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2016 Ferrari 488 GTB First Drive

After The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, after recording their first album, Iggy and the Stooges released the brilliant Fun House. Not every second creative attempt has to bomb like The Strokes' second, Room On Fire, and not every new car model has to be heavier and uglier like the Mustang II. Or at least that was the hope as I arrived in Italy for the launch of the 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB (Gran Turismo Berlinetta, if you're wondering). The new car traces its lineage back through 40 years of mid-engined V8 supercars, one that started with the 1975 308 GTB that replaced the V6 Dino series. But the 488 is also the follow-up to the 458 Italia, which is generally considered to be the zenith of all things Ferrari. With sublime handling and a yowling V8 that made you question how fast you could really travel on public roads, the Italia was an Italian missile wrapped in voluptuous aluminum. When the 488 GTB debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the portents weren't good. As well as having fewer curves and a turbo engine, trouble was brewing inside the stronghold. Last fall, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) chairmain Sergio Marchionne sacked Ferrari president Luca de Montezemolo. And Marchionne's plan to sell 10 percent of Ferrari on the stock market raises fears of hedge fund guys calling the shots at this archetypal Italian sports car maker. What's more, there's already talk of increasing annual production from the current cap of 7,000 units to 10,000. But back to the 488 GTB. The new car is based on the same aluminum underbody as the 458, but with less dramatic looks. The source of those looks is not the design department, however. "We gave them [the design department] the shape...they started with that shape." explained Matteo Biancalana, Ferrari's aerodynamics chief. So wind tunnel data penned the GTB's lines, mainly because of an ambitious target to achieve 50 percent more downforce than the outgoing model with no increase in aerodynamic drag. "We had to touch every millimetre of the car apart from the carried-over roof," says Biancalana. The front grille channels air through the radiators, cools the brakes and denies air access to the underbody, which consequently develops low pressure areas that suck the car to the road. There's a moveable spoiler under the body at the rear to reduce drag at high speed in a straight line.

Ferrari 458 Speciale A trots out its 597 sun-drenched ponies [w/video]

To say that Ferrari has made some powerful drop-tops over the years would be like saying the Pope has been known to make a couple of blessings here and there. There was the F50, the 575 Superamerica and the 599 SA Aperta, to name just a few. But this is the most powerful Spider it has ever made. Taking its curtain call at the Paris Motor Show today is the new Ferrari 458 Speciale A – successor to the F430-based 16M Scuderia Spider and lovechild of the 458 Spider and 458 Speciale. That means it's got the same 4.5-liter V8 – all 597 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of it – as the Speciale coupe, but with the folding aluminum roof from the Spider. Best of both worlds, as they say - especially with a 0-62 time quoted at three seconds flat. But since Maranello will only produce less than 500 of them, you'd better check it out in our gallery of live shots above. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Ferrari-driving kid's parents charged by Indian police [w/video]

Earlier this month, we reported on a video that was circulating the internet which showed a young boy driving a Ferrari F430 on a street in India while other children watched and two adults recorded the whole thing. And that was all that we knew at the time. Now, there is more information about the car, the kids and their parents thanks to an article in the Daily Mail. As it turns out, a wealthy businessman let his son drive the Ferrari as a present for his ninth birthday and recorded the whole thing while his six-year-old son was riding shotgun.
According to the report, the father, Muhammad Nizam, faces charges and possibly the seizure of the car for letting his son get behind the wheel. Oddly enough, the video is still up on YouTube, and we have it posted for you below.