When in Rome

    Imagine this, you are driving your Ferrari, you are driving it sharp, because you want to attract a young lady's attention, but instead you get the attention of a police officer. He stops you, he asks for your papers, and then he starts to laugh. Next thing you know, you are in the jail facing a three-year prison sentence for counterfeiting. Why's that?

    I have no idea, but let's suppose that your car looks like a Ferrari F355 GTS, it sounds like a Ferrari, but the car's papers says it's a Pontiac Fiero and it costs less than 15.000 euros. Ouch!

    Apparently, buying fake Ferraris is big in Italy and Italian Financial Police has decided to end this practice arresting several owners of these counterfeited Ferraris. Lesson learned: Don't fake it!

Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen

    What a season for Scuderia Ferrari and its drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. After all that venom and scandals, in the final race of the season Raikkonen took the title, his first. Congratulations Kimi, keep 'em coming!

Pagani Zonda F Clubsport - King of the Ring

    Great news from Pagani Automobili. The Pagani Zonda F Clubsport has set a new lap record for the 20.6 km and 73 corners of the Green Hell in 7:27:82. Here’s the official story:

Nurbrugring Nordschleife Record: 7:27:82

Pagani Automobili wishes to commemorate the extraordinary race Juan Manuel Fangio drove on the difficult circuit Nurbrugring Nordschleife 50 years ago, on the 4th of August 1957. Running 45 seconds behind with 10 laps to go, Fangio beat the lap record constantly over the last few rounds around the Nordschleife and taking the first place in the last lap. For Fangio it was the race of his life and it is still rated by many as the single greatest drive in motorsport history. The Pagani Zonda F Clubsport carries the spirit of Fangio and it was a natural choice to celebrate the champion at the Nordschleife. At 7:28pm, with 10 C on the diabolical circuit of 20,6 km and 73 corners, the Zonda F crossed the finish line posting a time of 7:27:82, setting a new record for production supercars. The Zonda F comes with shock absorbers fully adjustable. It was easy for the driver Marc Basseng to find the right setup, in the same way it is done with every Pagani customer. At the Nurburgring Nordschleife aerodynamics come to shine. In combination with Pirellis the Zonda’s efficient downforce package permitted to achieve average lateral G forces of 1,5 G which is impressive for a street car. Fangio wins with Pirelli and Zonda F uses Pirelli Pzero, signing in this way the start of the official collaboration between Pirelli and Pagani Automobili. Pagani is proud to be able to dedicate this success to the great champion Juan Manuel Fangio and wishes to thank the technical partners AMG, Aspa, Automac, Bosch, COBO, Digitek, MHG, SPS, Texa. Source: www.paganiautomobili.it

Massa Stays with Ferrari

Once again, the rumors were false. Yesterday, Ferrari announced that it has extended Felipe Massa's contract through 2010. Here’s the original press release from Ferrari:

MARANELLO, 16th October 2007 – Ferrari announces that it has extended its agreement with the driver Felipe Massa through to the end of the 2010 racing season.

Felipe has been contracted to the Scuderia since 2001. To date, he has taken part in 34 Grands Prix for the team. He has won five times, had sixteen podium places and finished 25 times in the points. He has secured eight pole positions and the same number of race fastest laps, with a total of 166 points scored.

Ferrari 500 Superfast

    To own a Ferrari you have to be a rich, to own a Ferrari 500 Superfast you have to be a super rich. The 500 Superfast, a limited production coachbuilt car, marks the end of the 1950 – 60’s era of the custom built Ferraris. This model was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show in March of 1964 and the last car was made in August of 1966.

    With only 36 cars ever produced, the 500 Superfast was the most expensive car in the world at the time it was introduced, and it cost twice as much as 330 GT, a production model of Ferrari.

    The 500 Superfast is powered by a 400 bhp, five litre Colombo’s short block V12 engine, has the claimed speed of 274 km/h (170 mph), and 0-100 km/h (0-60 mph) takes six seconds. The bodies of the Ferrari 500 Superfast cars were designed and built by Pinin Farina.

    This model was produced in two series. Series I (24 cars) featured a four–speed gearbox and eleven engine cooling vents, while Series II (12 cars) featured a five-speed gearbox and three engine cooling vents placed in the front–fender.

    The notable owners were the Shah of Iran, the actor Peter Sellers, Aga Kahn, and Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands.

Vandenbrink GTO

If you have 993.000 euros + taxes, a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, and some taste then I have a suggestion for you. Go buy yourself a Vandenbrink GTO. This coachwork is a tribute to the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO and I have to say it looks fantastic. Here's the press release: 


Press release 10-10-2007
VANDENBRINK DESIGN
PRESS RELEASE
10-10-2007


Vandenbrink Design unveils special coachbuilt GTO


Vandenbrink Design joins the revival of special coachbuilding by presenting their design of the GTO, a tribute to the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO.

