1987 Ferrari 328 Gts Quattrovalvole Coupe 2-door 3.2l on 2040-cars

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Ferrari introduces trick new augmented reality showroom

Augmented reality is darn cool, giving us a new and highly informative way to look at everyday scenes. We've seen a number of automakers play around with it, from Mini's AR goggles to Land Rover's information-intensive windshield. But while those are merely concepts, Ferrari is bringing augmented reality to the showroom. Literally. The company commissioned an app that uses 3D tracking technology to display a seven-step walkaround program that overlays information on one of the company's products. Want to see different wheel designs? How the air flows over the car's body? Or easily transmit your idea of the perfect Ferrari to friends and family? The app can do it all. It's a seriously impressive piece of technology, and one we could see moving well beyond the Ferrari showroom. Check out the iPad app in the video and let us know what you think of Ferrari's latest sales tool.

Ferrari, Maseratis trashed in Chinese off-road adventure

Ready to cringe? A group of Chinese motorists drove the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in a fleet of Italian cars, fording streams and hopping rocky terrain as they went. Well, they attempted to drive it, anyway. Only five of the cars managed to survive the truly unnecessary ordeal. The trip was reportedly the idea of a wealthy Chinese businessman named Ni Haishan. Haishan was driving the red Ferrari F12, with his employees following in what appear to be 10 Maserati Ghibli sedans. The Maseratis were gifts to his employees, which makes the loss of six of them along the way only slightly easier to stomach. Even the cars that made it to the finish line in Lhasa, Tibet, arrived with some serious damage. The unsurprising fallout included several wheels and tires on the Ferrari, including one wheel that took the studs it was attached to with it. As you can see above, the "highway" route was not exactly suited to these particular cars. There is some precedent for a car from Maranello driving to Lhasa, however. In 2005, Ferrari sent two 612 Scagliettis on a tour of China called "Ferrari 15,000 Red Miles" with various journalists at the wheel. That journey started and ended in Shanghai and took the cars all over the vast country, including two crossings of the Gobi Desert, along the Great Wall, and on some of Marco Polo's route. Of course, it also involved a lot of planning, a huge support team, and at least a modicum of common sense. All of this was supposedly Haishan's way of showing the world that business is good for him and that customers should trust their money with him. We might conclude otherwise based on the results. If you absolutely have to run this road in something Italian and expensive, may we suggest a Maserati Levante next time? Related Video: Image Credit: news.163.com Auto News Ferrari Maserati Coupe Luxury Performance Sedan ferrari f12 berlinetta maserati ghibli

Haas pens partnership with Ferrari

Gene Haas is undertaking quite the initiative by starting his own Formula One team instead of simply buying an existing one. And he's making it even harder on himself by laudably insisting on quartering the operation at his home base in North Carolina. But to get onto the grid by 2016, he's going to need some help.
Fortunately that appears to be just what he's getting thanks to a new partnership with no less accomplished an outfit than Ferrari - which, despite not having won a championship since 2008, remains far and away the most successful team in the history of grand prix racing, with sixteen constructors' championships, fifteen drivers' titles and 221 grand prix victories to its name.
Haas Automation, the CNC machine manufacturer over which Gene Haas presides and which funds his various racing activities, has just signed a sponsorship deal with Scuderia Ferrari that has already seen the Haas logo appear on the F14 T that Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen drove in the British Grand Prix this past weekend. More than a sponsor, Haas Automation has become an official supplier to the Maranello squad, but is expected to lead to even closer cooperation that will help get the American F1 team up and running in time for the 2016 world championship.