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Ferrari-Maserati dealer folds in Las Vegas casino

The ten-year-old Penske Ferrari Maserati dealership located inside the Wynn resort in Las Vegas, where non-Ferrari owners had to pay $10 to walk among the cars, is closed. Word is that the Ferrari franchise is moving to Towbin Motorcars, which you'll know for being the home of the former "King of Cars," and more recently where Floyd "Money" Mayweather has bought 100 cars, including three Bugatti Veyrons. According to Ferrari Chat almost the entire Penske-Wynn staff will make the move, including the highly regarded service department. This being Las Vegas there are, naturally, various theories about why the only Ferrari franchise in the state of Nevada is leaving one of the state's marquee locations. We got a tip a month ago from reader Johnny Autos that Ferrari pulled the franchise, and if there is any truth to that, rumors at Ferrari Chat suggest it part of the reason could have been Steve Wynn flipping his LaFerrari before the 18-month no-sale period had elapsed. Wynn supposedly sold his $1.5 million supercar to Naples Motorsports in Florida for $3.5 million, Naples is asking $5 million for it and using it for the elementary school run in the meantime. On the other hand, Vegas Tripping says Wynn is letting the dealership go in order to get ready for the Alon – another casino – to open across the street in three years. That story believes Wynn will build a pedestrian bridge and rearrange shops on the Wynn side so that customers enjoy the kind of grand entry he would want. And then there's the theory that Penske is getting out of the Ferrari dealership business to focus on commercial trucks. No matter where the truth is in all of this, what matters to you is that you won't be able to spend $10 to check out Ferraris on the strip anymore. Which means more money for the penny slots.

Ferrari 488 GTO would be fastest V8 car ever from Maranello

It should surprise absolutely no one to learn that Ferrari may be cooking up an even hotter variant of the 488 GTB. If a report from Autocar is true, the new car will resurrect the hallowed GTO moniker and pack more than 700 horsepower from its twin-turbocharged mid-mounted V8. It would be the successor to the wild and wonderful Ferrari 458 Speciale, the swan song for the naturally aspirated V8 in Maranello. This will be the fourth time Ferrari has used the name GTO. The first was in the 1960s on the 250 GTO and then again in the 1980s on the 288 GTO. Most recently, a more track-oriented variant of the 599 GTB was released as the 599 GTO. Each of these cars eschewed most pretense of comfort and civility in the pursuit of power and performance. While they didn't carry the GTO moniker, the 430 Scuderia and the 458 Speciale were designed with a similar philosophy. Since the standard 488 GTB already makes 661 horsepower, it doesn't seem like a stretch to up the boost and strengthen the internals to move the needle past 700. Ferrari can't let the new 710-horsepower McLaren 720S have all of the fun. The 488 GTO should use lighter components and lose some interior trim and sound deadening to drop weight. Autocar believes the new model will dip below 3,000 pounds, absolutely svelte for a car this size. The car should have better aero, a revised suspension, and higher performance wheels and tires. For non-Ferrari comparison, think Porsche 911 GT3. We've seen some s py shots of a new Ferrari recently, but at the time we thought this might be the rumored Dino. It's unclear if that's still the case, but either way, look for something big from Ferrari sometime later this year. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Kimi Raikkonen returns to Ferrari

The so-called "silly season" in Formula One conjured up all kinds of rumors, and most of them revolved around Kimi Raikkonen. Would the 2007 World Champion stay at Lotus? Would he switch to Red Bull to replace Mark Webber? Would he return to Ferrari?
Well now we have the answer. Ferrari has confirmed that the Finn is heading back to Maranello, where he will partner with Fernando Alonso starting next season in a two-year deal. That means Felipe Massa, who has been at Ferrari since 2006 but has struggled to keep up the pace since his catastrophic crash in 2009, will need to find a new seat.
The announcement opens up a series of questions as a game of musical chairs commences. Where will Massa go? Who will fill Raikkonen's seat at Lotus? And will Alonso tolerate the team bringing in another former champion and serious contender to challenge his position as number one at the top team? We'll just have to wait and see, but the move in and of itself demonstrates a certain businesslike lack of personal emotion on Kimi's part, having been unceremoniously dumped by Ferrari three years ago to make way for Alonso. Head on down below for the rather Raikkonenly brief announcement.