Ferrari and Shell have come up trumps with one of the coolest Lego replicas ever made, it’s a life-size F150° Italia! That’s the car Ferrari used in the 2011 F1 world championship and we can just imagine how much fun it would have been to put it all together.
Make sure you check out the video after the break.
The role of European Automotive Imports as the importer of Ferrari products to Australia will end when the factory-controlled Ferrari Australasia begins operations on 1 April. Ferrari’s Senior Vice President Commercial and Marketing Enrico Galliera made the announcement at the Zagame dealership in Melbourne yesterday.
Ferrari Australasia will be headed by former Sydney-sider Herbert Appleroth who will add to his current position with Ferrari Japan by overseeing imports to Australia and New Zealand.
Enrico Galliera explains the reasons behind the move, “We made this decision as part of a broader strategic reorganisation of our presence worldwide which has resulted in the creation of four major hubs. Ferrari Australasia, which will be based in Sydney, is part of the Far East region which supervises all activities in the Asia Pacific area, aside from Greater China.
“This will also allow us to strengthen our personal relationships with our clients in the area and create a more complete Ferrari experience for them, both on the track and at ad hoc events.”
As you can see Fernando Alonso was on hand to lend his support ahead of his on-track duties at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
There’s just one more sleep until the 2013 Formula 1 season kicks off in earnest, so put up your hand if you’re a bit excited!
To help prepare you for what is sure to be another fascinating year in F1 we bring you this quick reference guide. We have the full entry list and numbers for all the drivers, plus links to our launch articles for all 11 teams. Very useful will be the coloured boxes which indicate which drivers will have a red grey camera atop their car and who will have yellow.
We’ve also included an introductory video from Pirelli explaining some of the changes they have made to their tyres for the season ahead. You can also download the full 2013 Pirelli Media Guide to really sink your teeth into the art of the black rubber.
And, finally, there’s a handy calendar with the start times for all 19 races converted to Australian Eastern time.
For easy reference be sure to save this link: ausm.tv/f1guide2013
The Geneva Motor Show is still underway over in Europe and while we’re sure almost all of our readers would love to be there we’re doing the best we can to bring you a little closer to the action. Here is the first installment of over 250 pictures from the show, from Alfa Romeo to Lamborghini, which includes some of the great and not so great models on display.
That Lamborghini’s not getting any prettier is it.
When Luca di Montezemolo officially launched the LaFerrari in Geneva a few days ago he said there were already 700 written expressions of interest for the car. It’s now being reported that the order list has grown to over 1000.
That means if you’re lucky enough to have cash to seriously put your name on Luca’s wish list that you have a worse than 2 to 1 chance of landing one of the 499 models to be made.
There’s going to be some very expensive tantrums thrown by the looks! Look on the bright side, the high demand should be good for resale.
[Source: Motor Authority]
Ferrari has complemented its release of the LaFerrari with a suite of six videos. They are a bit nerdy in parts, but it’s also fascinating to get a closer look at the production techniques and technology used in Ferrari’s fastest ever road car. You can check them all out after the break.
The strictly-limited LaFerrari hypercar has reportedly been sold out, although we suspect what that really means is that there’s sufficient interest in the car for Ferrari to follow its usual form of hand picking the punters deemed suitable to collect a set of keys. In the case of the LaFerrari they’ve got 499 happy phone calls to make.
One catch for local buyers is all 499 examples of the LaFerrari will be built in left-hand drive, which makes it tricky getting the car approved for local registration. However, that hasn’t stopped seven Australians from submitting expressions of interest in buying the LaFerrari.
Giving a clue to at least one potential owner, perhaps, was the response given to AUSmotive by Ferrari’s Australian distributor who said the LaFerrari would only be suitable for, “use abroad or for non-public road use in Australia at, for example, track days or their own private road systems.”
We wish the seven little Australians all the best in their quest to own one of the world’s most exciting and desirable machines.
So, this is it, Ferrari’s Enzo replacement. Wait for it, it’s been named LaFerrari. Huh? The look is a little challenging too, that’s why we’ve started with the side profile above. There’s quite a bit of 458 Italia in the silhouette, which is good, but we’re pretty sure some other angles might leave you scratching your head. However, if you bear with it, the styling does grow in appeal.
As we expected the LaFerrari hypercar is powered by a petrol-electric drivetrain. The 6.3 litre V12, with a 9250rpm redline, does the lion’s share of the work, pumping out 800CV (588kW). The electric system complements that with an extra 163CV (120kW). That means the combined HY-KERS power output is 963CV (708kW). There’s the not so small matter of more than 900Nm of torque to be had as well.
For now, Ferrari remains a little coy on performance stats for the LaFerrari, saying only that 100km/h will take less than 3 seconds, 200km/h requires less than 7 seconds, while the nominate 15 seconds flat to reach 300km/h. It can reportedly lap the Fiorano circuit in 1 minute 20 seconds, which is 5 seconds quicker than the Enzo it replaces. Unsurprisingly, the LaFerrari is being labelled the fastest road car Ferrari has ever made.
