2007 Ferrari F430 Coupe 9k Miles on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Jules Bianchi was supposed to replace Raikkonen at Ferrari

Formula One lost one of its budding talents when Jules Bianchi sadly succumbed to his injuries just days ago. But few knew just how promising his future looked prior to the crash that ultimately took his life. Luca di Montezemolo did, though. In a tribute written for Italy's Gazzetto dello Sport, the former Ferrari chairman revealed that Bianchi had been earmarked to eventually replace Kimi Raikkonen. "Jules Bianchi was one of us," wrote Montezemolo. "He was a member of the Ferrari family and was the racing driver we had chosen for the future, once the collaboration with Kimi Raikkonen came to an end." The news may come as something of a surprise, but doesn't come entirely out of left field. Bianchi had been part of the Ferrari Driver Academy development program. He rose up through the ranks of the feeder formulae largely with ART Grand Prix, the team run by Nicholas Todt, son of the former Ferrari chief and FIA president. He served as a test driver for the Scuderia in 2011, and scored his first and only F1 championship points driving a Ferrari-powered Marussia at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix. He stood in for Kimi at Ferrari during a test session at Silverstone (where he was pictured above), but tragically crashed during the Japanese Grand Prix, and finally succumbing over this past weekend to the injuries he sustained in the collision nine months prior. Bianchi "would be the one driving for Ferrari after the experience in GP2 and after some fine performances in F1 and in some tests that had our technicians very impressed," wrote Montezemolo. "A bitter destiny has instead taken him away from us, leaving an indelible mark and a great pain inside us." Bianchi is scheduled to be interred on Tuesday in the French Riviera city of Nice, just down the coast from where he made his mark last year. And, in a touching tribute, the FIA has said it will retire the number 17 from the F1 World Championship. The tragic loss leaves Ferrari searching for another driver to replace Raikkonen. The Finnish driver won the championship for Maranello in 2007, was shown the door in 2010, returned to F1 with Lotus in 2012, but has struggled to find his form again. Last season he finished a lamentable twelfth, but has shown better form this season with a second-place finish in Bahrain to sit fifth in the standings. Now 35 years old, Kimi is one of the older drivers on the grid.

Ferrari F150 Enzo-successor takes some loud laps at Fiorano

From recent spy shots to leaked information, we're starting to get a good idea about just how amazing the unnamed successor to the Ferrari Enzo will be, but now we've finally gotten to see some video of the car testing at the Fiorano Circuit in Italy. This video not only gives us an earful of the car's screaming engine and rumbling exhaust note, it also affords us a view of the car without its fish-face camouflage that it has been caught wearing recently.
The video shows the new supercar testing around the 12-turn, 1.877-mile track with an Enzo, and it is interesting to hear the differences between the 651-horsepower Enzo and its reportedly 950-hp hybrid successor. Scroll down to watch the newest Ferrari going through some track testing, and be sure to turn your speakers up.

Ferrari launches 2014 Formula One engine, tests it in a LaFerrari? [w/videos]

Ferrari is the last of the three engine manufacturers remaining in Formula One to reveal its 2014 power unit. Called the 059/3, like the Mercedes and Renault units it is a turbocharged, 1.6-liter V6 further boosted by an energy recovery system that is twice as powerful as before. The 2013 KERS was good for 80 horsepower, could power the car for six seconds and reduce a lap time by about 0.3 seconds. For 2014, the energy recovery system puts out 160 hp, powers the car for 30 seconds on full batteries and, according to Ferrari, can shave a massive three seconds per lap.
The car that surrounds this engine doesn't have a name yet - that will be chosen by Ferrari's social media followers in January from a selection of names provided by the Scuderia.
Ferrari didn't provide an audio sample of the power unit at its introduction, but a brief video taken at Fiorano has led folks to believe that the team has been testing the engine in a revised LaFerrari chassis. The clip shows a camouflaged version of the marque's new supercar fitted with a roof intake and sounding nothing at all like a V12 as it takes the hairpin and powers onto the straight.