Ferrari Service and Repair Bay Area - Ferrari 458 Speciale A is Italy's most dangerous spider - Zucchi Motorsports Sonoma - 707-334-3700

The pre-Paris motor show reveals just keep on coming, but you'll want to stop everything and soak this one up: it's the Ferrari 458 Speciale A.

A stands for aperta, which, if you know your Italian (or your old Ferrari specials), translates as open. No prizes for guessing it's the long rumoured Speciale spider, then, and despite having no fancy hybrid tech or dihedral doors, it looks set to steal a chunk of the Paris headlines.

It follows the same, simple recipe as the Scuderia 16M it effectively supersedes, taking the Speciale coupe – arguably the greatest supercar of the last decade – and lopping off its roof. Unlike the 16M, though, it doesn't have a fabric roof, instead employing the same folding hard-top setup as the regular 458 Spider, which adds 50kg to the coupe's curb weight. The Speciale A tips the scales at 1445kg.

Underneath the skin, the Speciale's mesmerising mash-up of screaming naturally aspirated power and mind-bogglingly clever electronics remains intact. That means a 4.5-litre V8 with 597 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque: enough for 0-62mph in 3.0 seconds, which is unchanged from the tin-top Speciale, despite the weight penalty. It also boasts an identical lap time to the coupe around the circuit in Ferrari's back garden (known more glamorously as Fiorano).

Complementing one of the more glorious engines on sale is a snappy seven-speed twin-clutch paddleshift gearbox and a host of driver-flattering acronyms, the most interesting being SSC (side slip angle control) which assists the driver in carving artful black lines around corners. The stability control can all be turned off, of course.

Being based on Ferrari's most extreme V8 berlinetta, the Speciale A is naturally its fastest, most aerodynamic spider, too.

Prices haven't yet been divulged, but with the 458 Spider commanding a £20,000 premium over its base car, we'd wager an entry point just shy of £230,000 for the Speciale A. That's a largely irrelevant of course, as it doesn't take an awful lot of options list surfing to crank Ferrari prices up considerably. You can probably save yourself a bit of cash by avoiding the lurid blue carbon in the shots above, though...

The 458 Speciale looks set to be the last naturally aspirated V8 road car to roll out of Maranello, with the 458's replacement – which could arrive as early as next year – set to gain a pair of turbos, like this year's California T. With the ability to fold its roof and take in every one of its screaming decibels, the A could be the ideal way to sign things off.

You'll have to be quick if you want to titillate your eardrums, though – unlike the coupe, this one's limited. Just 499 will be sold, making it as scarce as the LaFerrari.

source:http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20140929-italys-most-dangerous-spider

by Stephen Dobie

Ferrari Service and Repair Bay Area - Limited-edition Ferrari to be based on F12, cost $3.2 million? - Zucchi Motorsports Sonoma - 707-334-3700

Limited-edition Ferrari to be based on F12, c

by Justin King

Additional details surrounding Ferrari's forthcoming special-edition model for the US market have surfaced ahead of its official debut.

Celebrating 60 years since the prancing horse arrived in the US market, the car is said to be based on the F12 Berlinetta two seater, according to Automotive News. It is expected to feature a unique body and interior appointments.

Highlighting Ferrari's racing heritage in the country, the special-edition model is believed to be clad in blue with white stripes -- consistent with the North American Racing Team cars.

It is unclear if the model will feature any tweaks to the engine, though the V12 mill in the basic F12 already produces 730 horsepower and 509 lb-ft of torque.

The customized US-market car will only be sold in a small batch, each likely priced above $3.2 million. All of the 10 units are said to have been already sold ahead of the October 12 launch event.

source: http://www.leftlanenews.com/limited-edition-ferrari-to-be-based-on-f12-cost-32-million.html

Read more: http://www.leftlanenews.com/limited-edition-ferrari-to-be-based-on-f12-cost-32-million.html#ixzz3E7DiMOcL

Ferrari Service and Repair Bay Area - The Rich Legacy of Ferrari's Fastest Car 'Superamerica' - Zucchi Motorsports Sonoma - 707-334-3700

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The F50 might not have been as powerful as the F40, nor as brutally mind-altering behind the wheel. The F40's ultra light weight and thunderclap of a twin-turbo V8 remains in a different league altogether. The F40's engine also makes sense in a fundamental way — the F40 was the last gasp of the analogue, '80s turbo era.

Here's a comparison review if you're wondering where I'm getting my opinions from.

The F50's engine isn't quite something of the '90s — it's more in tune with the great cars of the 1930s and '40s. That's because the block came straight from Ferrari's Formula One car of the day.

