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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

Berger and Vettel swap F1 cars old and new at the Red Bull Ring

This weekend the Formula One circus heads to Spielberg. No, not the Hollywood director, but the town in Austria that's home to the Österreichring. Subsequently known as the A1-Ring, these days it's called the Red Bull Ring, which makes this weekend's revived Austrian Grand Prix something of a home race for the defending champion Red Bull Racing team. But long before that it was the home race of the sixteen F1 drivers that call Austria their home - not the least of them Gerhard Berger.
The only Austrian driver to have won a grand prix (ten of them, all told) but not a championship, Berger was a fixture of F1 racing in the 1980s and 90s, spending much of his career driving for Ferrari. He later ran Scuderia Toro Rosso for three seasons, during which time Sebastian Vettel won his first (and still the team's only) grand prix. So with the Austrian Grand Prix back on the calendar for this weekend, the two highly accomplished drivers headed to the Red Bull Ring for a little juxtaposition.
Gerhard rolled in with the Ferrari F1/87-88C in which he won the 1988 Italian Grand Prix at Monza (which was, incidentally, the same race that Vettel won for STR twenty years later under Ferrari power), and Seb in his championship-winning RB8. Then they switched off, giving the four-time world champion his first chance to drive a grand prix racer with three pedals. If you can't believe that, it's also (as far as we can tell) the first time, despite years of neck-and-neck competition and retention of some of the best drivers on the grid, that a Red Bull or Toro Rosso driver has driven a Ferrari F1 car, and vice versa. See how it went down in the video below.

FIA president and former Ferrari boss Jean Todt named UN special envoy

Jean Todt, the 69-year-old former Scuderia Ferrari boss, Ferrari CEO and current FIA president has been named the United Nation's special envoy for road safety. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment Wednesday in Paris. Citing the 1.3 million people killed and the 50 million people injured each year on the world's roads, the UN is appointing Todt to mobilize "sustained political commitment towards road safety." Beyond that, the Frenchman will work towards raising awareness of the UN's "road safety legal instruments." "The road safety challenge is too often ignored, but road injuries are the number one killer of young people aged 15 to 29. That being the case, it deserves much more attention on the global political agenda," Todt said in the attached statement. "This appointment will bring greater visibility to efforts to tackle this health and development crisis, as well as new leadership and renewed momentum." Meanwhile, the FIA also confirmed Todt and 44 other delegates in Nepal to attend the organization's Asia-Pacific Sport Regional Congress in Kathmandu were safe after the country was struck by a devastating earthquake last week. Scroll on down for the official press release from the FIA. FIA President Jean Todt appointed as UN Special Envoy for Road Safety UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed FIA President Jean Todt as his Special Envoy for Road Safety at a meeting held today in Paris. In this capacity, he will assist the UN Secretary General in mobilizing sustained political commitment towards road safety. Mr. Todt will also advocate and raise awareness about the United Nations road safety legal instruments, and share established road safety good practices, through his participations in global and regional conferences on road safety. In addition, the Special Envoy for Road Safety will generate funding for advocacy efforts through strategic partnerships between the public, private and non-governmental sectors. FIA President Jean Todt said: "The road safety challenge is too often ignored, but road injuries are the number one killer of young people aged 15-29. That being the case, it deserves much more attention on the global political agenda." adding "This appointment will bring greater visibility to efforts to tackle this health and development crisis, as well as new leadership and renewed momentum". "In my position as FIA President, with the backing of our members, road safety has become a key priority.