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Watch a Ferrari LaFerrari drift, almost crash at the Nurburgring

It's a fair bet that we could have just written the words "LaFerrari," "Nurburgring," "drifting" and "videos," and drawn just as many eyeballs as a proper bit of text. But, our bosses say four-word posts aren't okay, so here we are. Today, we have a pair of videos featuring the topics mentioned above. The first video, shown up top, is what most of us think we could do, were we handed the keys to a wildly powerful hybrid Ferrari and given access to the world's most famous race track. We'd drift about and generally have an absolute riot The second video, shown below, is what would actually happen were we given a LaFerrari on the Nurburgring – we'd go too slow and scare the hell out of ourselves. Give both videos a look. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Related Video:

The Ferrari Enzo's designer isn't worried about the future of supercars

Ken Okuyama is a talented designer with a prestigious portfolio. He spent 12 years at the famed Italian design house Pininfarina after a stint with GM's Advanced Design Studio, where he worked on the C5 Corvette. He also styled the Boxster and 996-generation 911 at Porsche. His first Ferrari design was the Rossa concept car, though his most famous creation is the Enzo. Now Okuyama runs a design studio that not only is responsible for the new Kode57 supercar that debuted in Monterey this past weekend, but also eye glasses, civic planning, and even Japanese bullet trains. We caught up with Okuyama at the Concorso Italiano car show, plopped down on a couple of plush leather chairs right in front of his brand new Kode57, and chatted about what the future holds for car design. Alex Kierstein: Lately there's been a lot of talk about autonomy and future mobility. What sort of challenges and opportunities do you think this autonomous future is going to provide for you as a car designer? Ken Okuyama: It is a really fantastic time for designers because of two reasons. One is that the public and private transport have been two separate, completely different industries up until now. Now, when you think about the future of autonomy, that really brings the automobiles into something more of a public transportation. You really have to think about the total experience of the customers from buying the ticket to the paying mechanism. That's just hardware, actually. It is a huge challenge for engineers and designers, and I really love that. That's one reason. Another reason is that just like horses were a means of transport 100 or so years ago, up until Henry Ford mass-produced the Model T. Now, maybe sports cars are becoming like horses. Now, horses are a great object for hobby, sports, and part of the Olympics and everything. Cars are going to be like that also. Dr. Porsche [was asked what type of] automobile is going to last for the longest time. He said, "the sports car." I really believe in that, because with sports cars, you never lose a sense of ownership. Autonomous vehicles are things you don't have to own. You have to design a total experience and the whole operation. A car, you want to own it. It's part of you. Your mechanical watches, do you borrow them from somebody? You want to own it. Your suits, your favorite shirts, you want to borrow them from somebody for your experience? No, you want to own it. Ownership is a core part of human beings.

Ferrari cuts Toronto lawyer a deal to replace his flooded California [w/video]

A Ferrari might be the last vehicle you'd want to be driving when streets are submerged in water, but Toronto lawyer Howard Levitt was unfortunate enough to be behind the wheel of his $200,000+ Ferrari California when the tunnel he was driving through started to fill up. It was July, when parts of the Canadian city were flooded, but he was determined to make his flight to a court appearance the next day. So Levitt abandoned his metallic blue supercar in the middle of the street and took a cab to the airport, the National Post reports.
The car subsequently was totaled, and the insurance company covered the damage, so after completing his court assignment (and a column for the Financial Post that was due the same day), Levitt began to search for a replacement for his California - driving his 1994 Dodge Viper in the meantime. He decided on a 2014 California in the same metallic blue to replace his 2010 model. When he approached Ferrari to put in an order, the Italian marque was waiting for him, having heard of his mishap. The company offered him a "very generous" deal on a 2014 model; an undisclosed amount less than the after-options retail price of around $300,000.
The new Ferrari is expected to be delivered to Levitt in November, and we can only hope another flood doesn't catch him off guard. We're not so sure Ferrari would offer him another "very generous" deal. Feel free to watch the short video below, despite its rather static nature, which we included to precisely show the sad fate of Levitt's fallen California.