Specifically, the engine that debuted in the 1995 Ferrari F50 was a revised version of the 1990 Ferrari 641. It wasn't the best Ferrari F1 car, but it was far from the worst. It would've claimed the championship if it wasn't for a certain incident between Ferrari's top driver and some Brazilian dude. And, oh, it sounded absolutely fantastic.

It's hard to beat a wailing V12 for sounding like the world is getting torn apart by banshees. Or a chainsaw made out of diamonds.

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Ferrari enlarged that 3.5 liter engine up to 4.7 liters out of the cast iron block in a somewhat vain attempt to get more torque and better drivability out of the thing. Final figures were a claimed 513 horsepower, 347 ft-lbs of torque.

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It's such a wonderful engine, Ferrari's press office took a number of photos dedicated to extremely nerdy bits of the thing. Here are the throttle bodies, for instance.

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And here's the piston.

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They have a picture of a conrod somewhere, I think.

As had been the practice in F1 since the '60s, the engine got bolted straight to the chassis (itself made out of carbon fiber) and the gearbox and rear suspension mated right to the engine as well. The F50 was a somewhat luxurious sports car, but it was designed and built like a racing machine.

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Oddly, the F50 never went racing, though it reportedly lapped Ferrari's test track as fast as one of their dedicated Le Mans prototype racers of the day.

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The F50 GT, as it was called, got the axe presumably for funding reasons, but Ferrari built three examples just for good measure. And why not? The car was a monster.

Weight absolutely disappeared from the car, dropping from just over 2900 pounds to around 2000. Dry weight was a mere 1850lbs, as Supercars.net claims. Horsepower climbed to 720 and torque jumped to 383 ft-lbs.

That and the F50GT is absolutely, positively stunning to look at. It's like an F40 but with more curves and better proportions.

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What strikes me is how old school the F50 remains. Its technology was cutting edge, but it's approach to design was straight out of the prewar era of the automobile: to design a fast road car, you simply crammed your grand prix racing engine into a slightly longer chassis, gave it a new body and lined the inside in leather. That's the recipe that gave the world its Alfa 8C 2300 Lungos, its 4.5 liter Talbot-Lagos, and the whole rest of them.

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Among that heralded crowd, the F50 would fit right in.

Photo Credits: Ferrari

source: http://jalopnik.com/the-ferrari-f50-was-the-last-f1-engined-road-car-1636592829

by Raphael Orlove

Ferrari Service and Repair Bay Area - The Rich Legacy of Ferrari's Fastest Car 'Superamerica' - Zucchi Motorsports Sonoma - 707-334-3700

Image: Courtesy of Gooding & Company

E

arlier this year at an auction in Arizona, a 1956 Ferrari 410 Superamerica Series 1 Coupe sold for $3.3 million—a million dollars higher than analysts had predicted. Maybe they should have expected more. At the time of its birth the Superamerica was the fastest car Ferrari had ever built, with a 4.9-litre V-12 engine cranking out 340hp and a top speed of 150mph. Only 16 were made. The January sale was just the sixth time the car had changed hands—but it boasts an extraordinary history, owned at times by an Italian race car driver, a DuPont heir and the man who sold Kurt Cobain that fatal gun.

March 1956
Luigi Chinetti, an Alfa Romeo mechanic cum race car driver who immigrated to the US during World War II, imports the 410, where he shows it off at the New York International Auto Show. Chinetti was a famous driver who drove in 22 consecutive 24 hours of Le Mans races, winning three times.

Summer 1956
DuPont heir, yachtsman and sport-fishing champion William Kemble Carpenter of Montchanin, Delaware buys the 410 Superamerica for $17,000. Carpenter’s father, Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter, sat on DuPont’s board and owned the Philadelphia Phillies from 1943 to 1949.

1961
Carpenter sells the 410 Superamerica to Lauren and Hazel Dennen, who own the Heritage House Inn near Mendocino, California, made famous in the 1978 Alan Alda flick Same Time Next Year. The couple owned the car for four years before selling it to a physician named George Kerrigan in February 1965.

1968
Stan Baker tracks down Kerrigan in Orinda, California. And persuades him to sell the car. Baker was a shotgun-barrel expert who owned Seattle’s Stan Baker Sports, the store where Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain spent $307.38 on the Remington he used to commit suicide in 1994. Baker has the then-silver 410 painted fire-engine red.

July 1982
Baker displays the Ferrari for the first time in public at the Concours d’Elegance at the Village Green resort in Eugene, Oregon. Two  years later he shows it again at the Ferrari Club of America International Meeting in Carmel Valley, California, where it wins its class for its unblemished state and extreme rarity.

