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EVO dubs Ferrari 458 Speciale its Car of the Year

While some publications are concerned with finding the best car or truck for the average buyer and slapping a ribbon on it, or (in our case) identifying the best new automotive technology of the year, across the pond our compatriots at Evo are more single-minded in their approach. Every year, the British car mag awards its Car of the Year to its top new performance automobile on the market. And this year, they've picked the Ferrari 458 Speciale. The stripped-out supercar from Maranello beat out some heady competition. Second place went to the Jaguar F-Type R, followed by the Porsche Cayman GTS, VW Golf R, Renaultsport Megane 275 Trophy-R, BMW i8, McLaren 650S Spider, Aston Martin Vanquish, BMW M3 and, last but not least, the Audi S1. It was only the second time a Ferrari won the eCOTY award, after the 599 GTB Fiorano took top honors in 2006. Precedent suggests the magazine typically hands the award to a version of the Porsche 911 – like the GT3 that won last year, preceded by other Elfens in 2011, 2010, 2007, 2004, 2003, 2000, 1999 and 1998 (when the award was inaugurated). Why is the latest 458 derivative so... Speciale? Watch this video to find out.

Driver, track worker survive horrific Ferrari 458 crash at Suzuka

Two people are lucky to be alive after a brutal crash during a recent Ferrari 458 Challenge event in Japan. Driver Shigeru Terajima lost control of his machine on the Suzuka Circuit start/finish straight, left the course at nearly 200 miles per hour and struck the inside wall where a corner worker was standing and monitoring the race. The 458 immediately disintegrated, sending bits of carbon fiber bodywork, suspension components, wheels and tires scattering into the infield and across the race course. The passenger cell spun through the air before coming to a stop on its roof.
Miraculously, both Terajima and the corner worker survived the incident. While the driver was transported to a local hospital in serious condition, he's expected to make a full recovery. The track worker, meanwhile, saw the incident coming and dove out of harm's way at the last possible moment, saving him from the brunt of the impact. You can watch an observer's frightening footage of the Ferrari crash by scrolling below.

Ferrari 812 Superfast roadster on the way next year?

We'll lay this rumor here as a marker and compare it to future events. In a thread on the Ferrari Chat forum anticipating the reveal of the Monza SP1 and SP2, Ferrari expert Marcel Massini stopped by a few weeks ago to write, "Just wait till the 812 S Spider comes out (with a folding roof similar to the Portofino)." We don't know where Massini got his information, but he comes with credentials. The Swiss resident has been called "the world's leading Ferrari historian," documenting the Italian carmaker in books and articles for more than 35 years, and in 2014 he debunked the story of a 250 GTO for sale for $63 million because he knows where each of the 39 remaining GTO's are parked. If there's an 812 Superfast convertible on the way, the question is whether it will be another severely limited edition. Ferrari has lately been at its most restrained with V12 series production convertible models. The most recent was the F60 America, based on the F12 Berlinetta. That model was for the U.S. only, and Ferrari built 10. Before that, Ferrari made 80 examples of the 599 SA Aperta; this is the company that built 209 of the LaFerrari Aperta. The Ferrari 575M Superamerica, the first Ferrari with an electric hardtop, got 559 examples, and the brand made 448 models of the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina in 2001. You need to go back to the 1973 365 GTS/4 for the next-most-recent droptop V12. As for the roof mechanism, another forum member said he'd seen the car and the roof opens in the style of the mid-engined 488 Spider. On the Portofino, the entire rear decklid raises, the roof and backlight split in two, and a folding truss lays them upright in the trunk. The 488 roof also breaks in two, but it flips around hinges atop the B-pillar, resting upside down in a space above the engine. Mimicking the 488 for a front-engined GT would evoke the 575 Superamerica. That glass roof and backlight on that car were one piece that rotated around the B-pillar axis; when the roof was open, the underside of the roof was exposed. A bit of trivia: Leonardo Fioravanti designed the droptop 365 GTS and the roof mechanism for the 575 Superamerica. Yet another forum member said he attempted to place a deposit on a convertible 812S, but his dealer didn't know anything about the car, which isn't surprising. Related Video: Forum user gt_lusso wrote that the 812S Spider will come within 12 months.