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This '61 Ferrari 250 GT SWB could be yours for eight figures

The 250 GT SWB Berlinetta ranks among the most desirable of Ferraris, and this one has been under the same ownership for the last 47 years. Now it's coming up for auction. Chassis No. 2917GT served as the Prancing Horse marque's centerpiece at the 1961 Paris Motor Show, where it was displayed in light blue. Its first owner, however, only owned black cars, so he had it repainted. It changed hands a few times over the years, and was repainted in classic red somewhere along the way. That's the color it remains today. Its current owner is described as a well-regarded collector living in the Brittany region of France and has reportedly taken exceptional care of it, driving it regularly and bringing in the best mechanics to service it. But after nearly half a century in his care, he's letting it go. Artcurial will be handling its sale during the Le Mans Classic on July 9. We're waiting on word regarding how much the auction house expects it to sell for, but the records at Sports Car Market have similar examples selling in the past couple of years for upwards of $10 million. Given the apparent condition of this particular specimen, we don't doubt that it'll fetch top dollar. THE EX-PARIS MOTOR SHOW 1961 FERRARI 250 GT SWB BERLINETTA IN SAME OWNERSHIP FOR 47 YEARS – LE MANS CLASSIC, SALE 9 JULY 2016 – Paris – Artcurial Motorcars has raised its international profile in recent years by offering some of the world's rarest and most valuable cars at auction. The top ten most expensive cars ever to sell at auction include two cars from each of Artcurial Motorcars' last two Retromobile sales: the ex-Bardinon 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti that sold on 5 February 2016 for 32.1Mˆ / 35.7M$ – a world record price (in ˆ and GBP) for a car sold at auction – and the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider from the Baillon Collection that fetched ˆ16.3M / 18.5M on 6 February 2015. Artcurial Motorcars is also known for consigning important cars that are new to the market, a key feature of the star car in the next sale at Le Mans Classic on 9 July. The 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta #2917GT has been in the hands of the present owner some 47 years, and has had just five owners from new. This remarkable car was displayed new at the 1961 Paris Motor Show, presented in a light blue Azzuro.

Race Recap: At the Abu Dhabi grand prix, the caravan chases a mirage

Both championships have been claimed this year, with Sebastian Vettel taking the Driver Championship and Infiniti Red Bull Racing the Constructor's. But there's no skunk rule in Formula One, so the last three races of the schedule are going on as scheduled.
Abu Dhabi was the latest venue, and what the Yas Marina Circuit has lacked in racing excitement, it has more than made up for in drama. It's where Lewis Hamilton always does well and should have won but for an engine blow-up. That lead to Kimi Räikkönen taking the first win of his return, and giving Lotus its first win. It's where a championship was decided when Fernando Alonso was stuck behind Vitaly Petrov and Timo Glock and couldn't put up a fight against Vettel. And this year, it was where Mark Webber again out-qualified his Red Bull teammate and grabbed pole, just three rounds away from retirement.
He was followed by Vettel, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, the unstoppable Nico Hülkenberg in the first Sauber in fifth, Romain Grosjean in the first Lotus, Felipe Massa in the first Ferrari, Sergio Perez in the McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso and Alonso in the second Ferrari in tenth. Tenth.

Motor Trend hits Laguna Seca with Ferrari F12, Chevy Corvette, Porsche 911

According to the crew at Motor Trend, we should think of the video below "as an addendum to Best Driver's Car," a test the magazine put together that elevated the 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S above all others in the category of driving joy. It seems the brand-new 2014 Chevy Corvette Stingray wasn't able to take part in the magazine's official test, and neither was the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta.
And so Motor Trend did the only logical thing: It procured both the 'Vette and Prancing Horse as soon as it could, and put them both on track with the Driver's Car-winning 911. Of course, these cars don't actually compete against each other - the Ferrari offers up 731 horsepower and wears an asking price of $434,144 as tested, which means you could buy four loaded Corvettes for the price of one F12, and still have money left for a garage to store them in - but that's not the point of this particular test.
The point of this test isn't to listen to the beautiful sounds coming from the Porsche's flat-six-cylinder, the Corvette's pushrod V8 or the Ferrari's luscious V12, either, but the video below is worth watching for those three reasons alone. You know what to do.