2003 Ferrari 360 Modena Spider/flawless! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Chris Harris wrings out Ferrari F40 and F50 on track

Chris Harris one of the most beloved of British automotive journalists, and yet Ferrari doesn't seem inclined to take him off its black list. Something about having shined the light on the way Maranello sets up its cars for press evaluations, years ago... So the only time the auto scribe and video host we know as Monkey gets his hands on a Prancing Horse-emblazoned steering wheel is when a private owner offers Harris a drive. Fortunately, that seems to happen all the time, but rarely in such a fashion as it has for this latest video.
Here the owner of not only an F40 but also its successor the F50 has lent Harris both of his anniversary-edition Ferrari supercars and insisted that he drive them aggressively. So off they went to the Anglesey circuit in Wales to see how these precursors to the Enzo and LaFerrari fare alongside one another decades after they first hit the road.

Ecclestone wonders if F1's upcoming turbo V6s should get augmented sound [w/videos]

While every team on the Formula One grid is worried about making a good showing in this year's championship at the same time as they develop a brand-new car for next year's championship, Bernie Ecclestone and F1 circuit promoters have a different concern: how next year's cars will sound. The current cars use 2.4-liter, naturally-aspirated V8s that can reach 18,000 revolutions per minute and employ dual exhaust, next year's engine formula calls for 1.4-liter turbocharged V6s that are capped at 15,000 rpm and are constrained to a single exhaust outlet. Ecclestone and promoters like Ron Walker believe the new engines sound like lawnmowers and that the less thrilling audio will keep people from coming to races. If Walker's Australian Grand Prix really is shelling out almost $57 million to hold the race, every ticket counts. As a fix, according to a report in Autoweek, Ecclestone "suggests that the only way to guarantee [a good sound] may be to artificially adjust the tone of the V6s."
However, neither the manufacturers nor the governing body of F1, the FIA, think there will be a problem. Ecclestone fears that if the manufacturers "don't get it right" they'll simply leave the sport, but the only three carmakers and engine builders left next year, Renault (its 2014 "power unit" is pictured), Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari are so embedded that it would stretch belief to think they'd leave the table over an audio hiccup - if said hiccup even occurs. And frankly, these issues always precede changes to engine formulas, as they did when the formula switched from V10 to V8; fans, though, are probably less focused on the engines and more on the mandated standardization of the sport and the spec-series overtones that have come with it.
No one knows yet what next year's engines will sound like, but we've assembled a few videos below to help us all start guessing. The first is an engine check on an Eighties-era John Player Special Renault with a 1.5-liter V6 turbo, after that is Ayrton Senna qualifying in 1986 in the Lotus 98T that also had a 1.5-liter V6 turbo, then you'll find a short with a manufactured range of potential V6 engine notes, and then the sound of turbocharged V6 Indycars testing last year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Any, or none of them, could be Formula One's future.

Ferrari SUV in the works, finally?

There are some things that Ferrari just won't do. Pink cars. Electric vehicles. SUVs. Well, about that last one... There's long been talk about Ferrari taking the leap and producing a utility vehicle to rival the likes of the Porsche Cayenne (but, like, for way more money). Lamborghini has already gotten the hint with the upcoming Urus. Now, Car says that it can confirm that Ferrari is, in fact, working on a crossover, and the project is codenamed F16X. The British magazine even has its own artist rendering of the rumored ute, though if that's what the thing actually ends up looking like, we'll eat our hat. Car's sources in Maranello say that the vehicle will be built alongside the next-gen GTC4 Lusso (current model pictured above) with aluminum architecture, that it'll be a high-riding soft-roader, and will feature rear suicide doors with no B-pillar (picture a big opening to the rear seats). It will have all-wheel drive, building on Ferrari's experience with the FF and GTC4 Lusso. Under the hood will be a gasoline V8, possibly with a hybrid powertrain option. The Ferrari F16X won't be cheap, of course, and is expected to fetch about $342,000 at today's exchange rates. We're assuming that doesn't account for the cost of inflation between now and 2021, when the CUV is expected to launch. And don't be surprised if Ferrari does everything it can to avoid using the words "crossover" or "SUV" in reference to the F16X. Related Video: