Track edition 488 to come earlier?

Rumour has it Ferrari is developing the hardcore version of the 488 GTB earlier than expected. The car will compete with its main rivals coming from Lamborghini, Porsche and McLaren.

Competition
According to the latest speculations the 488 ‘’Speciale’’ could even arrive later this year. It’ll then replace the 458 Speciale and start competing with the Huracán Performante, the new Porsche GT3 and the McLaren 720S. The tradition of developing regular V8-models to hardcore versions started back in 2003 when Ferrari revealed the Challenge Stradale. It was and still is an eye-opening car for many car purist mainly of it being a road legal race car.

Expectations
The last few years Ferrari has been very creative by making up names like the GTC4Lusso and the 812 Superfast, so we can’t wait to find out what the name of the car will be. Car and Driver mentions at least 90 kilos (200 pounds) will be saved and the 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 will be optimized to around 700 bhp. Nothing is confirmed yet, but the Paris Motor Show later this year should be a good place to reveal the car. Actual prices aren’t known yet but expect it to be around 300K depending on how crazy you’ll go with the options.

Australian GP: Vettel wins!

Yes, yes, yes! Sebastian Vettel won the first Grand Prix of this season just in front of Hamilton and Bottas. This makes it the first victory for Ferrari since the GP of Singapore back in 2015. The last time Scuderia Ferrari won in Melbourne was in 2007 with Kimi Räikkönen behind the wheel.

Ferrari had a good qualification on Saturday. Vettel set the second time so he came in between the Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Räikkönen was behind them on 4th place. The race begun at 2 pm local time. The top four had a good start and they were able to keep their position. A crucial moment was the first and only pit stop for the drivers. Hamilton was the first one changing tires and he came back in traffic, while Vettel continued and racked up quick. In this race, Max Verstappen was very important for Vettel. He was holding up Hamilton so Vettel was able to get to the first place. The man from Heppenheim was in control and Hamilton couldn’t close the gap. The victory was in the pocket!

Kimi Räikkönen had a “simple” race due to the fact he finished at the same position as his starting position. He wasn’t a threat to Vettel, Hamilton and Bottas. But Räikkönen kept it all cool and finished fourth taking 12 important points home for Scuderia Ferrari.

Ferrari scored a total of 37 points in Australia and is the current leader in the Constructors Championship. The next race will be in China on the Shanghai track on the 9th of April.

The Red Machine is on fire!

Winter testing is over. The first week was very positive for the Scuderia Ferrari team. The second session was even better. They improved the car again which helped Kimi to set a record lap time on Friday: 1.18.634 on the supersofts.

Vettel sat in the SF70H on Monday and Wednesday and drove a total of 324 laps with his fastest lap time being 1.19,024. It was 0,9 seconds faster compared to his best lap time in the first week. Although Ferrari was better than Mercedes Vettel knows what Mercedes can do: ‘’Barcelona is a good indication, but I know that we cannot underrate Mercedes.’’ He also mentioned that Ferrari is much stronger than last season.

Kimi Räikkönen did a great job on Tuesday and Thursday in the car as well. As mentioned before, he set the winning lap time at 1.18,634. He was even the only driver in the 1 minute 18s. Unlike Vettel, Räikkönen drove a lot less laps, 164 to be precise. Kimi is happy, but he suggests we wait for a couple of races before concluding anything about the position of the team.

We can’t wait for the first race in Australia on the 26th of March. These two weeks of intense testing have shown that the SF70H is a very good and fast car. We will see what Vettel and Räikkönen can achieve in the first race in Melbourne!

First 812 Superfast spotted on the road!

Monacan car spotters had the time of their lives yesterday. Scuderia Monte-Carlo took delivery of a 812 Superfast which seems to be the first one seen driving on the road!

Rosso Settanta
Roughly two weeks after the unveiling of the 812 Superfast in Geneva Ferrari dealers around the world are slowly receiving their 812 Superfast’. Most cars will be finished in the special shade of red: Rosso Settanta. Settanta – meaning 70 in Italian – brings a homage to the 70th anniversary of Ferrari.

812 Superfast video
Sébastien Cosse kindly lend us his pictures and video of the car. ‘’The car is better in real life than on pictures. Especially the rear and the 3/4 view are insanely cool and I quite like them.’’ Sébastien also mentions he loves the several air intakes you can find on the car. We personally love the fact Ferrari is bringing back their old quad taillamps design!

Ferrari celebrates its 70th anniversary with worldwide events!

03-12-1947: Enzo Ferrari finished the first car wearing the utterly famous Cavallino badge, the 125 S. Now, 70 years later Ferrari is treating fans and owners right to organize several events in several countries while paying homage to their insane history.

Over 60 Ferrari Owner Clubs are celebrating this anniversary with events to enjoy the cars from the past 70 years. It’ll start on the 12th of March and end on the 10th of September in Maranello, where Ferrari is paying a homage to themselves on the Pista di Fiorano. We might attend this event if our student income approves..

Filmmakers and Ferrari worked together to produce a goosebump creating 1 minute and 30 seconds clip. It shows the beginning of Ferrari where employees completed the 125 S to drive it around Maranello and make some kids start dreaming. When the car drives past the kids it turns into the insane LaFerrari Aperta in launch spec: black with red pinstripes. Later on, both the 125 S and the LaFerrari Aperta pose in front of the factory and that image certainly belongs in every museum on this planet!

The Mansory 488 Spider is a baby FXXK!

The 812 Superfast wasn’t the only Ferrari that got revealed yesterday at the Geneva Motor Show. Mansory showed up with their take on the FXXK: a 488 Spider with 789 bhp and an XX-inspired redesigned exterior and interior.

The beautiful monster is called the 4XX Siracusa Spider and is based on Ferraris’ XX program consisting of cars like the 599XX and the FXXK as you can see. The new front bumper, the rear diffuser and the striking new spoiler design are all effective aerodynamic updates. Even the custom wheels are lightweight to make the most out of the car. As seen at the GIMS the car is finished in matte black combined with the lightweight gold wheels. For buyers that’ll forget they’re driving an Italian car, Mansory added tricolore striping everywhere possible, even in the seats. Talking about the interior, 4XX logos were added and Mansory removed the original Ferrari logo on the steering wheel for their own logo.

Technical wise, the twin-turbo V8 has been tuned to an insane 789 bhp (670 bhp standard) which is almost the same as the just revealed 812 Superfast. Standard torque was 561 and that clearly wasn’t enough for the Germans, so the up’d it to 642 lb-ft. of torque. The suspension is dropped 2 centimetres (0,8’’) closer to the ground making it even more of an eye catcher. Mansory claims the car can do 2.9 seconds to get from zero to a 100 km/h and continues to a top speed of 341 km/h (212 mph).

Ferrari seems strong in Barcelona!

It was a special moment in Barcelona last week. For the first time this year we saw the new F1-cars  on track. Ferrari did a very good job with theSF70H. The drivers completed 468 laps, equivalent to 2178,4 kilometers.

Sebastian Vettel drove the car on Tuesday which was the first day of testing. He drove a total of 128 laps and set 1.21,878 as his fastest time. Kimi Räikkönen made his debut in the car on Wednesday. He set the pace at 1.20,960 and drove 108 laps. On Thursday, Vettel drove the SF70H for the second time. He did a great job driving 139 (!) laps. His fastest time, 1.19.952, came in second behind Bottas in the Mercedes F1. ‘’The Ice Man’’ Kimi closed the first testing week on Friday. He was able to test the intermediates and full wets on the track thanks to its irrigation system.

The man from Finland was happy about the testing sessions and the team: ‘’What I can say is that the team has worked very well over the winter. Whether or not it will be enough, we cannot tell yet. I didn’t pay attention to what the other teams were doing, nor the lap times, because at this point, it means nothing. I’ve got the feeling that we learned some lessons from last year and at the moment, we can’t complain about how testing has gone so far. But before Melbourne, we have another week of testing and we still have a lot of work to do. More or less every year we know where we want to be and sometimes everything goes smoothly and other years less so.’’

The second tests sessions are starting today. Vettel will drive the car today and on Thursday and Kimi drives the car on Wednesday and Friday.

