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Ferrari 250 GT California could be your day off for $8 million

Vintage Ferraris consistently top the list of the most expensive cars ever sold. In private treaty sales, the 250 GTO is king, but even at public auctions, it's the horses that prance the highest. After the Mercedes W196 grand prix racer that set the world record this past July at nearly $30 million, the list of eight-figure sales is populated almost entirely by Ferraris: a 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder for $27.5 million, the pair of '57 Testa Rossas that sold separately a few years ago for $17 and $13 million apiece, the 250 LM recently went for over $14 million and the 250 GT SWB California Spider that sold in 2008 for $11 million.
Now RM Auctions has another California - this time a long-wheelbase model - on consignment for its upcoming sales in Arizona, where it is expected to fetch between $7 and $9 million. The 11th of only 50 made, chassis number 1055 GT features matching numbers, in red over black with those highly-coveted covered headlamps from the factory. It was delivered new in 1958 to Texas and was owned by some prominent Ferrari collectors and historians across the United States.
It underwent a comprehensive restoration in 1994 before taking the top prize in its class at the Cavallino Classic and has made the rounds of numerous other concours. It's spent the last few years in northern Europe and is now being put up for auction. "It is so choice," as our childhood friend Ferris would say. "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." Check it out in the gallery of achingly gorgeous photos above and the details in the auction listing below.

F1 Race recap: 2016 Russian Grand Prix same as it ever was

The three-year-old Sochi Autodrom that hosts the Russian Grand Prix combines beautiful scenery with a hallmark turn 3, a tricky turn 13, and two long DRS zones. So far, however, those haven't added up to exciting races after the first lap. Despite an in-race issue with his car's MGU-K, Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg aced the weekend with his first career grand slam: pole position, fastest lap of the race, leading every lap, and victory. Behind him, not much happened on the leaderboard after an incident-filled opening lap. The drama started at turns 2 and 3. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel lined up in seventh on the grid because of a five-place gearbox penalty, Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat sat next to him in eighth. Kvyat hit the back of Vettel's Ferrari in the braking zone for Turn 2, shoving Vettel into Daniel Ricciardo – Kvyat's teammate. Kyvat then clobbered the back of Vettel's car at the entry to Turn 3, spinning the German into the wall and out of the race. Kvyat probably regrets saying before the race that he would show Vettel "no mercy" on the first lap. At the back of the grid at Turn 2, Haas F1's Esteban Gutierrez hit Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Manor's Rio Haryanto. Gutierrez continued, both the Force India and the Manor retired. A brief Virtual Safety Car period ensued, then the actual Safety Car emerged for three laps while marshals cleaned up the track. Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg nailed the restart and took off for the rest of the race. Teammate Lewis Hamilton battled his own gremlins all weekend but still finished second, 25 seconds behind Rosberg. During the final qualifying session on Saturday Hamilton's car suffered the same MGU-H failure as in China two weeks ago. The problem relegated him to tenth on the grid. In the race, Hamilton fought his way to second place by Lap 19 out of 53 laps and began closing the 13-second gap to Rosberg. On Lap 37, the gap now under eight seconds, Mercedes told Hamilton his car had a water pressure issue. The malfunction forced the Briton to manage his race and settle for second. Afterward, Hamilton said he was certain he could have won if not for the malfunction. The rest of the top ten barely changed throughout the contest. The first five positions on Lap 21 crossed the finish line in that order 32 laps later. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took the final podium position ahead of the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

Fernando Alonso gives German TV interview driving Ferrari F12 at the Nordschleife

Fernando Alonso gave a wide-ranging interview to German television station RTL, the Spanish driver and German interviewer conducting the session in Italian, driving a special Italian car on very special German track. Among many answers - from the industriousness of his native Ovideo, Spain to where he relaxes - Alonso gives Ferrari an eight out of ten for the season, admitting they don't have the fastest car but they have a complete car, and refuses to give himself a number, only saying that he is more complete as well than when he first entered.
Beyond the normal-guy persona and wealth of topics, the 10-minute interview is neat for being able to watch Alonso hurl the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta over and around kerbs while he's answering questions. You can check it all out in the video below.