The LaFerrari is a technological showpiece in all aspects. Four different types of carbon fibre have been used in its creation and its active aero package was tuned in Ferrari’s F1 wind tunnel. Further milking the company’s F1 heritage, the fixed-driver’s seat was designed in consultation with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and its the pedal box that adjusts to suit each driver’s height.
Now, the name: LaFerrari. If you’re being polite you’d say it was a bloody stupid name. Yet, we’re told it’s all to do with excellence.
Ferrari’s President, Luca di Montezemolo said, “We chose to call this model LaFerrari because it is the maximum expression of what defines our company—excellence.
“Excellence in terms of technological innovation, performance, visionary styling and the sheer thrill of driving. Aimed at our collectors, this is a truly extraordinary car which encompasses advanced solutions that, in the future, will find their way onto the rest of the range, and it represents the benchmark for the entire automotive industry.”
Only 499 of Ferrari’s collectors will be able to call the LaFerrari their own and earlier reports suggest the order book is already full. Pricing is yet to be confirmed but it will expensive, very expensive!
It’s well known that lap times achieved in Formula 1 pre-season testing can only be relied on as a loose guide to genuine pace, but it’s still interesting to look back and see who did what.
For example, defending champions Red Bull Racing only managed to see one of its drivers top the time sheets once and that was on a day affected by inclement weather so is perhaps an even more unreliable sample. Ferrari managed to top the charts twice, once each for Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. While Lotus, Mercedes AMG and McLaren shared the spoils, each topping the charts on three occasions.
The table below gives you an easy reference to the fastest times seen during the off-season. Times marked with an asterisk indicate a day that was affected by wet weather. The fastest times achieved on those days may have been set on dry tyres, but in general conditions were not ideal.
| Location | Driver | Team | Lap time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jerez (Day 1) | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:18.861 |
| Jerez (Day 2) | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:18.218 |
| Jerez (Day 3) | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:17.879 |
| Jerez (Day 4) | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:18.148 |
| Barcelona I (Day 1) | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG | 1:22.616 |
| Barcelona I (Day 2) | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1:21.848 |
| Barcelona I (Day 3) | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:21.875 |
| Barcelona I (Day 4) | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 1:23.282* |
| Barcelona II (Day 1) | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 1:22.693* |
| Barcelona II (Day 2) | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:22.716* |
| Barcelona II (Day 3) | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG | 1:20.558 |
| Barcelona II (Day 4) | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG | 1:20.130 |
Ferrari has officially confirmed it will be bringing a “special series car” to the Geneva Motor Show. That means the F150, aka Enzo replacement, will finally be unveiled. This, despite reports saying all 499 models have already been sold.
Over the last couple of days Ferrari has released teaser images of its new toy (one above, two more after the break). You can keep an eye out for further updates on their website and Facebook page.
Details are due to be released tomorrow, which will likely mean late in the evening or early Wednesday morning. We shall update you as soon as we can.
Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets in his Ferrari F138 in an industrious day F1 pre-season testing in Barcelona overnight.
Alonso’s time of 1:21.875 was set on soft tyres in the morning session. Most teams concentrated on race simulations in the afternoon and this was the first day of testing in Barcelona that saw no overall improvement in times after the informal lunch break.
Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber, 1:22.160) will be pleased with his second placing on the lap charts, he was ahead of a busy Romain Grosjean (Lotus, 1:22.188).
After his day was done Alonso said: “Today we concentrated on a comparison of the compounds, starting with the Soft and moving on to the Hard in the afternoon. The track was colder than yesterday, especially in the morning, which made it harder to adapt the car and find the right grip level.
We tried various aerodynamic configurations and for the first time, we made some set-up changes to get a good understanding of tyre behaviour and degradation. With every change we made, the car reacted as I expected and it was useful to try out the different settings, especially to understand which direction we need to go in next week, when there will be a greater emphasis on performance.
Once again this year, the tyres will be one of the crucial aspects to manage: they are softer and quicker, but also less consistent and they degrade rapidly with every lap.â€
Meanwhile, the best Mark Webber (Red Bull, 1:23.024) could manage was ninth quickest, over 1.1 seconds from Alonso’s best. But the popular Aussie was still happy with his 108 laps completed.
“We had a pretty good run today, we’re learning plenty, so a positive outing for us,†said Mark. “Overall the car ran smoothly and once again we amassed a huge amount of data for the guys back at the factory to go through. We’d like to get a bit more mileage tomorrow in the dry, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, it looks like it will be wet.”
Webber reinforced Alonso’s earlier comments regarding tyre degradation and said it’s still too early to tell who will be the team to beat in 2013.
“As usual at tests, the question of the pecking order comes up all the time but, honestly, I have no idea,” Webber said. “There are a few quick cars out there, but in winter testing it’s so hard to say if anyone’s better than anyone else, especially with the tyres going off the way they are—you’re losing four or five seconds over the course of a stint, so figuring out who’s doing what is pretty difficult. All we can do is keep pushing, keep developing and keep our eyes fixed on the first race.â€
