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Leaked Ferrari presentation drops details on super hot 488

Ferrari convened a gathering of dealers and special customers recently, and presented them with some of the specs on that special, monstrous version of the Ferrari 488 that's been percolating in public for nearly a year. Someone in the audience snapped pics of a few slides, those pics made their way to Ferrari Photo Page, and now we can assemble the loose bolts of rumor into something approaching a real vehicle. Not just "a" vehicle, but the most powerful Ferrari V8 the company has ever made. Ferrari uses the 488 GTB as the base for its Ferrari Challenge racing series; now the Italian carmaker's returned the Challenge motorsport lessons to the production car. First, the coupe almost certainly won't be called 488 GTO. Ferrari owners in the Ferrari Chat forum have been wheedling their dealers for information, and several contributors to an 80-page thread attested that even the dealers don't know the name of the coupe yet. The presentation refers to it as "New V8 Sport Special Series." This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The slides also note the "highest horsepower increase vs donor car for a V8 special series," so watchers expect more than 700 horsepower from the 488's 3.9-liter twin-turbo engine; production numbers come in at 660 horsepower and 561 pound-feet of torque. The engine making all that fuss is an evolution of the racing unit in the Challenge car, is ten percent lighter than the production car motor, and can produce a "unique track-like sound" – as if Ferraris haven't been doing that since the 1960s. The coming coupe gets more carbon fiber than ever seen in a Ferrari production car: the hood, bumpers, and large rear spoiler come in resin-soaked cloth, as do the dashboard, center tunnel, and the 20-inch wheels. Those wheels, dressed in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber, are 40-percent lighter than stock alloys. The cabin floor will be made of aluminum, with added lightness courtesy of less sound deadening and, thinner fixtures like side windows, and the omission of non-essential parts like the glove compartment. New S-ducts in front and a GTE-inspired rear diffuser help increase aero efficiency by 20 percent over the standard 488.

Track lapping in Ferrari's new 488 GTB

With the floodgates opening on impressions about Ferrari's latest 488 GTB, Chris Harris is the latest person to climb into the driver's seat and give his initial opinions on the Prancing Horse's latest turbocharged effort. The 488 GTB is a hard vehicle to pin down, though. It looks vaguely like the naturally aspirated 458 but practically every component is thoroughly revised. While the headline-grabber is the 660-horsepower, 3.9-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 that's positioned behind the driver, the coupe also benefits from new adjustable dampers, upgraded brakes, and more. To figure things out, Harris laps the Prancing Horse around the track and eventually moves to some tight, Italian backroads. Of course being a video from Chris Harris on Cars, you can expect some big, smoky slides in addition to erudite thoughts on this Ferrari with forced induction.

Miami Vice Ferrari Testarossa headed to auction

Push up the sleeves on your suit jacket, get your favorite pastel T-shirt out of the closet and put on those Wayfarers for a trip to Monterey Car Week on the California coast. One of the 1986 Ferrari Testarossa hero cars from the hit '80s show Miami Vice is heading across the auction block there on Aug. 15. Even if you have no interest looking like Sonny Crockett, this is still a beautiful Prancing Horse. The story behind the Ferraris on Miami Vice is just as entertaining as the show. For the first two seasons, Don Johnson's Sonny Crockett drove a black Daytona Spyder, but in reality it was a C3 Corvette underneath. Ferrari reportedly threatened to sue the replica maker, and a compromise was worked out to cease production in exchange for two Testarossas. Originally black, they were repainted in white to pop better in night scenes. Mecum's example is part of that duo. Beyond the TV connection, this Testarossa is one of the early examples with the side mirror on a stalk that's perched high on the A-pillar. It still packs a 4.9-liter, 390-horsepower flat-12 engine paired with a five-speed, gated manual gearbox with a recent $8,000-engine-out service. Inside, there's cream leather and even a car phone that's period correct. This example is quoted with just 16,124 miles and authentication by Ferrari North America and Ferrari Classiche. Late last year, another white Testarossa showed up on eBay claiming to be one of the Miami Vice hero cars. The seller was asking for a $1.75-million Buy-It-Now for that one. It will be interesting to see how Mecum's Ferrari performs on the auction block in Monterey. "MIAMI VICE" HERO CAR SPEEDS INTO MECUM AUCTIONS MONTEREY 2015 Iconic 1986 Ferrari Testarossa to be offered at The Mecum Daytime Auction Aug. 15 WALWORTH, Wis. – July 7, 2015 – The star of the '80s-era television series "Miami Vice" is coming to the Mecum Daytime Auction in Monterey this Aug. 13-15. No, not Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs—the flashy detectives played by Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas who fought episode-after-episode against the seedy underworld of Miami—but their 1986 Ferrari Testarossa. This iconic supercar with its signature side strakes was one of the quintessential poster cars that found itself plastered on many a teenager's bedroom wall in the 1980s, and it will now be offered for sale at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa – Del Monte Golf Course this Aug. 15.