We all know Ferrari is never totally satisfied with their products: they always want to better themselves. Probably the reason why they made the standard 1,050 bhp FXXK even more insane. I welcome you to the FXXK EVO: an absolute beast!
Making the FXXK even more extreme was definitely a hard job to succeed in. The FXXK was already a mind-blowing car with figures such as a power output of 1,050 bhp, 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in just under 2,5 seconds and a starting price of €2,5 million. With the unveiling of the FXXK EVO Ferrari set a new benchmark in the world of high-end track weapons. As you may know, the Corse Clienti aren’t used for racing championships. They are developed to get even more better in championships such as Formula 1 and GTE. But when Ferrari has enough data to better a Corse Clienti car, they obviously go through with that. This is how Evo cars are made.
So, what are the FXXK Evo figures? There’s no information about the car whatsoever. But let’s talk about visual changes. The wing is most likely the biggest change. Instead of the two separate spoilers on the FXXK, there’s a regular one connected to a vin which is then connected to the roof of the car. This is one of the few cars on the current market that has really been shaped by the wind. This car is so aerodynamic. Even the front of the car has been redesigned with small touches. Ferrari added a lower wing on both sides and the intakes are a bit narrower. We can find a bigger side skirt as well. I personally love that Ferrari doesn’t care about critics and casually goes on with the 70th anniversary celebrations by putting ‘’70’’ on the side of the car, but I might be a bit biased…
EVO, standing for Evoluzione, has been used before by Ferrari for the same purpose. In 2007 Ferrari unveiled a EVO package for the FXX. And in 2011 Ferrari made it possible for clients to upgrade their €1.1 million 599XX with a EVO package. Components of these packages differ from a restyled rear wing, exhaust upgrade, a redesigned livery, etc.
Two Ferrari drivers on the podium was the best possible result as Hamilton takes his sixth win on the Circuit Of The Americas followed by Vettel who pushed the absolute maximum out of the car. A controversial decision by the F.I.A. puts Räikkönen on the podium.
Saturday Qualifying was a relative success, Mercedes was showing worrying domination in the practice sessions, but in the end Kimi managed P4 and Vettel was on the front row in P2, alongside title rival Hamilton.
Sunday Vettel has a perfect start and takes the lead from Hamilton into turn 1, but the joy only lasted 6 laps as he couldn’t keep the faster Mercedes behind on the long straight. Kimi was challenging Ricciardo but the Red Bull quickly pitted and was out of the race with an engine problem a few minutes later. Vettel was right behind Hamilton after the pit stop, but sadly the undercut didn’t work and the Mercedes was gaining time every lap. Kimi was staying out a long time and even leading the race for a short time. A surprising tactic from Max Verstappen sees him fitting new softer tyres on lap 38, the Ferrari strategists react quickly and bring Vettel in for new tyres on lap 39. The Red Bull already closed the gap a lot in that one lap so it was a good decision.
In the final laps Vettel was closing on Hamilton but the race was too short, Räikkönen was under big pressure from Verstappen and on the last lap the fearless dutchman launched an all-or-nothing pass, it was truly amazing to be honest, but all his wheels were over the white line and he was handed a 5 second penalty promoting Kimi to the podium after all. Lots of criticism for the F.I.A. because of this penalty, some people accusing them of favouring the Ferrari team. The rules should be followed of course, but there was a lot of track limit abuse over the weekend, including the pole lap from Lewis Hamilton. The lack of consistency in penalties has been a problem for a long time, and it’s confusing for the fans. I don’t think any team or driver is favoured, but sometimes the stewards seem a lot more strict and this feels unfair. We can only hope these things don’t happen in the future, starting next weekend in Mexico!
Mondays aren’t that bad after all. I got to spent mine at the notorious F1 track Spa-Francorchamps with a 430 Scuderia. I, sadly, couldn’t drive the car myself, but what a hell of an experience this was! Check out the video we shot at the bottom of this article as well.
Waking up early might not be my favorite thing to do, but I just couldn’t refuse my friends’ invite to a track day at Spa-Francorchamps with his 430 Scuderia. So I woke up at 05.00 a.m. and caught a train to Utrecht where my friend Ruben de la Fonteijne picked me up. We drove to a small village in the south of The Netherlands to join my other friend Robin van Arkel. He recently bought his first car; a BMW 528i. We took the BMW to Spa-Francorchamps where we ended up at the entrance of the track. We were kind of sceptical at first, but the security is pretty lousy making it fairly easy to drive through the gates and into the paddocks.