The GTO was designed in 2006 by Michiel van den Brink, who founded the Vandenbrink Design company with business partner Robert Koumans in the Netherlands.
The worldwide acclaim the artist impressions received exceeded all expectations; TopGear even wrote "Ocular Nirvana: arguably the best-looking car in the world".
The overwhealming response put the bar high, but it encouraged Vandenbrink to accept the challenge by prepairing the design for production.

The new coachwork will be handcrafted following the classic tradition in aluminium by Dutchman Alwin Hietbrink, who is worldwide known by his excellent aluminium craftsmanship in restoration and rebuilding projects of classic Italian iconic sportscars such as the genuine Ferrari 250 GTO.

Optional interior/upholstery redesign will be performed by the Dutch craftsman Henk van Lith, also worldwide known by his specialization in the making of high quality Italian interiors.

The GTO is technically based on the superb Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano platform.

In cooperation with race engineering expert EDO Competition two versions are offered:
- the 599 GTO (5998 cc / 650 hp / 630 Nm) and
- the high performance 630 GTO (6300 cc / 750 hp / 680 Nm).

Through this unique approach the GTO offers a synthesis of automotive art, craftsmanship and state-of-the-art platform and performance engineering.

Only 5 GTO's will be built for customers, guaranteeing exceptional exclusivity.
Customer interest appeared solid; first coachworks have been reserved.
Production will start in 2008; delivery to the first owner will be in 2009.

Price of a full-options 630 GTO is 993.000,- euros (excl. base 599 GTB Fiorano, ex taxes).


Vandenbrink Design:

Vandenbrink Design BV is an automotive design company, located in The Netherlands.
It is a privately owned company, founded in 2006 by Michiel van den Brink and Robert Koumans.
The company focus is on special design and coachbuilding for highly exclusive sportscars.


More information can be found on the websites:

Vandenbrink Design BV: www.vandenbrinkdesign.com
Hietbrink Coachbuilding: www.hietbrink.com
HvL Exclusive Italian Interiors: www.carinteriors.nl
EDO Competition: www.edo-competition.com







I would buy one for sure, but those darn taxes ;)

Pedal Powered Lamborghini

 

    Pedal powered Lamborghini is a work of Benedict Radcliffe and Ben Wilson. Radcliffe is known for his wire sculptures of cars, beside the sculpture of Lamborghini his sculpture of Subaru Impreza has received much attention. On the other hand, Wilson is best known for his Bicycle expertise. Here's what Ben Wilson has to say about this car:

"The work questions the combustion engine, celebrates bicycle efficiency and the striking design of the Lamborghini arguably one of the most iconic super cars of all time, as well as Wilson and Radcliffes commitment to clever and thoughtful craftsmanship."



    Seeing the photo above I would add: "Attracting unwanted attention of a police officer" :) Anyhow, if you want to see more of the Wilson's work you should visit his website.

Top Gear + Fifth Gear = Final Gear

    The Brits, some people think they are a bunch of arrogant arses, but they know how to make a proper car show. If you are a fan of the British car shows, namely the Top Gear and the Fifth Gear, the place to be is a site called the Final Gear. Here is an excerpt from their About page:


    "In late October of 2003, Vuk and I (Viper007Bond) were members of the forum at Fast-Autos.net. At the time, I had only seen small clips here and there of the shows as there wasn't really any public way to get either show. So, long story short, the wonderful Vuk started ripping episodes for me and sending them to me. In return, I started hosting the rips on my personal site for the members of the Fast-Autos.net forum.

    I quickly used up all of my bandwidth though and went to a crazy system where I had different people hosting the episodes to distribute the bandwidth. That didn't work for too long though as the bandwidth was just too immense. Not to mention the site was really ugly (I rock at web design, don't I?).

    Then in March of 2004, I released version 2.0 of the site. It featured a much less ugly design as well as the use of torrents. It was still hosted at http://gear.viper007bond.com/ and was fully dynamic, rather than like the previous site that was static. However, by the end of 2004, the site had outgrown my shared hosting account resulting in a close of the forums and not long after, my host made me kill this site from my account.

    That resulted in the site being moved to it's own domain name and donated hosting and how the site came to be known as FinalGear.com. During the move, we redesigned the site again to look like what it does now."


    Basically, at the Final Gear you will find a place to discuss current episode of your favorite TV show, and the place to show your admiration/disdain towards Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May or Tiff Needell, Vicki, Jason, and Tom. And the best part is that you will also find some torrent files there :) 

Ferrari F149

    Rumor has it that a new Ferrari code-name F149 is coming in January 2008 and since one of its alleged first appearance will be at the Detroit Motor Show the new Ferrari model may get a California name tag. Geneva Motor Show in March is other possible date for this model's first presentation to the public.

    There are many rumors, but very little facts about the new Ferrari model. This "we want it to be named Dino" Ferrari is supposed to be a F430 replacement. The new model will be powered by a next generation 4.3 liter V8 engine with direct fuel injection. Until January, or March :), enjoy this spy video of F149 being tested at the Nurburgring.