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Drive inks 10-episode deal with NBC Sports Network

Today is a good day for Chris Harris, Mike Spinelli and Matt Farah, the hosts of the entertaining YouTube series Drive. The show has officially moved from the world of online video and become an actual, honest-to-goodness television show.
In addition to its YouTube exploits, which will continue, ten episodes of the show will air on the NBC Sports Network. The debut will run this Saturday, and coincide with NBCSN's coverage of the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix. From the sounds of it, this first episode should be unlike anything the trio could do on the Internet.
The team is going on a Top Gear-like trans-European adventure in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series, a Ferrari F12 and a McLaren 650S. The three will converge on Monaco, and explore the legendary atmosphere that surrounds the principality when the Formula One World Championship rolls into town.

Ferrari stock falls after new CEO calls Marchionne's goals ‘aspirational’

MILAN — Ferrari's new boss sought to reassure investors that he would execute midterm targets set by his predecessor, Sergio Marchionne, but the stock has fallen by 12.5 percent since Wednesday after he described the goals to 2022 as "aspirational." Louis Camilleri was appointed chief executive of the Italian supercar maker on July 21, succeeding Marchionne, who fell seriously ill and later died after suffering complications following surgery. The sudden change jolted investors who had expected Marchionne, who nearly tripled Ferrari's value since taking it public in 2015, to stay on as CEO and chairman until 2021. It also left Camilleri, 63, to finish scripting a midterm strategy that will be presented in September and is meant to show how the company plans to achieve financial targets unveiled earlier this year, notably a goal to double core earnings to 2 billion euros ($2.33 billion) by 2022. In a post-results conference call with analysts, Camilleri said he and Marchionne, with whom he had interacted for years, shared the same ambitions for the company. The tobacco veteran, chairman and former CEO of Philip Morris International has served on the Ferrari board since 2015, while Marchionne in turn sat on the board of PMI. Asked about how he planned to deliver on the targets set by his predecessor, Camilleri said he would provide details during capital market days to be held on Sept. 17-18 at the company's headquarters in Maranello, Italy. "They are aspirational targets. At the capital markets day, we will tell you how we plan to get there," he said. "We will also have to disclose potential risks to that, but also significant opportunities that we see going forward." Ferrari's Milan-listed shares fell after the comments, and its shares on the New York Stock Exchange fell from a Wednesday high of $134.77 to $117.99 on Thursday morning. Tough act to follow At Ferrari, Camilleri has a tough act to follow. Marchionne orchestrated Ferrari's spinoff from parent Fiat Chrysler, positioned it as a luxury icon rather than a car manufacturer, and managed to do what few thought possible: sail through a self-imposed cap of 7,000 vehicles per year without sacrificing pricing power and exclusive appeal. When its share price hit a record high of 129.90 euros in June, the company that sold just under 8,400 vehicles last year was worth around 24 billion euros, almost as much as Fiat Chrysler, which shipped 4.7 million cars.

Crashing a Ferrari was the best life lesson I've ever had

I screamed out a string of expletives as the gleaming Rosso Corsa-bodied F430 spun sideways through the curve, locking up the brakes, and sending the $240,000 Italian masterpiece sliding into the forest, coming to an abrupt and grinding halt, narrowly missing the tree line and avoiding my untimely death. As the proverbial dust had settled, I knew that I had been through one of the most harrowing experiences of my life and I was alive to tell the story. I knew for sure I would never live this down, not financially and definitely not socially ... or so I thought. Big mistakes often have a polarizing effect where on-one-hand we don't have a real way to know the scope of the damage and this results in fear of the unknown, but on the other hand we usually know we're okay and this results in strange internal calmness. For me this experience led to a major life lesson, an amazing story to tell, and a level of humility that served to be instrumental in all of my future endeavors. Throughout my entire childhood I had built up an obsession with Ferrari. I grew up with a poster of a yellow F355 Spyder above my bed, and like many kids I admired fast, ridiculous, and unattainable cars. Fast forward to adulthood, I found an opportunity that coincided with my love for these cars and a chance to drive one from the lauded brand as a birthday present to myself. A local exotic car rental business had a package that allowed you to test drive six exotic cars from various manufacturers, each more colorful and ostentatious than the last. I knew this was my chance to come up close and personal with the cars of my dreams. That is, until the whole experience went awry. On the day of my dream car tour, I drove myself and a friend to the New Jersey headquarters of the rental company. Greeted by nearly two dozen of the finest exotic vehicles available for purchase, doors open, the visual experience alone proved to be astounding. In addition to completing a slew of legal paperwork, we were all required to watch an introductory safety briefing, complete with photos of various past mishaps on the tour. The instructor stressed the importance of safety and actions we should take care to avoid. Our carefully planned route along the winding hills of Harriman State Park were detailed prior to departure. Each of the six drivers for that day would take their allotted turns at commanding two-Lamborghinis, two-Bentleys, one-Maserati and one-Ferrari.