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2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale

Where the current roadgoing Ferrari coupe with its rear-mounted V8 can go beyond this Speciale edition, I don't know. The 458 Italia and Spider already hold a very dear place in the hearts of anyone who has driven them on a sunny day over great roads or tracks, and I was pretty sure nothing could beat the heady sensory combo presented in the 458 Spider when I first drove it back in 2011. I may have to change my opinion now.
Companies like Ferrari are in the enviable position of sprinkling performance dust on their already-great base cars, all just to make them a skosh better and grab us again by the loins for one more model year. Some perspective: in 2002, the legendary Enzo set its personal best around Ferrari's 1.9-mile track at Fiorano, pulling a 1:24.9. This 458 Speciale with four fewer cylinders and more weight beats it with a time of 1:23.5, and not once during my laps did I feel as though I might die if my slightest judgment behind the wheel was less than on the money.

Two weeks and 2,000 miles in Ferrari's FF with Evo

EVO's Harry Metcalfe had some questions about the day-to-day livability of the Ferrari FF. When he brought those questions up to Ferrari, they suggested he take one for a couple of weeks and try it out for, as he calls them, "mundane duties." The image above is Metcalfe pointing to the 660-horsepower, all-wheel drive FF parked in one of his fields because, since he lives on a farm, mucking about the green is part of his daily routine. "It could use more ground clearance," he says, "but that's an option on this car."
He does get it on the "tarmac" and he likes it even more there than in the mud. Except for the buttons on the steering wheel; he thinks learning to use them is like learning to play guitar. He has a lot more to say besides that, and you can watch him expound for all of 17 minutes in the video below.

Classic Ferraris fight currency rates for bragging rights

Which is the most expensive car ever sold at auction? That should be a fairly straightforward question to answer, only it isn't. Due to currency fluctuations, we're actually dealing with two contenders, both of which have legitimate claims to the crown. The contenders are both classic Ferraris, each of them worth in excess of $30 million. In one corner is the 250 GTO sold at Pebble Beach in 2014 for $38 million. In the other is the 335 S sold in Paris just the other day for ˆ32 million. Resolving the bragging rights should come down to a simple matter of currency conversion, but the problem is that the rates don't stay constant. So the $38 million for which Bonhams sold the 250 GTO worked out to ˆ28 million at the exchange rates of the day. At that rate, the GTO was worth a good four million euros less than what the 335 S sold for, even though today's rates value the 335 S at "only" $35 million, or a good few million dollars short of the GTO. The answer, then, may be subject to which market you're in. But if you're looking for the tie-breaker, consider the British Pound: in Sterling, the 335 S sold for the equivalent of GBP24.7 million, which is more than the GBP22.8 million that the GTO's $38 million worked out to at the time – but less than the GBP26.5 million it would be worth today. And so we're back to where we started. But we're sure the confusion won't last (or be relevant) for too long, as there's bound to be another highly sought-after classic automobile on the auction block before too long. And it'll probably be another Ferrari. WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A MOTOR CAR SOLD AT AUCTION* 32.1 Mˆ / 24.7 MGBP / 35.7 M$ INCLUDING PREMIUM LOT 170 • 1957 FERRARI 335 SPORT SCAGLIETTI DE 1957 • CHASSIS N°0674 FROM THE PIERRE BARDINON COLLECTION Lot 170. 1957 Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti • Chassis n°0674 • From the Pierre Bardinon Collection WORLD RECORD FOR A COLLECTORS' CAR AT AUCTION* Sold : 32,1 Mˆ / 24,7 MGBP / 35,7 M$ including premium (estimate : 28 – 32 Mˆ / 21,5 – 24,6 MGBP / 30 – 34 M$ ) *World record price for a car sold at auction, in euros and sterling. Previous record : 28,5 Mˆ / 38 M$, in 2014, in the US Paris – Friday 5 February 2016, shortly after 18h50, at the Retromobile Salon, Artcurial Motorcars, the collectors' car department at Artcurial achieved the world record for a car sold at auction, under the gavel of Maitre Herve Poulain.