2010 Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe. English White With Moccasin. on 2040-cars

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Weekly Recap: Ferrari pens a provocative F1 car of the future

Scuderia Ferrari unveiled its vision of the future for Formula One this week, revealing sketches of a sleek, muscular racecar. Called the Concept F1, Ferrari is showcasing the design to start a conversation about the next generation of Formula One cars and spur interest in the sport, which has been maligned for its unattractive racecars in recent years. The Concept F1 was penned by the company's in-house studio, Centro Stile Ferrari, with input from its aerodynamics department. Though the sketches look futuristic, the company says the design could be executed without changing F1 regulations. From its beginning, Ferrari's racecars have had both form and function, winning on the track and turning heads with everything from the 250 Testa Rossa, 330 P3, Michael Schumacher's single-seaters from the early 2000s and many others. That lineage led the Scuderia's leaders to survey the paddock, wring their hands and come up with the Concept F1. As Ferrari said on its website: "Our challenge was to create something that was – to put it short – better looking." It's a philosophy that was implemented for this season's car, the SF15-T. While not groundbreaking in appearance, Ferrari cleaned up the design, particularly up front, and the racecar now has a more attractive nose that delivers better aerodynamics. It's more of the same in back, where a tighter design creates more downforce. "This year's car is certainly an awful lot better looking than last year's car," Ferrari technical director James Allison said in a video on the Scuderia's website. The updates come as Ferrari, and all F1 teams, get a better handle on the extensive 2014 rule changes that brought back turbocharged engines and altered the aerodynamic regulations for the series. Less dramatic changes also are going into effect this year. Ferrari, which is coming off a disappointing fourth-place finish in the World Championship, is obviously looking to the future. Appearances have always mattered for the red cars. We'll see if they bring the Scuderia success this season and beyond. Other News and Notes Next-generation Chrysler Town & Country spied Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is hard at work on the next-gen Town & Country minivan, and our spy shooters have captured heavily covered prototypes during testing on the road. We can't tell anything about the exterior design, though we see glimpses of an instrument panel (which looks vaguely Dodge Charger-esque) and infotainment screen inside.

The hottest modern sports cars rendered as rally racers

The modern-day World Rally Championship a monumental amount of fun to watch – I should know, as I recently was lucky enough to head to the UK to watch WRC Wales Rally GB – but even the most monstrous of the current WRC cars are based on fairly pedestrian European hatchbacks. Back in the heyday of rally, the Group B era in the 1980s, much hotter cars were the basis of even more incredible competition machines, for the most part. Take the exotic Ford RS200, or the Lancia Delta S4 with its twin-charged engine. And the hatchback-based Group B cars were bonkers, too. So what would some of our favorite modern cars look like if Group B had never ended? A British site named CarWow hired an artist to reimagine everything from the Rolls-Royce Wraith to the Porsche 911 as a retro-inspired rally car, and they were kind enough to let us share the results in the gallery above. The gallery features an Alfa Romeo Giulia in Martini livery, an Audi TT in classic Ur-Quattro colors, a Fiat 500 Abarth sporting massive flares and a hood blister full of auxiliary lights, a new Ford Mustang in RS200 livery, a Lancia Delta in Alitalia colors, a Porsche 911 in Rothmans livery, a Renault-Alpine in classic blue, a Rolls-Royce Wraith tribute to the Jules cologne Corniche Coupe, and a relatively modern-looking VW Touran. So far, the favorite around the office is the incredible Mercedes-Benz S-Class that is an homage to the wonderful 300 SEL 6.8 AMG "Red Pig" that essentially put AMG on the map. Check out the gallery above and see which one you like the best. Related Video:

Lunaz electrifying classic cars with coachbuilt, millimeter precision

One day last year, as David Lorenz waited by the side of the road for repair help with his classic car, he had an idea: Why not update all of that ancient mechanical "character" with a modern electric drivetrain? That would give an owner the beauty of the past, the mechanicals of the present, and the powertrain of the future. Jaguar does it with the E-Type Zero, and Aston Martin's in the game with the reversible EV powertrain swap for the DB6 Volante. And so Lorenz founded the British engineering firm Lunaz Design, named after his daughter Luna and headquartered at the Silverstone Technology Park. The company's first products are almost ready for order, starting with a 1953 Jaguar XK120 and a 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom V. Lunaz conversions aren't a matter of pulling an engine and installing a battery pack; Lunaz reengineers classics. Managing Director Jon Hilton oversees a team bringing experience from carmakers such as Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jaguar, McLaren, and Rolls-Royce, with Hilton's resume including six years with Cosworth Engineering followed by eight years in Formula One. To develop the Lunaz offerings, a chosen car is stripped to the metal and weighed so that engineers understand the weight distribution at each corner, then the car is stripped to the chassis and 3D-scanned. This yields information allowing designers to create a powertrain that fits to the millimeter and stays true to the handling dynamics of the original vehicle. During the rebuild, the company says, any imperfections are remedied "using traditional coachbuilding techniques." The Jaguar and the Rolls-Royce get battery packs in two locations, one under the hood and one under the trunk floor. Lunaz says it can fit more battery for its in-house design into each car that way. The Jaguar's 80-kWh battery feeds two electric motors sending 375 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels. The Phantom V uses a 120-kWh battery pack, but its output hasn't been released. While remaining true to the exterior and interior design of each car, Lunaz fits LED lights and modern tires, a modern suspension, better brakes with regenerative braking, power steering, an upgraded propshaft, and a fly-by-wire throttle. Safety and comfort additions include cruise control, traction control, and anti-lock brakes. Inside, the instrument cluster gets battery gauges, there's modern climate control, an infotainment screen with satellite navigation, and a Wi-Fi hotspot.