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2015 Ferrari LaFerrari [w/video]

What a year it's been for enthusiasts who love high-performance, higher-dollar automobiles. The past twelve months or so have been consumed with the three horsemonsters of today's hybrid hypercar enlightenment: the Porsche 918 Spyder, the McLaren P1 and the Ferrari LaFerrari. Getting into just two of the three would be better than a lump of coal in one's stocking come holiday time, but for me, it'd still leave things feeling sadly incomplete, gnawing from within 'til the end of days.
Getting the call from Maranello, therefore, was even more fortunate and satisfying. The 918 Spyder - the only seriously green hybrid of the trio - shook me up with its sophisticated menu of technologies. The McLaren P1 remains more of a true hypercar than the Porsche, what with its e-motor designed to boost the lightweight beast to supernatural speeds above any terrestrial concerns like fuel efficiency. And now it's time for the Italian with the funny name, LaFerrari. No mistake about it: I've been waiting all year for this car a little more than I've been waiting for the other two.
This run of hypercars built up over the year like a famous three-part opera: The enthralling start of the drama sitting in the Porsche 918, tear-assing the heavier green dart around a track in Spain; then on to the UK with the lightness and quick heart of the biturbo V8 in McLaren's track-inspired P1, and it was all to be topped-off at Fiorano with the LaFerrari, fit for a Wagnerian finish.

1963 Ferrari 250 GTO sells for $70 million

The Ferrari 250 GTO is well-known as one of the most valuable cars on Earth, and quite rare with just 39 examples built. It's a reputation backed by incredible sale prices, one of the most recent being an auction record of $38 million at Bonhams' Monterey auction in 2014. Not all of them cross the auction block, and one reportedly was sold in a private sale for a stunning $70 million, thought to be the highest price ever paid for a car. The price and the sale was confirmed by Fox News after the news outlet talked to a Ferrari historian. It was reportedly sold to American businessman. The duPont Registry reported on the sale a little earlier, having learned of the sale in a forum, and notes that the buyer may have been David MacNeil, CEO of WeatherTech, the company that makes and sells various floor mats and cargo-area covers. MacNeil is a Ferrari collector and driver and may well show and drive the car in vintage races and rallies. Not only does this price exceed the last auction price, it exceeds the last rumored private sale price. Back in 2013, a 250 GTO reportedly sold for $52 million. That particular car shared some of the racing heritage of this new record setter, including a win in the Tour de France, a race that was commemorated in the name of the Ferrari F12 TdF. Related Video:

Ferrari developing V-twin motorcycle engine?

When we read reports that Ferrari had applied for a patent on a V-twin engine design, our first thought was to check the date: this says the first of October, right... not April? And so here we are, entertaining the notion that Ferrari could be developing a motorcycle engine.
The report comes from Autocar, which claims to have dug up the application to patent the design for an "internal combustion engine having two cylinders, which are arranged in a 'V' configuration." In other words, a motorcycle engine. The application reportedly goes on to describe a balancing shafts to reduce vibration. Our own research did not lead us to find the application in question, so we'll have to take it with a grain of salt for the moment. But supposing it's all on the up and up, and that Ferrari was actually developing a motorcycle engine. Would that be so out of the ordinary?
Well, yes and no. Parent company Fiat, which is taking increased direct control of Ferrari, is undoubtedly looking at rival Volkswagen and its recent acquisition of Ducati (putting it in close proximity to Lamborghini) and would be keen to get in on that action. However tenuous the relationship, Lotus has also recently authorized a motorcycle bearing its name. And of course automakers like BMW and Honda, with which Ferrari has competed on and off the race track, also make motorcycles.