We met up with my friend @slowrabit1, so we could fill in a form to receive passenger access. We then walked to the car and asked him if it was possible to take some shots at a less busier place, so I jumped in the car (passenger side unfortunately) and we drove down to the pit boxes of the old start/finish. It started pouring with rain so it was quite hard to get good shots, but I think they came out pretty good.
Ruben and I wanted to take some shots inside the car and I asked my friend if it was okay to rev the car. He told me to do whatever I wanted, so I grabbed the keys and started her up. ‘’God, I love that sound.’’ The engine note of the 430 Scuderia is so recognizable, especially if you give it some revs.
Check out the video at the bottom of this article!
After photographing and videoing the car for about 45 minutes it was time to head out on track. It was still quite wet so he didn’t want to push it like he would on a dry track. Nonetheless an amazing first impression. I could easily remember the track from playing games like DTM Racing Driver and GranTurismo 6 back in the days. Pretty funny to experience Eau Rouge and other corners in reality now. We eventually drove back into the pits and I changed seats with Robin who had not been in a Ferrari before; great way to lose your ‘’Ferrari-virginity’’ I’d say! He absolutely loved the car and the track, which for me is what this is all about: sharing the passion. Next up was Ruben. It was also his first time in a Ferrari and he told me it will probably stay one of the best days of his life, which is a great thing to hear!
After having some delicious lunch in the restaurant on top of the pit boxes, it was time to jump in the car with another driver named Gareth. He joined the track day with a rare VW Golf GTI and was casually racing against Ferraris and Porsches with it. Although he never drove the 430 Scuderia before, I instantly felt this guy knew what he was doing. We flew through Eau Rouge with at least 180 km/h (124 mph) and reached a speed of 270 km/h (168 mph) on the long straight. At some point we were seriously racing against a Porsche Cayman GT4 and a BMW M4. We almost had them but Gareth forgot to downshift while going into a corner. We lost some time but we eventually took over both cars. As extreme as the 430 Scuderia is, it’s actually a pretty comfortable way of being thrown around on one of the most legendary tracks.
When we arrived in paddock again, my buddies and I went exploring. Open track days are so much fun, because you can almost walk everywhere. It’s hard to imagine F1 cars were changing their tyres just over a month ago on a place where you can literally lay down on the ground! There were a lot of BMW’s, Audi’s and Porsche’s properly used on track and a couple of hobbyists spending time restoring their MX5’s, R34’s and other JDM cars.
As a bonus, my friend arranged a couple of laps in his friends’ 458 Italia for me. His friend is a pretty experienced driver as well, which made it even more exciting. You can easily feel the 430 Scuderia is trackfocused, but the 458 has more aggressive gear changes. For a track day like this, the racing harness in the Scuderia is definitely a must-have. The 458 was equipped with regular seatbelts which made it pretty hard to stay in your seat. Nonetheless a great ride and a pretty good first impression of the 458 Italia.
Big thanks to @slowrabit1 for inviting us and arranging VIP access!
After the 488 GTE proved its strength in America the car was put to the test again in Japan. This time not in extremely hot conditions but in extremely wet conditions. It would be a race with red flags and safety cars but in the end it would be another great weekend for Ferrari.
GTE-Pro In GTE-Pro class, the race was difficult and complex from the start, which took place behind the safety car after an hour of heavy rain. When the green flag was waved Alessandro Pier Guidi did superbly to jump from seventh to fifth and then rapidly to fourth, passing Christensen in the Porsche. The first suspension came after an hour and a half, preceded by three laps of the Safety Car. At that point the two Ferraris had just refuelled and the strategy was clearly spot on. Indeed, at the restart, all three leading cars had to make a pit stop and ended up behind in the standings. The Ford #67 even incurred a penalty at the pit exit, which cost a stop & go that relegated it to last position. With Pier Guidi behind the wheel, the Ferrari remained in the lead ahead of Davide Rigon in its sister car. A second Safety Car caused a problem for both 488s. In fact, the cars were about to return to the pits when rain and poor visibility brought the Safety Car back out to lead the group. The two Ferraris had to make an emergency stop, which allowed them to only refuel for five seconds. When the safety car returned the two GTE 488s had to pull in again for the real pitstop. #51 went for a full service pitstop and driver change, with James Calado taking over with the race nearly at the halfway point. On the #71 car Davide Rigon remained behind the wheel stopping only for fuel. At the restart Porsche was first and second with the #51 and #71 close behind them. Shortly after Calado passed the leading Porsche of Makowiecki in a controlled slide. With the fourth hour starting Ferrari and AF Corse decided to pit the #71 for fresh tyres. It was a perfect strategy but the weather changed it. The #71 was catching up quickly and passed both Aston Martin’s shortly after the pit stop. The car then went on to the Ford but another red flag meant that the race would not be resumed and Ferrari finished first with the #51 and fifth with the #71.
