2012 Ferrari California Rosso Mugello 20" Dimond Wheels on 2040-cars

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The pre-race and first in-race report from Le Mans

The 2013, 90th anniversary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has begun, tragedy marking the opening laps with the death of Allan Simonsen. We're at the track now as a guest of Audi and plan to stay through the evening, and even we haven't been able to find out what caused the accident - the only video is from just after the incident, and beyond the statement from ACO there's been no more news. The Aston Martin in the LM GTE Am class and its all-Danish drivers had taken pole in its class and was one of the favorites to win.
The pre-race report will come first, and even thought we can't spoil the race because we're only five hours into it at the time of writing, we'll put all of the news at the end in case you don't even want the updates.
Or you can go straight to the high-res galleries above.

Ferrari dominated classic car auctions in 2014

If it seems to you that the prices being paid for top collector classics at auction keep ratcheting up, you're right. In fact in the US alone, some $1.3 billion were spent on collector cars this past year – a $100 million increase over 2013's tally. And much of that was made up of Ferraris. In fact vintage Prancing Horses accounted for nine out of the ten most expensive cars sold at auction in 2014 – and their prices went up by some 43 percent. The headline of the year, of course, was the 250 GTO which Bonhams sold in Monterey for over $38 million, setting a new world record. But impressive as that was, the GTO wasn't the only eight-figure Ferrari auctioned off this year. On the same week, RM sold a 265 GTB/C Speciale for $26.4 million. Bonhams sold a 375-Plus for $18.4 million at Goodwood, Gooding got $15 million for a 250 GT California Spider, RM raked in $11.5 million for a 250 LM and another $10 million for Steve McQueen's 275 GTB/4. The rest of the list was populated by another 250 California, another 275 and a 250 Mille Miglia, each of which sold for around $8 million apiece. That's the list reported by Ferrari itself, but while the top prices listed on Sports Car Market differ slightly, any way you slice it, the top ten slots are still taken by Maranello's finest. (Hagerty, for its part, reported a slightly different list a few days ago, with eight of the top slots taken by Ferraris and two by Ford GT40s.) Oh, and in case you're wondering, the tenth car on the list was not a Mercedes – the only marque that has traded places with Ferrari for the top place any year since the turn of the millennium. No, this year, the list was rounded out by the pristine white McLaren F1 that Gooding sold for $10.75 million at Pebble Beach this year, slotting in just above the McQueen 275. News Source: Ferrari, Sports Car MarketImage Credit: Ferrari Ferrari Auctions Classics record

Ferrari launches F14 T and yet another Formula One nose

Ferrari CEO Luca di Montezemolo said of the 2014 Formula One season, "It's time to win." This is the chassis that's meant to do it, and it is also Exhibit C in this wild, function-over-form F1 pre-season: the Ferrari F14 T. The low, trunk-like snout is another imagining of the year's regulations, after the probing proboscides found on the McLaren and in the image of the coming Williams. The public name of the chassis internally called 665 was chosen by Ferrari's social media fans, F14 T referring to the brand, the year and the turbocharged powerplant, not the McDonnell-Douglas F14 Tomcat.
The 60th Ferrari to contest an F1 season, it keeps the pull-rod front and rear suspensions of cars from the last two years but little else. The narrower front wing, having to package and cool the additional power unit equipment, reworking the rear wing and even moving to brake-by-wire has changed every other aspect of the car.
Fernando Alonso is hoping the F14 T will make the fifth time the charm; in his fifth year with the team, he wants to win the championship this year instead of coming in second again, just like Michael Schumacher won his first title with Ferrari after five years with the team. Our guess is that Kimi Räikkönen has no opinion on anything other than winning races and getting paid for it. A press release below offers a number of details, while the high-res gallery above to can help prepare you for what's coming.