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Ferrari 488 Pista Prototype Drive | Pants-soiling straight-line performance

Independent studies confirm that Lotus Elise drivers are 221.6 times more likely to spontaneously dispose of light-colored undergarments after driving on curvy roads. That's because the weight distribution of a mid-engine car encourages novice drivers to inadvertently ask the rear wheels to pass the fronts in the middle of a corner. Adding insult to staining, the layout's resulting low polar moment of inertia ensures that this rotation happens more quickly than the average person's sphincter-startle clench reflex. The flip side is that even the most powerful mid-engine cars have enough weight over their rear wheels to make straight-line acceleration a worry-free affair. Well, they used to. Full-throttle acceleration in the Ferrari 488 Pista is genuinely terrifying. Wheelspin is a genuine threat at any road-legal speed — and when that happens, its rear end steps out with the same violence as the car accelerates. And that is saying something. The 488 Pista is diabolically quick. Like, hallelujah-hold-on-tight, praise-the-lord, scream-like-a-child and slap-yo-momma quick. Or, in slightly more objective terms, the Ferrari's claimed 7.6-second sprint from a standstill to 200 km/h (124 mph) is but 0.3 second behind that of the 1,000-hp Bugatti Veyron 16.4. When we say quick, we mean QUICK. Perhaps too quick for the road, so it's a good thing the car is literally named after the track. The Pista is the latest in the lineage of harder-core Ferraris that began with the 360 Challenge Stradale. The 360CS, like the F430 Scuderia ("Team") and 458 Speciale ("Special") that followed, was a little quicker than the regular car, a little more devoid of creature comforts and a lot louder. The same basic recipe applies to the 488, though in its transition from GTB to Pista (say "peas-ta"), its engine gets a bigger power boost than any of its predecessors. Boasting 720 metric horsepower, or 710 American ponies, the Pista makes 49 hp more than the already absurdly powerful 488 GTB. The expected weight-savings measures are also present, accounting for a claimed 198-pound reduction in total mass. Ten-percent-stiffer springs and recalibrated magnetorheological dampers offer tighter body control, and Michelin Sport Cup 2 tires conspire with those changes to generate massive cornering grip. But more on that later — the star of this prototype preview drive was the engine, Ferrari's award-winning 3.9-liter flat-plane-crankshaft V8.

Steve McQueen's Ferrari 275 GTB/4 To Be Auctioned In Monterey

We know from many, many years of watching classic car auctions, that there are certain qualities that ensure big money. For example, putting tiny silver horses and/or yellow badges on a red car will probably bring in a lot of cash. This is doubly true if said car hails from the 1950s or 1960s, and it's triply true if some dude drove it around in circles or if a celebrity owned it. That, friends, is how you make the serious dosh at auction. Considering that, we should expect big, big things when this 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 crosses the block at the big RM Auctions event during the festivities surrounding the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Terrence Steven McQueen, better known as Steve McQueen and even better known as the coolest actor of the 1960s and 1970s, originally purchased this car while filming Bullitt in San Francisco, which should provide a big boost to its sale price. As previously reported, this car has undergone a full restoration and has received its certification from the team at Ferrari Classiche. Beyond that, though, we're kind of in the dark about this beauty. We don't even have a rough guess of how much it'll go for. That's where you come in. Considering that the price of classic Ferraris is increasing with all the regularity of Old Faithful, how much do you think McQueen's 275 will call for when it hits the stage in August? Head into Comments and let us know.

Ferrari hybrid V8 arriving next year, could power Ferrari SUV

Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne told Auto Express that the world can expect a V8 hybrid from Maranello next year. He said, "The test mules are out now," but what he wouldn't tell the Brit mag is where that V8 hybrid will go. Everything else in Ferrari's lineup has been recently introduced or refreshed save for the 488, but the 488 is just two years old. With all of the current cars ruled out, the bettors wager on the hybrid V8 appearing in the Ferrari SUV that's also due next year. We've no idea how Maranello engineers will structure the electrical assistance, but Marchionne indicated "more of a traditional hybrid [than the LaFerrari] to fulfill a different role." That means a strictly performance-based kinetic energy recovery system likely steps aside for one that will "yield additional performance" as well as better fuel economy. In further comments to Top Gear — where he expressed a touch of disappointment in the firm's GT car designs and the possibility of a 250 GTO continuation — Marchionne said, "The hybrid element will be much more of a mainstay of the powertrain than it was in the LaFerrari." Look out for plug-in charging and some kind of all-electric range. If all of this speculation holds up come 2019, it also means the Ferrari SUV will reverse its competitors' playbooks — the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus, for instance, established themselves with their mightiest powertrains, then got around to plug-in hybrid models. A hybrid SUV would be smart, as we're coming up on an emission target escalation in 2020. Those targets only apply to carmakers selling more than 10,000 units per year, Ferrari sold nearly 8,400 cars last year and aims to crack 9,000 sales this year. The SUV will certainly put the Prancing Horse over the 10K barrier, and as a volume seller, relatively speaking, will make a worthwhile contribution to emissions values. Of course, you have to write Marchionne's quips in pencil, because they're prone to revision. It was only two years ago when Marchionne answered a question about the mere possibility of an SUV with, "You have to shoot me first." Later that same year, Marchionne said every Ferrari sold from 2019 onward would have some sort of hybrid element.