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Autoblog Podcast #397

Episode #397 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, and Seyth Miersma talk about the leadership change at Ferrari, the Mercedes-AMG GT, and we give a report on the Long-Term Garage. We start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #397:
Topics:

Will this 1966 Ferrari three-seater surpass $20M at Pebble Beach auction?

With a week of lavish automotive events coming up centered around the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August, some of the highest profile auto auctions in the world are about to take place. Hearing about Ferrari Testa Rossas and 250 GTOs going for tens of millions of dollars during these events is commonplace, but Gooding & Company is bringing a unique Prancing Horse to sell in California that could be a record-breaker for the company.
The car in question is the drop-dead gorgeous 1966 Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale with just 7,900 kilometers (4,910 miles) on the clock that's pictured above, and it checks all of the boxes to make it incredibly desirable. First off, just look at it. The flowing lines and giant, tinted moonroof really make this Ferrari a head-turner. Inside, it has the distinctive feature of three seats with the driver slightly forward in the middle, kind of like the McLaren F1. And what a view from behind the wheel with all of the expansive glass in front of and above the driver. According to the auction listing, Pininfarina displayed the Speciale at a variety of international motor shows in 1966 and 1967.
If the looks aren't enough, then the provenance puts this Ferrari over the top, for sure. Underneath those gorgeous lines is the chassis from a Ferrari 365 P2 endurance racer. The sale claims that this was the first mid-engine, Ferrari 12-cylinder model created from the start as a road car. After touring with Pininfarina, it went to Luigi Chinetti, the first man to sell a Prancing Horse in the US and the boss of the company's North American Racing Team. He sold it twice, but the Speciale has been in the hands of the Chinetti since 1969.

Giancarlo Fisichella joins fellow former F1 drivers in United SportsCar Championship

In business or in politics, those driven by their careers typically aim for the highest position they can get to, and after they're done there, they typically retire. But not in motor racing. With an expiration date hovering in their mid-30s at best, Formula One drivers typically seek out other racing series to compete in once they've outlived their career on the grand prix circuit. And there is no lack of racing disciplines that are glad to welcome them in with open arms as motor racing royalty. With the calendar announced and the teams lined up, the roster of drivers is taking shape for the inaugural United SportsCar Championship. And while there hasn't been a large number of former F1 drivers – much less grand prix winners – lining up for the series, there have been some. Risi Competizione, the team that typically fields Ferrari entrants in American GT racing, has just announced that Giancarlo Fisichella will be driving for them in the United SportsCar Championship this season. The veteran of 231 grands prix has driven for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. In the case of the latter, he filled in for an injured Felipe Massa, and remains a Ferrari factory driver. Over the course of his fourteen years on the grid, he won three grands prix and landed on the podium 19 times. That makes Fisichella, who just turned 41 on Tuesday, the most accomplished former F1 driver to sign on for the American series, but he's not the only one. Other drivers already lined up include David Brabham, Max Papis and Christian Fittipaldi – each of whom contested a handful of grands prix in the 1990s – as well as Sebastian Bourdais, who drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso after dominating in Champ Cars for four years and left F1 in 2009 along with Fisichella, who currently looks to be the only driver lined up for this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona who's won a grand prix or even scored a podium finish. While Brabham, Papis, Fittipaldi and Bourdais will all be driving in the top-tier Prototype class, Fisichella will be trying to make his mark in the GTLM class. We'll be watching to see whether he can add that trophy to the class titles he's already accrued in the Le Mans Series, the World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans itself in the five years since leaving F1.