The hype that is the Ferrari 812 Superfast!

It’s been around 3 weeks since Ferrari officially revealed the launch pictures of the 812 Superfast. Fan accounts immediately started to appear and some were even lucky enough to take some photos of the latest Ferrari product.

Let’s take a look at some of these leaked pictures. At first, we have some photos of a yellow 812 Superfast inside the factory in Maranello. Most people were quite happy with this leak so they could take a good look at the car. Press pictures are often hard to compare to the real life product and to proof that, just take a look at the pictures we posted online!

Next up, some pictures from Italy, where two Ferrari employees thought it was a good idea to make a quick stop at a bakery. You can see an all-black F12berlinetta parked next to the 812 Superfast, still covered in camo but it’s easy to see the actual paint colour: it has been painted in the new colour Rosso Settanta which marks the 70th anniversary. @FedePretto gladly took some pictures!

These third leaked pictures (and videos) are from when Ferrari unloaded two 812 Superfast’s in Geneva. @Car_Spotter_Geneva was smart enough to grab his phone and took some pictures. We can see a matte black one and another Rosso Settante 812. Check out @Only_812SF as well as they have more content of this moment.

We can’t wait to see the 800 bhp 812 Superfast in real life. All these pictures have made us very curious on how the car will better the F12berlinetta. Ferrari is revealing the car at the Geneva International Motor Show. Stay tuned for more 812 Superfast content on our Instagram page.

 

Meet the new Ferrari F1 Car: the SF70H!

A special day for Scuderia Ferrari and their fans. Ferrari announced the car for the 2017 F1 season: the SF70H. Throughout a short livestream Ferrari presented the SF70H on the official website.

With all the new rules integrated by the FIA the designers of the new Ferrari F1 car had a hell of a job. They produced a new engine with a new turbo and ERS-system.

‘’The lengthened nose and the arrow-shaped wing are a consequence of the regulations, as is the obvious fin on the engine cover and the more complex aero appendages ahead of the air intakes on the sidepods, whose unusual shape was designed in harmony with the front crash structure’’ – 

After a disappointing 2016 season the Ferrari team hopes to catch up with Mercedes and Red Bull. The driver line-up is the same as last year consisting of the World Champions Kimi Räikkönen (1 time) and Sebastian Vettel (4 times in a row). Ferrari’s most recent championship success was in 2008, when they claimed the constructors’ title with Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa in the red horse. Kimi was the last Ferrari-driver who took the Drives Title which was in 2007, already ten years ago.

The winter tests will start next week in Barcelona at the Circuit de Catalunya. They will continue testing the cars till the 10th of March. The first race is on the 26th of March in Melbourne.

Alessandro Pier Guidi joins Ferrari GT department!

Last Sunday, Ferrari announced in a press release that Gianmaria Bruni will leave the Ferrari Competizioni GT team.

Ferrari thanked Bruni for his professional contribution and they wish him the best of luck in his new challenges. With that said, they also anounced that Alessandro Pier Guidi will be their new GT driver.

A couple of weeks ago there were already rumours about Bruni leaving Ferrari and going to the Porsche team. Porsche has confirmed that Bruni will be driving for them in the second half of the WEC season. The rumours started after Bruni wasn’t at the Finali Mondiali and didn’t compete in the 24 hours of Daytona. The rumours seemed true when Ferrari and AF-Corse anounced a test to find a new driver for the WEC season this year. The test was held in Vallelunga, Italy. The drivers who drove the 488 GTE were: Nyck de Vries, Alex Riberas, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Miguel Molina.

In the beginning there were rumours Nyck de Vries would be the driver that was going to join James Calado in the WEC. Ferrari and AF-Corse would have been impressed by how eager he is to learn. But in the end Ferrari chose for the more experienced GT driver Alessandro Pier Guidi.

Alessandro Pier Guidi is an Italian GT driver and drove over 200 races with more than 30 victories. His dream was always to become an official Ferrari driver and now he has fulfilled that goal.

New rumours say that de Vries and Molina may still get a chance in the Blancpain GT Series.