1994
Baker drives the Superamerica in the 1,000-mile Colorado Grand Rally through the Rocky Mountains and does it again in 1997 with help from fellow car nut Bob Lukarel. Baker dies three years later.

2001–02
The Baker collection of dozens of cars, including a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing and a 1954 Ferrari Europa, is gradually sold off, with Seattle car collector Ken McBride purchasing the Superamerica and updating its front seats and interior trim. McBride drives the car again in the 2007 Colorado Grand Rally, telling reporters that of his collection he loved it the most, even more than his 275 GTB and 250 SWB Ferraris.

2014
Four years after McBride dies at age 59, his Super-america is listed for $2.25 million in Gooding & Co’s auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, a private co-llector in Pennsylvania buys it for $3.3 million.


source: http://forbesindia.com/article/checkin/the-rich-legacy-of-ferraris-fastest-car-superamerica/38665/1

Ferrari Service and Repair Bay Area - The top 5 Ferraris of the modern era - Zucchi Motorsports Sonoma - 707-334-3700

Ferrari has changed dramatically over the last 20 years.

Led by Italian businessman Luca di Montezemolo, the manufacturer has transformed from a struggling Formula 1 team with a side business in cars to one of the world's most powerful brands.

As di Montezemolo leaves Ferrari, we look at the five most important models orchestrated by di Montezemolo during his era.

1995 F355

Luca di Montezemolo went to Ferrari as a man on a mission. Having been disappointed by a yellow 348 he bought, the chairman was well aware of the car's shortcomings and how it could be improved. Its successor, the F355, was better in every way.

A clean modern look took it away from the Testarossa-style strakes and edges of the 348, and a mid-life update in 1997 introduced the F1 transmission option, a piece of race-derived technology that drew close links between the road and track. The original paddle-shift supercar was the catalyst for a new era of Ferraris with F1 ties and laid the foundations for the 360, F430 and 458 machines finding success in the showroom as the grand prix team reached new heights led by Michael Schumacher.

2005 FXX

Ferrari's Enzo was one of the most recognisable pin-ups of its generation.

A V12-powered technological show of force, the Enzo was the brand's first digital supercar, one that took on a new form in the track-focussed FXX. Honed by Schumacher, the FXX was part of Ferrari's Corse Clienti program, and it allowed wealthy customers to help shape the direction of the company by testing out new parts at circuits around the world. It created a new niche of track only hypercars copied by machines such as the Pagani Zonda R and McLaren P1 GTR, and pushed the boundaries of what was possible with road car roots.

2009 California

Having retained traditional gran turismo customers with the V12-powered 599 and 612 and won over hardcore track fiends with the 360 Challenge Stradale and 430 Scuderia coupes, Ferrari took on a new challenge with the California convertible.

Designed to attract new customers (particularly more female owners) through a lower price and more accessible performance, the 2+2 seat California was the first Ferrari to have a folding hard-top roof or dual clutch automatic transmission.

An updated eco-friendly HELE (High Emotions Low Emissions) model used weight-saving and stop-start tech to use less fuel than a V6 Commodore. The California was a remarkable success for the company, despite criticism centred around polarising looks and less involving dynamics.

2013 F12 Berlinetta

Ferrari's stock in trade has traditionally been handsome coupes with a 12-cylinder engine mounted ahead of the cabin. Cars such as the 250 GTO, 365 GTB/4 and 550 Maranello hold a special place in the brand's history, and the F12 is the ultimate vision of Ferrari's iconic coupes.

Powered by a ludicrous V12 that produces 541kW and 690Nm, the F12 is capable of quietly cruising over long distances or shocking drivers with its ferocity.

2014 LaFerrari

The LaFerrari, di Montezemolo says, "is the maximum expression of what defines our company".

With a momentous 718kW on offer, the LaFerrari is one of the world's fastest and most exclusive cars. Active aerodyanamics, clever driver aids and a weight-saving regime that saw seats substituted for foam pads bonded directly to its carbon-fibre tub help make the LaFerrari one of the most thrilling machines on sale. It also represents Ferrari's future, blending a conventional petrol-fed 6.3-litre V12 engine with a 120kW battery-powered hybrid motor, the LaFerrari is proof that supercars can be green and mean. Expect to see similar technology under the bonnet of the brand's upcoming lineup.

- with Andrew MacLean and Stephen Ottley.

- Sydney Morning Herald

source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/10498101/The-top-5-Ferraris-of-the-modern-era

by David McCowen