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Jock Clear, Lewis Hamilton's race engineer at Mercedes, moves to Ferrari

The HR office at the Ferrari Formula One team has been exceptionally busy this year, and the churn hasn't ceased. Just this month under new team principal Mauricio Arrivabene – the third team principal in 2014 – lead designer Nikolas Tombazis and engineering director Pat Fry were let go, and tire performance expert Hirohide Hamashima will leave the team at the end of the year. Now there's another batch of HR paperwork to be completed, but this is a new hire to join Sebastian Vettel and Esteban Gutierrez: Jock Clear, Lewis Hamilton's performance engineer this season at Mercedes AMG Petronas. Clear will take over Pat Fry's vacant role as head of engineering, and brings a Driver's World Championship pedigree with him, having helped Hamilton to his second title and Jacques Villeneuve to his sole title in 1997 with Williams. He hasn't joined the Scuderia yet, though; Ferrari is still negotiating with Mercedes to "secure his services as soon as possible." Clear will work in a totally revamped engineering department and report to technical director and ex-Lotus F1 man James Allison. The last time Ferrari went an entire season without a win was 1993. The team has attempted to hedge expectations for 2015, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne saying, "I think hopefully within the next 12 months we will remove all the baggage of uncertainty that is going to plague at least the initial phase of 2015." Hope springs yet, though: when Arrivabene was asked what he'd be happy with next year, he said, "two or three wins." News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Motorsports Ferrari F1

Ferrari 458 Speciale speeds toward Frankfurt

When the doors open at the Frankfurt Motor Show in a few weeks, there'll be loads of new cars and new versions of existing ones. And as far as the latter category goes at least, this will undoubtedly be what show-goers will look forward to most.
What we have here is the Ferrari 458 Speciale - the successor to the 360 Challenge Stradale and 430 Scuderia, and the hard-core version of the 458 Italia. It was expected to carry the name Monte Carlo, but then Ferrari has never been fond of letting the press dictate what it would call its cars. But forget the nameplate: what really matters is what it's got to offer.
For starters, the award-winning, high-revving 4.5-liter V8 has been retuned to deliver 605 cv (596 hp by our standards), up from 562 hp in the standard 458, while torque remains the same at 398 lb-ft. But the other side of the power-to-weight ratio (quoted at 2.13 kg/cv) is the extra mass Ferrari has cut out of the equation: the 458 Speciale's dry weight is quoted at 1,290 kg (2,844 lbs), representing a significant drop from the 458 Italia's 1,485 kg (3,274 lb) curb weight.

Michael Jordan's cars showcased in 'The Last Dance' documentary

After the masses begged and pleaded for an early release, ESPN finally unlocked the doors to the biggest production in company history last month. Episodes 1 and 2 of The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary special about Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bulls, and the 1997-1998 season, was released at last on April 19, 2020. Each week since, two new episodes have aired on Sunday nights, and the next two, episodes 7 and 8 are scheduled to drop this weekend on May 10. With unprecedented video access to MJ, who became averse to the media during his playing days, a byproduct from The Last Dance is a look at some of Jordan's cars. The Goat's taste ranges across a number of brands, but they all had one thing in common: performance as a top priority. Below, we have listed the rides that have already appeared in the series, and each week, we will update with new car cameos. Chevrolet Corvette C4 The photo above somewhat epitomizes one of the themes of The Last Dance. Everybody, whether that was men, women, children, franchise owners, reporters, coaches, teammates, or opponents, wanted a piece of Jordan. If that meant stopping in the middle of the road to get an autograph, then so be it. Around town, MJ was fairly easy to spot due to his flashy cars that occasionally wore Bulls red. Jordan has driven numerous Corvettes throughout the years, but the C4 is unique in that it was Chevy's top ride when Jordan signed an endorsement deal with the American company during his rookie year in 1984. Two famous photos, one in front of the Chicago skyline, show him standing next to a C4 with the license plate "Jump 23." This exact car, however, came later, as indicated by the squared-off taillights. He went on to star in a number of Chevrolet commercials with vehicles such as the Blazer and S-10 pickup truck. Chevrolet Corvette C5 The most notable Corvette His Airness ever owned was likely the C4 40th Anniversary ZR-1, but he also drove a C5 coupe at one point. Roughly nine minutes into the first episode, Jordan is seen driving the chrome-wheeled targa top into the parking lot at the Berto Center, the Bulls old practice facility.   Ferrari 550 Maranello Roughly three minutes into episode four, viewers get a glimpse of Jordan's exotic taste in the form of a red Ferrari 550 Maranello.