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Tax The Rich returns with reckless driving in a Ferrari 288 GTO

Tax The Rich, the YouTube channel that exists mainly to terrorize ultra-rare, ultra-expensive cars like the Jaguar XJ220, Ferrari Enzo and Rolls-Royce Phantom, has come out with its first video in two months, starring one of the rarest Ferraris of the past 40 years - the 288 GTO.
Now, by Tax The Rich standards, its treatment of the 288 is better than what the Enzo or the Rolls (especially) got in their videos. The most cringe-worthy parts are in the very beginning, before transitioning to actual roads (yes, we know the 288 was originally meant as a Group B rally car, but that makes zipping about on grass and dirt in a very rare Ferrari no less difficult to watch). After that, it's more of the stuff we wish collectors would do with their cars - drive. Seeing and hearing this 288 GTO at full clip is a thing of beauty, and something we wish were a far more regular occurrence.
Take a look below for the latest video from Tax The Rich.

Ferrari makes 488 Pista official with 711 hp, racing tech, photos

Instead of letting the internet get the best of its new V8 Special Series coupe, a day after images leaked Ferrari released a batch of details and photos on its 488 Pista track-day weapon. The twin-turbo 3.9-liter V8 produces 720 of France's Cheval Vapeur, which equates to 710 of our U.S. horsepower, while torque churns in at 568 pound-feet. Those numbers outdo the 488 GTB by 50 hp and eight pound-feet, and will get the 488 Pista in its lightest guise from a standstill to 62 miles per hour in 2.85 seconds, with 124 mph arriving in 7.6 seconds. Maximum velocity tops out at 211 mph. We say "in its lightest guise" because Ferrari records the 488 Pista's weight as 2,821 pounds dry, but with an asterisk that explains said weight can only be achieved "With optional lightweight features." As of now we have no idea what those features are, but along with other lightweighting efforts like the carbon floor, they help amputate a total of 198 pounds compared to the weight of the standard 488. Ferrari says the goal was to make the upper reaches of the new Special Series V8 "easier to reach and control," so engineers poured the brand's racing toolbox over the 488 Pista. The front S-Duct and diffuser mimic the ramp angle on the 488 GTE World Endurance racer. The sixth evolution of Side-Slip Angle Control that oversees the electronic differential, the magnetorheological suspension, and the F1-Trac stability control, now incorporates Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer software that varies the brake caliper pressure. Even the livery was created to enhance the coupe's raciness, as if such ornamentation were needed. We've heard rumors that 488 Pista can lap Ferrari's Fiorano test track faster than the LaFerrari. A better comparison — one we're more eager to see, and one with a much better chance of happening — is that between Ferrari's latest and the McLaren 720S. Their specs are nearly identical. The McLaren produces 710 hp and 568 lb-ft from a 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8, weighs 2,828 pounds in its lightest fitment, sprints to 62 mph in 2.9 seconds, to 124 mph in 7.8 seconds, and has a top speed of 211 mph. Things that make you go, hmmm... We'll be at the Ferrari booth at the Geneva Motor Show as soon as the lights go up on this one. Related Video:

Buongiorno Roma! What the beautiful GT means for Ferrari's future

The new Ferrari Roma was seen in the flesh during its unveiling in Rome yesterday, and I can confirm that it is not only one of the most beautiful Ferraris in recent memory, but one of the handsomest of any contemporary sport or luxury car. Its details are predictably rich, well rendered, and pointedly, alluring and accessible. But it is not just the details in a car from the famed Italian sports car manufacturer, and one that is expected to start at around $250,000. "If you now go in the market, and you ask someone who can afford (a Ferrari) — because this is not a cheap product —why don't you buy a Ferrari? They are tempted, but most of them are a bit afraid. 'I don't know if I can drive it, it's very aggressive,'" said Enrico Galliera, the brand's chief marketing officer, in an interview with Autoblog. "And that's one of the major answers. It's not, 'It's too expensive,' or 'I don't want to have fun driving.'" There's a kind of fear of the brand's reputation for aggression and showiness. The Roma is intended to soothe these concerns, and entice new clients into the Ferrari stable. This is accomplished by making everything at once more sophisticated, more mature, and more enticing. On the inside, one is especially drawn to the big, curved and crystalline LCD instrument panel and large center screen, the cozy and coddling leather seats, and the new aviation-inspired metal toggles that act as the transmission selector. Less impressive are the capacitive haptic "buttons" on the steering wheel, but judgment will be reserved on those until we have a chance to experience them while driving, instead of just while sitting on a stage making embarrassing vroom-vroooooommmmmm noises. But it is the outside that really has me drooling. This is not just because the Roma has classical rear-drive GT proportions, with a fiendishly long hood, a selfish not-quite-four-place cabin that the brand describes simply as a "2+," and a truncated Kamm-back tail. It is because the design is so improbably clean, devoid of the strakes, scoops, spoilers, or even ancillary lines that corrupt so many modern cars. Especially evocative is the treatment of the front and rear, both of which are impossibly low, without ever feeling threateningly so. It all feels of a piece, and there's not a bad angle. "We want to transmit this idea of harmony, and a beautiful dynamic in balance," said Ferrari head of design Flavio Manzioni.