2011 Ferrari 458 Italia 2dr Cpe on 2040-cars

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Watch 40 Ferrari F12s hit the Nurburgring at once

Of all the cars we'd love to drive around the Nurburgring, the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta ranks pretty high. It's got mountains of power sent from a smooth V12 at the front to a set of fat tires at the back, near-perfect handling balance, anchor-like brakes... we could go on and on, but the point is that it'd be a hoot to drive on any track, let alone the vaunted Nordschleife. As you can see from this video, the boys from Maranello evidently agree. This latest owners' meeting attracted 40 F12s (and at least one California T) to the Green Hell to see how their machinery could handle one of (if not the) most challenging racing circuits in the world. Ferrari's chief test driver Raffaele de Simone was on hand to drive some hot laps, and the owners had the chance to push their F12s to near their limits. The official video footage is a little overproduced, in typical style, and could do with a little less dramatic music and a little more of the unbridled engine and exhaust sounds for which Ferraris are known. But as far as the fantasy of gaining admission to such an elite cadre of supercar owners, this is about as close as most of us are likely to get. Related Video:

This is the amazing Christmas wonderland Ferrari builds for kids every year

Granted, when we think of a "Ferrari Christmas Wonderland" our dreams naturally manifest something like a red FF with a bow on the hood and keys on the seat, parked in front of a Fiorano Circuit that's ours for the day. A guy's gotta dream, right?
But, luckily for a lot of beaming children and their grateful, non-selfish parents, Ferrari's gift back to the people of Maranello is far more festive. The Italian automaker clearly pulls out all of the stops for its annual Kids Christmas party to celebrate the season. The event, which sees the Ferrari grounds transformed in to a veritable amusement park in a holiday theme, seems pretty massive of scale and impressive in its detail.
Click through to the video clip below to see what we mean, and pay special attention about two-thirds of the way through, when a special contingent of 'Santas' drop by to say "Boun Natale."

Nigel Mansell's Ferrari F40 sells for $870k

If you look at the $1.35 million price tag on the new LaFerrari and wonder how Ferrari can possibly charge that much for a single car, you could look at the prices of its competitors like the McLaren P1 that lists for almost as much at $1.15 million, you could look to the $2.5 million which Ferrari is said to have charged for the exclusive F60 America - or you could look at the prices at which LaFerrari's predecessors are still trading. Take, for example, this Ferrari F40 which, 25 years since it was built, just sold for nearly $870,000 at auction.
The F40 in question, a 1989 model, may be just one of 1,315 examples made, but it has a rather noteworthy provenance: the car once belonged to Nigel Mansell, the only driver ever to hold both the Formula One and Indy titles at the same time. That Mansell - a man who had access to some of the fastest and most capable racing cars ever made - selected the F40 as his personal ride of choice speaks volumes about the car's abilities and appeal. But then he did, after all, drive for the Scuderia that season, winning the Brazilian and Hungarian grands prix.
The celebrity provenance, however, may not have actually jacked the price up at all. While it may rank towards the top of the list, this was hardly the highest price paid for an F40 at auction. According to Sports Car Market, which tracks such sales, the record currently belongs to a 1993 Ferrari F40 LM that Bonhams also sold for $2.2 million at Monterey. The highest price for a standard, non-LM model was recorded at the same event at $1.43 million.