2012 Ferrari Ff on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ferrari California T is a topless turbo turismo

As expected, Ferrari has today officially pulled the covers off the latest version of its front-engined California grand tourer ahead of the car's impending live debut at the Geneva Motor Show. The headline news, again as expected, is a new 3.9-liter turbocharged V8 engine. Ferrari promises zero turbo lag from its innovative new engine, which is rated at 560 horsepower and 557 pound-feet of torque.
That's 70 more horses than the last California, which, coupled with its 49-percent increase in torque, allows the new California T to accelerate from 0-62 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds. Fuel mileage is improved by 15 percent, and emissions are down 20 percent. Also, for what it's worth, Ferrari promises "the most exhilarating soundtrack any turbo has ever yielded." Sounds pretty good to us...
There's plenty more of interest besides the new turbocharged engine, such as the retractable hardtop that turns the four-seater into a convertible in 14 seconds, improved steering response, reduced roll and pitch when cornering and carbon-ceramic brakes.

The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix flipped all the scripts

The Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit and the Hungaroring fly the flag for processional races, yet Spain's Circuit de Catalunya is arguably as bad. Before this weekend, the pole-sitter won the race 19 times out of the last 25 years. The front row of the grid produced 23 winners in the past 25 years. The racing gods edited that script this year, when a first-lap crash and two mid-race strategy changes kept things open until the end of the 66-lap race. It started when Mercedes-AMG Petronas teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton took each other out on Lap 1. After Rosberg passed pole-sitter Hamilton into Turn 1, Rosberg's car slowed through Turn 3, somehow in the wrong mode. Hamilton closed in on Rosberg so quickly that once the Brit ducked inside for the pass, he couldn't back out. Rosberg, however, closed the door so suddenly that Hamilton had no choice but to drive onto the grass. When Hamilton spun, he collected Rosberg and both Mercedes' ended up in the gravel trap. The stewards deemed it a racing incident. The crash put Red Bull teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen in the lead, followed by Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz and the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Both Ferraris cleared Sainz by Lap 10, leaving 56 laps for them to haul in the Red Bulls. Ferrari loosely followed Red Bull's pit strategies. Ricciardo pitted on Laps 11 and 28, Vettel pitted on Laps 15 and 37. Verstappen pitted on Laps 12 and 35, Raikkonen pitted on Laps 13 and 36. Pirelli predicted a three-stop race as the fastest and that the medium tire could only go about 23 laps. Verstappen and Raikkonen didn't get those memos. So while Ricciardo and Vettel came in for third stops the Dutchman and the Finn stayed out, with Verstappen ahead of Raikkonen at the front of the race as of Lap 43. That's when Verstappen – 18 years and 227 days old – proved how good a driver he is, lapping perfectly as second-place Raikkonen closed the gap to a little more than half a second. The Finn still couldn't get past the Dutchman down the pit straight even with the help of DRS, nor under braking at the only real passing opportunity into Turn 1. At the end of Lap 66 Verstappen crossed the line ahead of Raikkonen, a victorious end to Verstappen's first race weekend after being promoted to Red Bull. Further back, Vettel and Ricciardo fought for scraps, the German staying ahead to finish third.

These are the front-runners to take over at Ferrari

Yesterday Ferrari announced a changing of the scarlet-clad guard with the departure of longtime chairman Luca di Montezemolo. Having run the company since shortly after the passing of Enzo Ferrari himself, Montezemolo built the Prancing Horse marque up to the benchmark supercar manufacturer, victorious racing team and household name it is today. In short, Ferrari - and most crucially, its parent company Fiat - will face a most difficult challenge in filling il Advocatto's handmade loafers and putting the company back on the track which Montezemolo laid down over the course of the past two decades.
The question on everyone's mind is, to whom will that challenge fall? To quote Goose from Top Gun, the list is long, but distinguished. Join us as we run down the roster of potential assentors to the leather-clad, carbon-fiber bucket seat at the head of the big table in Maranello.