GTE-Am
Ferrari also totally dominated the GTE-Am class. The #61 took pole on Saturday after a perfect lap. Local hero Keita Sawa initially held the lead on a rain drenched circuit. His knowledge of the track helped him up to sixth place overall in the GT class at the wheel of the 488 GTE of Clearwater Racing. Francesco Castellacci made rapid progress behind car #61 to move into second place. The middle part of the race saw a wonderful head-to-head between Weng Sun Mok and Thomas Flohr, but the last stint really made the difference with an extremely aggressive Miguel Molina powering car #54 up into first. This was the first win for Molina, Flohr and Castellacci in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The #61 came home in second place.
With this result in the 6 Hours of Fuji Ferrari has further extended its lead in the Constructors’ championship to 238 points, 47 ahead of Porsche on 191. Calado and Pier Guidi move into top spot in the Drivers’ standings with 120 points, ahead of Makowiecki and Lietz on 115. Davide Rigon is third (105.5). Next round is at the start of November: the 6 Hours of Shanghai.
Ever since YouTuber Sam from SeenThroughGlass started his channel, he has been obsessed with Ferraris. I love watching his videos where he is just driving a Ferrari and talking about it, his emotions are very relatable. Sam also talked about owning a Ferrari for years and he has finally lived up to the expectations: he bought his first prancing horse!
Picking your first Ferrari isn’t that easy, as we saw in some of his videos. One side of him was saying he should wait and buy a proper Ferrari and the other side of him was saying he wanted a Ferrari as quick as possible. I personally think a manual 360 Modena is a great way of starting your Ferrari ownership: it’s not that old and not that expensive to maintain compared to the big guys, like the 550
So, what other options did Sam have? If you research what manual 360 Modena’s are selling for these days, you’ll conclude €75.000 is a pretty good price. You can buy a Ferrari 308 GTSi Targa for around €55.000, a Ferrari 348 TB for €60.000, a Ferrari 456 GTA for €65.000, a F355 GTS for €70,000 or a 328 GTB for just over €75.000 on the current Dutch market. Compared to these relative old Ferraris, Sam made a wise choice by picking a manual 360 Modena. He made a pretty good deal if he bought his for around €75.000.
As said before, this particular 360 Modena is equipped with the 6-speed manual transmission. A true sports car, but not the easiest one to drive around in a city like London. The car is built in 2002 and finished in Rosso Corsa, the infamous Ferrari colour. It has a tan interior with red carpets and racing seats with racing harness to keep you in place. To keep the racing atmosphere going there’s also a fire extinguisher and a roll bar. Some things Sam wants to do to the car are adding Challenge Stradale wheels, a Challenge Stradale exhaust and a leather steering wheel to replace the alcantara one.
We want to congratulate Sam with his purchase and we can’t wait to see a lot more coverage of his first Ferrari: the 360 Modena. Check out the video below!
With all the GT seasons nearing their end, Ferrari can look back on an extremely succesful season. The ELMS series and WEC still have some races to go but the crews of the Ferrari 488 GT3 cars in the Blancpain endurance cup can put their helmets away and go off to enjoy their winterbreak.
ELMS After an imperfect qualifying, the Ferraris proved competitive from the start with car no. 51 of Spirit Of Race immediately head of the pack. Bertolini put in some excellent stints, as did Mastronardi and Roda whose domination was almost total. The Swiss team’s 488 GTE finished nearly a lap ahead of Will Stevens, Rob Smith and Jody Fannin of JMW Motorsport. Fourth place went to the third 488 GTE in the race, Spirit Of Race no. 55 crewed by Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and Aaron Scott. The victory for the #51 means that all three Ferrari’s have at least won one race this year. It also means that all three Ferrari’s still have a chance of winning the title with just one race left. JMW Motorsport just needs to finish in front of the Aston Martin of TF sports to claim the championship.
