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Ferrari considering return to Le Mans racing in 2015

Rumors are swirling that Ferrari may be contemplating a return to Le Mans racing as soon as 2015. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports the Italian automaker may apply the development of a new 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 engine for Formula One to an LMP1 car for Le Mans, and have it ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in two years. This follows hints made by Scuderia Ferrari CEO Stefano Domenicali last month that the newly developed F1 engine could be used for "some interesting projects."
Ferrari has a history of success in Le Mans racing, though it hasn't won the big endurance outright since 1965. The image above captures the exact moment when the No. 21 car of Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt crossed the finish line that year to win the race. That win was the last of six consecutive outright victories before the infamous arrival of the Ford GT40 in 1966. Despite never reaching the top of the podium again, Ferrari's nine wins still stand as the third most overall by a manufacturer behind Porsche (16) and Audi (11).
If Ferrari does return to Le Mans in 2015, the LMP1 class will suddenly be teaming with worthy competitors for Audi, which has dominated the race since 2000. After Peugeot's exit from the sport in early 2012, Toyota entered the race in 2012 and has continued to develop its TS030 Hybrid LMP1 car. Porsche, meanwhile, is well into developing a new LMP1 car that will first compete in next year's race.

LaFerrari XX prototype pushed so hard that its suspension fails

Ferrari has a real challenge on its hands. It made the new LaFerrari hybrid hypercar so extreme already that it left little room to crank it up to 11 and turn it into an XX development prototype like it did with the Enzo and the 599 before it. So it's really going to have to push the envelop to take it that extra step.
That's what it has apparently set out to do with this LaFerrari prototype at Monza, where the Prancing Horse marque was spotted preparing the upcoming LaFerrari XX. In fact, testers ran the prototype so hard that they broke the car's right rear suspension. Which is bound to happen, we guess, when you try to find that extra bit of performance in a vehicle that's already one of the most capable ever devised, but only goes to show how much deeper Ferrari will have to dig to find that even sharper edge.
Either that or Ferrari's working on some sort of four-wheel steering system with automatic camber adjustment... See for yourself in the video below.

Ferrari 458 Speciale A trots out its 597 sun-drenched ponies [w/video]

To say that Ferrari has made some powerful drop-tops over the years would be like saying the Pope has been known to make a couple of blessings here and there. There was the F50, the 575 Superamerica and the 599 SA Aperta, to name just a few. But this is the most powerful Spider it has ever made. Taking its curtain call at the Paris Motor Show today is the new Ferrari 458 Speciale A – successor to the F430-based 16M Scuderia Spider and lovechild of the 458 Spider and 458 Speciale. That means it's got the same 4.5-liter V8 – all 597 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of it – as the Speciale coupe, but with the folding aluminum roof from the Spider. Best of both worlds, as they say - especially with a 0-62 time quoted at three seconds flat. But since Maranello will only produce less than 500 of them, you'd better check it out in our gallery of live shots above. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.