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Ferrari 488 GTO would be fastest V8 car ever from Maranello

It should surprise absolutely no one to learn that Ferrari may be cooking up an even hotter variant of the 488 GTB. If a report from Autocar is true, the new car will resurrect the hallowed GTO moniker and pack more than 700 horsepower from its twin-turbocharged mid-mounted V8. It would be the successor to the wild and wonderful Ferrari 458 Speciale, the swan song for the naturally aspirated V8 in Maranello. This will be the fourth time Ferrari has used the name GTO. The first was in the 1960s on the 250 GTO and then again in the 1980s on the 288 GTO. Most recently, a more track-oriented variant of the 599 GTB was released as the 599 GTO. Each of these cars eschewed most pretense of comfort and civility in the pursuit of power and performance. While they didn't carry the GTO moniker, the 430 Scuderia and the 458 Speciale were designed with a similar philosophy. Since the standard 488 GTB already makes 661 horsepower, it doesn't seem like a stretch to up the boost and strengthen the internals to move the needle past 700. Ferrari can't let the new 710-horsepower McLaren 720S have all of the fun. The 488 GTO should use lighter components and lose some interior trim and sound deadening to drop weight. Autocar believes the new model will dip below 3,000 pounds, absolutely svelte for a car this size. The car should have better aero, a revised suspension, and higher performance wheels and tires. For non-Ferrari comparison, think Porsche 911 GT3. We've seen some s py shots of a new Ferrari recently, but at the time we thought this might be the rumored Dino. It's unclear if that's still the case, but either way, look for something big from Ferrari sometime later this year. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2015 Brazilian Grand Prix is the same as it ever was

At this point, we hope Nico Rosberg is planning to carry his current qualifying form into the 2016 season and back it up with the same kind of race-day cojones he showed winning the race in Mexico City two weeks ago. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver got it right enough again on Saturday afternoon to take his fifth consecutive pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton by almost a tenth of a second. It's the same one-two from Brazil last year. The bad news for the rest of the field is that the winner in Brazil the last seven years has been one of the two drivers on the front row. Last year it was the Williams duo that lined up behind Mercedes, this year it's Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel plays the stalking horse, securing third in his Ferrari ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen in fourth. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas actually qualified in fourth, but he had to serve a three-spot grid penalty for passing under red flags in Free Practice 2, so he started sixth. That promoted Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg up to fifth. Daniil Kvyat was the quickest representative from Infiniti Red Bull Racing, getting into seventh even with a Renault power unit that's weak on some of the key stretches at the Interlagos track. Felipe Massa had the second Williams in eighth, in front of the second Red Bull driven by Daniel Ricciardo in ninth. Toro Rosso hasn't confirmed its drivers for next year but Max Verstappen keeps making it hard to look elsewhere, taking 10th. Rosberg is working nearly the same trick he pulled last year: drive like a second driver for most of the year, drive like a world champion for the last quarter of a season. He pulled away at the start and covered Hamilton just enough on the run to the first corner to keep Hamilton on the outside. By the end of Turn 1 the German had the lead and didn't give it up for the rest of the race outside of pit stops. Without overwhelming pace to pass and unable to follow closely, Hamilton could do nothing except ask his team for a different strategy to go for the win. When Mercedes told him "No," trying to protect Rosberg's second place in the championship ahead of Vettel, that was the race. Just like last year, Rosberg and Hamilton finished one-two. Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, and Kvyat drove lonely races to finish in positions three through seven.

Ferrari 250 California record headlines $28.5M Baillon barnfind collection

Barn finds arise from time to time, bearing undiscovered treasures hidden away in some shed for decades before being unearthed and brought to the auction block. But few have ever compared to the Baillon Collection. And now its liquidation is complete, bringing in millions in sales on the back of frenzied bidding. Discovered just months ago, the Baillon Collection comprised some 100 vehicles said to have been rescued from the crusher by one Roger Baillon, a French transport magnate who intended to eventually put the cars on display in a museum. Unfortunately that never came to pass, but when the cars were found in sheds on his estate in rural France, the world took notice. In dire condition and in need of much TLC, 59 of the cars (those worth selling) were consigned to the auctioneers at Artcurial, which just handled their sale during the Retromobile classic car show this weekend in Paris. The highest price was fetched by a rare 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider with the highly desirable covered headlights found in the barn under a pile of old magazines. One of just 37 made, the drop-top Prancing Horse sold to an unnamed international collector for a record $18.5 million – far above initial estimates and, despite its condition, the most ever paid for a 250 GT of any kind. An American collector paid $2.2 million for the 1956 Maserati A6G bodied by Frua, also well above its pre-sale estimate range. A '49 Talbot-Lago T26 bodied by Saoutchik more than doubled even the top of its estimated value at $1.9 million, sold to a European collector. All told, the Baillon Collection brought in a staggering $28.5 million in sales, comprising over half the value of the lots, 89 percent of which Artcurial sold at the Retromobile auction.