Back in August we saw a Ferrari 458 Challenge test mule in action at Fiorano. Now a new video has emerged showing the car being tested at Monza. What’s not to like?! Take the jump and watch the clip now.
[Thanks to Richard for the tip]
It’s been around a month since we’ve seen anything new on the Lancia Stratos revival. Here are a couple of new clips showing the car being put through its paces at the Balocco test track in Italy and at the Pininfarina wind tunnel.
The man at the wheel during the Balocco testing was former F1 driver Tiago Monteiro. So, this Michael Stoschek guy, isn’t mucking about. This is shaping up to be one serious bit of kit.
We could see the final production ready version launched next month at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, too. But don’t get too excited, there’s likely to be just 25 of these Ferrari F430 powered rockets.
[Thanks to Richard for the tip]
Formula One action was all go on Sunday in Suzuka. Thanks to the rained out qualifying session the day before racegoers got to see a full qualifying session and a race all in the one day. What they saw was an unassailable Sebastian Vettel who topped all three quali sessions and led the race virtually from start to finish.
Our boy Mark Webber maintained his championship lead with a solid second place. The Red Bull duo still can’t shake of a persistent Ferrari challenge from Fernando Alonso, who also finished on the podium. McLaren’s Jenson Button was fourth, able to take advantage of more frustration for Lewis Hamilton; this time in the form of another dodgy gearbox.
However, aside from Sebastian and Mark, this race was all about fighting for the scraps. A couple of brain farts at the start ensured there were a few more scraps too, with Virgin Racing’s Lucas di Grassi reportedly crashing on the warm up lap. Vitaly Petrov made a mess of his Renault at the start—that’s him above, on the grass with half his car missing. And Felipe Massa continued to flounder by barely making it into the first corner. It’s a shame the latter two took some Force India and Williams collateral damage with them, too.
Local lad Kamui Kobayashi in his Sauber went on a late charge and provided plenty of entertainment and loads of heart-in-mouth overtaking moves. He made them all stick, though, and continues to show he has raw pace by the bucketful.
Relive the race for yourself by checking out our gallery below, with thanks to the F1 teams who offer great access to some fantastic photography.
Red Bull Racing returned to the victory dais at Suzuka today with Sebastian Vettel claiming his third race win of the year. Constantly at the top of the time sheets, Vettel was the dominant man all weekend and started the race from pole position. Teammate Mark Webber completed the Red Bull Racing domination by securing an comfortable looking second place. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took the final podium position.
With three races to go the title race now looks set to be a race between Webber, Vettel and Alonso. A solid haul of points saw Webber slightly extend his championship lead this weekend. He is now on 220pts, with both Alonso and Vettel close behind on 206pts.
The full post-race press conference transcript is available below.
It would be out of the ordinary for AUSmotive to feature an image gallery on a Grand Prix weekend before the race had been run. It would be out of the ordinary for qualifying to be cancelled due to heavy and persistent rain. But these extraordinary events have happened today, and when you see the pictures, mostly taken during this morning’s Free Practice 3 session, you will see why.
Heavy rain started to fall this morning at the Suzuka circuit and barely abated all day. Despite several delays to allow conditions to improve qualifying was eventually called off and is now scheduled to be run tomorrow morning at 10am Japan time (midday AEDT). The race will go ahead as scheduled at 3pm (5pm AEDT). Weather conditions are expected to improve.
As well as the pics below you can also read the concise and somewhat humourous qualifying report from Lotus Racing.
Fernando added to his Italian Grand Prix win to make it a double with victory in Singapore. By doing so he has put himself right at the pointy end of the driver’s title race; he’s now second. Sebastien set the field alight during practice but faltered during qualifying and played second fiddle to Alonso for the rest of weekend, despite having the faster car. But for a couple of Safety Car periods these guys would have led the field home with a minute to spare, they were streets ahead.
Mark struggled during the weekend and started from fifth, but a pit stop gamble after the first Safety Car period inside five laps saw him claw his way into third place after the lead cars completed their stops. After the second Safety Car period Hamilton, in fourth, made a ballsy move to overtake Mark. It almost came off, too, but there was contact between the two and Webber walked away with the luck, while Hamilton was forced to take an early shower for the second race in a row.
Aside from that, the action was a bit light on, save for a few hit and giggle incidents towards the back of the field. Perhaps the only other aspect of this race worth noting is the ease with which Schumacher gets pushed aside by his peer group these days. It indicates the seven time champion continues to struggle with the pace of current day F1 cars.