Am Cup The track win came in the Am Cup, which was dominated by the 488 GT3 of Rinaldi Racing crewed by Mastronardi and Ehret. However, a third place for the sister car of Kessel Racing sealed the team and drivers’ titles for Duyver, Zanuttini and Perel who this season won the most prestigious race, the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. David Perel also collected the overall title, which takes account of the results of both Endurance and Sprint races. Pro-Am Cup The other Rinaldi Racing entry in Barcelona, the 488 GT3 no. 333 of Alexander Mattschull, Rinat Salikhov and Daniel Keilwitz, sealed the Pro-Am class title in the Endurance Cup with a second place in the race behind the Lamborghini of Barwell Motorsport. Pro The Pro class race and season were less fortunate overall. The best 488 GT3 was that of SMP Racing whose drivers, Victor Shaytar, Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon, finished in fourth place in the standings.
Just like the sun, a fourth Lewis Hamilton championship title rises in Japan after a broken spark plug sends Vettel out of the race. Lewis could take the championship as soon as the next race in Austin, Texas.
Saturday
Kimi had a crash in Free Practice, which resulted in a gearbox change and a 5-place grid penalty. Raïkkönen qualified P6 so he had to start in P10 behind the Mclaren of Stoffel Vandoorne. Vettel however had a great saturday, qualifying P3 and being promoted to P2 because of a penalty for Bottas. The title rivals were side by side for the race and fans worldwide were looking forward to a great battle on the magnificent Suzuka circuit.
Sunday
The Ferrari team notices a problem in Vettel’s car on the way to the grid and they try to fix it in a few minutes. Vettel takes the start and feels a lack of power, he gets overtaken by Verstappen in the hairpin and on the straight by Ricciardo, Ocon and Bottas. During the safety car caused by Sainz the team tries to reset the car but it doesn’t work. Seb retires from the race.
Kimi starting from P10 immediately passes Vandoorne and later tries to overtake Hulkenberg but he runs wide and drops back to P15. A nightmare situation once again, after only 5 laps there is no Ferrari in the points.
Kimi however shows the Ferrari is very fast when it’s working and he fights his way back to the front. He ends up in P5, the best possible result today.
Maurizio Arrivabene said the team will push until the final corner of the final race, let’s see next time in Austin, Texas.
Incredible drive from Sebastian Vettel as he climbs from last to P4! Kimi Räikkönen is unable to start because of engine problems.
Saturday The morning practice looked very positive, ending in a Ferrari 1 – 2. However Vettel was asked to stop the car and the team changed the engine before qualifying. Just a few minutes into Q1, it all went wrong again. There was a lot of movement in the box but Vettel did not manage to set a lap time, meaning he had to start from the back of the grid. Kimi went on to Q3 without a problem and placed himself in P2, just 45 thousands behind Hamilton.
Sunday The drama for Scuderia Ferrari continues as Kimi reports a loss of power on his way to the grid, mechanics tried to fix the issue but he was pushed back to the box just before the start. One Ferrari in the box, one on the back of the grid. Things were not looking good. The start was clean but exciting, Bottas had a great launch and passed Ricciardo, but was held off by Verstappen. Vandoorne found himself in a surprising P5, and Vettel already had P13 after lap 1! Birthday boy Max Verstappen then pulled a daring pass on Lewis Hamilton for the lead and dominated the race from there. Sebastian continued to climb up the leaderboard while still taking care of his tyres, he was already under Bottas’ wing before the halfway point! After some wheel-to-wheel racing and a few spins down the field, Vettel attacked Ricciardo with a few laps to go but it didn’t work out in the end. 20 year old Max Verstappen victorious, Hamilton second and Ricciardo third. Seb takes a deserving “Driver of the day” and 12 points to limit the damage. There is one more thing though, on the cool down lap Stroll crashed into Vettel which could have damaged his gearbox, this is unknown at the time of writing. We will see at the Japanese Grand Prix next weekend.
After all, it was a good Grand Prix to watch! We will miss you, Malaysia.
Last weekend the Ferrari 488 GTE cars hit the track at the Circuit of the Americas. After a succesful qualifying the #71 AF Corse car secured pole, wich put Ferrari in a great position to fight for the win in the GTE-Pro class.
