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Ferrari makes its return to Need For Speed: Rivals in a big way

With all the excitement over Forza Motorsport 5 and Gran Turismo 6, it's easy to forget that there's another racing game from an even older franchise coming out. The latest Need For Speed installment, Rivals, is set to hit stores November 15 (this Friday) for the Playstation 4, November 19 for PS3 and XBox 360, and November 22 for the XBox One. As part of the run up to the launch, we have a great look at all the new Ferrari content for the new title, which marks only the second time the Italian marque has been in an NFS game.
The last time we saw a prancing horse in Need For Speed was 2009's Shift, when we got ten models as part of a paid, downloadable pack. In anticipation of Ferrari's return to the series, we've got a gallery of images of some of the featured models, like the F12 Berlinetta (which we've shown you before), the FF, the Enzo, the 599 GTO and both the 458 Italia and Spider. All of which are bound to make for phenomenal tools for escaping the virtual cops.
We'll have a more extensive look at Need For Speed: Rivals in the near future, but until then, have a look at the game's Ferrari content up top.

BMW, Ferrari, VW cars use tungsten mined by terrorists

Bloomberg Markets is reporting that BMW, Volkswagen and Ferrari have been using tungsten ore sourced from Columbia's FARC rebel terrorists. The extensive story focuses on Columbia's illegal mining trade and calls into question the provenance of the rare ore that is used not only in crankshaft parts production, but is also found in the world's computing and telecommunications industry for use in screens.
The ore is mined by the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army), and exported to Pennsylvania, where it is refined. The refined ore is then sent over to Austria, where a company called Plansee turns it into a finished product. Now, it's important to note that we aren't talking about the world's supply of tungsten here. In 2012, Plansee's American refinery purchased 93.2 metric tons of tungsten, valued at $1.8 million. That's peanuts, with the entire Colombian tungsten mining industry producing just one percent of the world's supplies.
That doesn't make indirectly supporting FARC any more acceptable, though. BMW, VW and Ferrari are all committed to not accepting mineral supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also in the grips of a guerrilla insurrection funded, in part, by illegal mining. The same commitment would figure to extend to Colombian mining, but as BMW points out, it's difficult for a multi-national manufacturer to know where every item in its supply chain comes from. A company spokesperson says as much, telling Bloomberg, "These few grams out of the billions of tons of raw materials passing through the BMW supply chain are of no practical relevance."

Ferrari 250 GTO heading to The Quail with no reserve

It's not every day that a Ferrari 250 GTO changes hands. It is, after all, one of the most highly coveted cars ever made, and there were only 39 of them built in the first place. So when one goes up for sale, it tends to fetch millions. Tens of millions, actually, and the prices keep escalating.
Throughout most of the 1980s they were trading hands for six figures. In 1989 one sold for $10 million. A few months later, $13 million. Prices fluctuated in the 90s, but by 2012, one sold for a whopping $35 million, eclipsed the following year at $52 million. Nobody knows what the next one will sell for, but we're about to find out.
That's because Bonhams has got one consigned for its upcoming auction at the Quail Lodge during Monterey weekend next month. And it's offering it without reserve, meaning that it could sell for the opening bid (however unlikely), it could break the previous record or it could land anywhere in between or beyond.