Recapture the vibe with over 70 images after the break.
Ferrari has lifted the lid on its latest 599 incarnation, otherwise known as the SA APERTA. The SA badging is a nod to Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina whose company has strong links with Maranello. Further honouring Pininfarina is the fact the SA APERTA will be limited to just 80 examples, acknowledging the 80th anniversary of the Italian styling house.
In basic terms this car is 599 GTO “Barchetta” and features a 6.0 litre V12 engine. That engine is good for 670PS (500kW). A soft top cover is available, but it sounds like it will be more use for giggles than serious protection.
We’ll see more of this car at the Paris Motor Show in a week or so. Oh, if you would like to buy one of these stunning SA APERTAs, well, you can’t. They have already sold out.
I’m guessing most AUSmotive readers have, at some point in their lives, lusted after a Ferrari F40. I know I certainly have. I also know some readers have been lucky enough to get up close and personal with the last of the Ferraris built under the watchful eye of Enzo Ferrari himself.
Now, you can buy the car you see here in these pictures. The F40 will be up for sale this weekend at the Historics at Brooklands auction. It’s expected to sell for around £280,000–320,000 (approx AU$465,000–530,000).
Only 1315 F40s were ever made, so this is a rare chance to get your hands on one. The example up for grabs was built in 1989 and has a travelled mere 10,500 miles. Who wants to chip in?
Michael Stoschek is a lucky man. Not only does he have the cash to convince Pininfarina to design and develop a new 21st century Lancia Stratos, he has also had some time behind the wheel, as this video shows. The footage was filmed at Balocco, Italy and it is understood a Porsche 911 GT3 was on hand used as benchmark testing.
It’s still unclear if Stoschek will be keeping all the fun for himself, or if he will commission a run of 25 cars to share with the world. Perhaps the video you can see after the break gives us a clue on that front. However, the only language spoken during the footage is German. So, if you are able to translate any of the words, especially the ones that aren’t new, Stratos, Ferrari, Pininfarina and Turin please do so.
Oh, do they explain how they have managed to make that F430 engine sound like a truck?
[Source: World Car Fans]
Fast Fernando fled the field at Monza to send the tifosi into raptures. Button teased them for a moment with a banzai move on the first lap. Massa fumbled about with an over excited Hamilton, before taking no further part in any racing action on his way to the last podium step. Vettel cried about his engine dying before finding the on switch and coming home in fourth. This, mind you, after completing almost the entire race of the soft tyres.
Britney outperformed that Michael bloke, yet again. Aussie Mark fluffed the start, yet again, but scored enough points to find himself at the very pointy end of the drivers’ title race. So pointy, in fact, he is out in front. Mind, his arch rival in fifth place, is within striking distance. So this is one title race that will go down to the wire.
Pedro de la Rosa won’t be winning any races. Rumours suggest Monza is likely to be his last F1 outing after being shown the door in favour of Quick Nick (Heidfeld) who is back for a third try at success with Sauber.
There’s sixty plus pics for you all after the break, which should keep you happy until the sun goes down in Singapore in a couple of weeks time.
The Italian Grand Prix finished as it started, at least as far as the podium is concerned. Fernando won the race after starting from pole position. He didn’t have things go all his own way, though, with Jenson Button, starting from P2, getting the jump on Alonso and snatching the lead on the first lap. Pitting after Button, Alonso made the most of his free air to claw back enough time to take the outright lead after the pitstops. Felipe Massa, in third, seemed to have a trouble free race.
The full transcript from the official post-race press conference featuring the podium winners is available after the break. Stay tuned for the usual photo gallery to follow in the next 24 hours or so.
Reckon you know your way around a computer game? Then the Ferrari Virtual Academy is for you. Ferrari reckon their engineers, in conjunction with Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella, have created a simulator that is just like driving their F10 Formula One car, well, virtually.
The simulator is available for download now and can be purchased in two stages. The first stage (€14.90) gets you the basic set-up along with the Fiorano circuit. The second stage (€9.90) adds the Mugello and Nürburgring circuits.
Once you’re experiencing just what it is like to be an F1 superstar you can register your times and take part in an international tournament. As usual Mac users will have to stick to playing with Photoshop, this seems to be a PC-only experience.
More after the break.