 52 hp and 51 lb-ft more than the F430 Scuderia, but EAG needed to work up a gearbox to fit the available space. Bartosik didn't divulge how he made that happen for the 458. The reworked F430 Scuderia used all OEM Ferrari parts since they were available; not so for the later car. The DuPont Registry said EAG built "a transmission with upgraded synchros" to handle the additional power, had to find a suitable clutch and suggests the firm went through a lot of prototypes, but doesn't ID the gearbox source. All Bartosik would tell CB is that there's a limited supply and he'll "only be able to build around 10 or 11 of them." Seems there are already more customers than that ready to wire funds for purchase, unsurprisingly. Bartosik said, "People are screaming for a manual 458 and 488. If the demand wasn't there, we wouldn't do it." A final development car is a few months away, with customer builds scheduled to begin in January 2020. And what might EAG do after the run is complete? Maybe a six-speed manual Lamborghini Huracan, which owners have already asked about. "The Huracan should be easier than Ferrari," Bartosik said, "because there's hidden stuff in there that gives us more flexibility." Seems manual gearboxes, like life in "Jurassic Park," will always find a way.