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Meet the man who sold his Ferrari 250 GTO for a record $48 million

We all took notice back in August when a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold at RM Sotheby's in Monterey, bringing a record price for a car at auction: $48.4 million. The man who benefited — both from the proceeds and from his 18 years owning one of the rarest, most desirable cars in the world, chatted recently with Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur about what it was like to say goodbye to such a beautiful machine — and how he's able to console himself with a serious collection of other fine cars. Despite the car, the third of 36, being "one of the most significant Ferraris ever built, bar none," in Sotheby's words, Brodeur says Whitten regularly toodled around in it in Redmond, Wash. — to lunch, on errands, to car shows — Redmond being a place where you do see an awful lot of incredible daily drivers streaming into the Microsoft campus. Whitten, now chairman of Numerix, a financial software company, was one of Microsoft's earliest employees, hired in 1979 by the late Paul Allen himself. He describes what it was like to be sitting on the front row at Monterey when the gavel came down. Even for a multimillionaire, multimillions being thrown around by three bidders for a single car is "very hard to fathom," he told CNBC. "But you're in a space where you have car collectors, and Ferraris are the most collectible car, and the GTO is the pinnacle Ferrari." "I miss it a little bit," Whitten says. But the world is full of wonderful cars, and an awful lot of them are tucked away in his warehouse. Plus, Whitten spent more than $2 million on the same night the GTO sold, picking up another Ferrari and three vintage Jaguars, including a 1967 E-Type as a birthday present for his wife, Michelle. In the column, he reflects on his beginnings as a driver — as an 11-year-old wheelman helping his brother deliver newspapers in their parents' station wagon. And on being a broke mathematics doctorate whose first car was a Dodge Dart. And on the beginnings of his collection when the Microsoft millions kicked in; on purchasing a 1935 ERA 1.5L Grand Prix racer from a Thai princess; and that time he hit 174 mph on an airport runway. Here's the column, if you'd like to learn more about a guy who sounds like he's had a pretty great life. And below are two videos put out by Sotheby's ahead of the auction. In the first, Whitten drives the Ferrari, talks about his love of cars — and you get a glimpse of his collection. The second video describes the car's considerable provenance.

Ferrari celebrates at Hong Kong's Asia World Expo

More than 600 Ferrari models, representing every era of the famed automaker's production, celebrated 30 years of presence in Hong Kong with a gathering at the Asia World Expo this past weekend. The event marked the largest single gathering of Maranello's sports cars ever organized in China. The weekend culminated with Marc Gene, Scuderia Ferrari's test driver, unveiling the new 458 Speciale.
There are only about 1,700 Ferrari owners in China, and they boast an average age of just 35 years. The young clientele in the Asian market often take advantage of Ferrari's 'Tailor Made' bespoke program and they have a growing interest in racing. The automaker says that many will travel to the Mugello circuit in Italy to participate in the final event of the Asia Pacific series of the Ferrari Challenge in a couple weeks.
"I am pleased to be here to celebrate Ferrari's thirty years in Hong Kong, along with so many owners who share our passion and the search for excellence, exclusivity and innovation," said President Luca di Montezemolo. The video shows hundreds of Ferraris, in popular white, yellow and red, being arranged indoors to form the Bauhinia Blakeana, a five-pedal flower that is the characteristic symbol of Hong Kong. Apparently owners of the more exclusive Blu Scozia, Avio Met and Vinaccia colors were asked to park outside. Scroll down below for a video and press release detailing the event.

Race Recap: 2014 Singapore Grand Prix is back-to-front

To paraphrase Guy Fawkes, 'Remember, remember the twenty-first of September.' That's the day the 2014 Formula One Championship took another big turn - and at one of the year's least interesting races, traditionally - putting Lewis Hamilton back at the top of the standings. Not only that, it did so by borrowing the template from the British Grand Prix this year: put Hamilton in front, retire Nico Rosberg.
It was close until then, though, Hamilton lining up on pole for Mercedes AMG Petronas just seven thousandths of a second ahead of Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo, the year's greatest opportunist, took third ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing, followed by Fernando Alonso in fifth for Ferrari. The Williams' looked like they'd be in trouble on Friday, but as usual they dredged up some pace on Saturday, Felipe Massa taking sixth ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in the second Ferrari, the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas in eighth. Kevin Magnussen saved a little bit of face for McLaren in ninth, and Daniil Kvyat did another solid job to line up tenth in his Toro Rosso.
Before it even started, the race wouldn't look the same.