GTE-Pro The GTE-Pro class race was difficult and complex right from the start, when Davide Rigon ceded first place to the Aston Martin #95. In the second part of his stint, the Ferrari 488 began to catch up on the leading car despite its higher top speed. James Calado, in car #51, overtook his teammate and sped off in pursuit of the Aston Martin passing it just before the first pit stop. At that point it was decided to pursue different strategies for the two Ferraris with Rigon’s car using hard tyres. This would not have been detrimental were it not for the Safety Car coming on track at midrace to allow repairs to the barriers at Turn 11 after Mike Wainwright had spun off in the Porsche. The safety car thus wiped out the Ferrari’s lead over Porsche #92 and Aston Martin #95 (respectively 37 seconds for the #51 and 20 for car #71). At the restart Calado quickly regained the lead but a change strategy was decided for car #71, abandoning the hards and trying to push to the limit over the last two hours. The Ferrari of Sam Bird returned to the track in sixth place but fought back to third at the finish thanks to a very gritty double stint by the British driver who in the end had to manage the tyres at their wear limit. Everything looked rosy for Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51. After the final pit stop it enjoyed a 36-second lead over Porsche #92 but with 11 minutes to go a puncture threatened to thwart a deserved victory. In the end, Alessandro Pier Guidi and the guys in the AF Corse pit performed a perfect tyre change allowing the Italian to set off again ahead of the Porsche with a minimal lead, which he managed down to the chequered flag.
GTE-Am In GTE-Am class the two Ferrari 488 GTEs finished in second and third although with a bitter taste left by a win that eluded the car of Clearwater Racing. In fact, Mok Weng Sun, Matt Griffin and Keita Sawa had enjoyed a clear lead over the Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda. However, the neutralisation with the entry of the Safety Car undid all the good work done early on. The cars restarted from scratch and in the end Matt Griffin, Keita Sawa and Weng Sun Mok had to settle for second place behind the Aston Martin. The race was initially exhilarating for Spirit Of Race no. 54 crewed by Thomas Flohr, Miguel Molina and Francesco Castellacci but then it was penalised by a minute’s Stop & Go for having refuelled with the Safety Car on track. The 488 GTE of the Swiss team still finished third. The overall victory went to the Porsche of Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley.
The result of the 6 Hours of COTA leaves Ferrari with a big lead in the Constructors’ standings, on 203 points ahead of Ford on 163 and Aston Martin on 162. The Drivers’ championship is now open again with Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell (Ford) still in the lead on 102 points followed by Rigon on 95.5 and Bird, Calado and Pier Guidi on 95. The next round is on 15 October in Japan, with the 6 Hours of Fuji.
Another painful Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari as both Kimi and Sebastian didn’t complete a single lap in the spectacular night race in Singapore.
Saturday, happy times. After a disappointing free practice Ferrari seemed to be off the pace, Red Bull proved the fastest setup on the twisty track with a first position for Max Verstappen. But in qualifying with the sun long gone the Ferraris suddenly showed great lap times. That’s actually an understatement, because Sebastian Vettel was the fastest man around the long Singapore circuit! Verstappen started second, Ricciardo third, Raïkkonen in P4.
Sunday, sad times. I can’t really think of a good way to write about this race, so I’ll just describe what happened in the 10 seconds Ferrari was on track today. The lights went out and Kimi had a great launch off the grid, he was immediately next to Verstappen and looking to pass, Vettel could see Verstappen in his mirrors and moved to the left. There was no room for 2 cars so Kimi and Max collided, Kimi’s nose damaging Vettel’s car in the process. Kimi and Max ended in the wall at turn 1. Seb spun out few seconds later. Race over.
What makes the DNF even more painful, is that this was the race where Vettel would retake the lead in the championship. Hamilton started in P5 and was already leading in turn 2.
So who’s fault is it? Officially, it’s a racing incident as no penalties were given. Kimi wanted to pass Max. Seb moved to defend against Max and couldn’t see Kimi, Verstappen had nowhere to go. You can’t possibly blame this on Max. It’s no surprise that he didn’t lift the pedal, he wanted to win this race and he’s known for taking risks. I think it’s best to just forget about this one and look ahead, the Malaysia GP, which isn’t exactly known for being dry…
Ferrari Lifestyle | ROSSO 