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First Ferrari 458 Speciale A sells for $900k in Beverly Hills

The prospect of buying a new Ferrari convertible is by no means an affordable one, but prices can vary greatly. The California T, for example, sells for under $200k. The 458 Spider fetches over $250k. The new F60 America is said to have sold out at around ten times that much. But what about the 458 Speciale A?
We may have yet to receive official pricing, but one customer has paid a whopping $900,000 for the privilege of owning the very first one. Ferrari 458 Speciale A #1/499 was auctioned off at Beverly Hills City Hall on the occasion of Ferrari's 60th anniversary in America. The event, where the F60 America was also unveiled, was held in the presence of Fiat chairman John Elkann, Fiat CEO and Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa and vice-chairman Piero Ferrari.
Proceeds from the sale will benefit the American chapter of Daybreak, an Italian charity that has worked for the past 25 years to cure rare genetic diseases. The high bid tops that which recently won the first Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat - another extreme eight-cylinder performance machine from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles - although the Challenger itself sells for far less than any Ferrari does.

You can apply to attempt to break the world record for fastest blindfolded driver [w/video]

The Guinness-certified world record for "fastest speed for a car driven blindfolded" is 186.12 miles per hour, set by Mike Newman in a Porsche GT2 last year at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in England. Then earlier this year, Newman said he'd go for the 200 mph mark - something he might want to talk to fellow Bruntingthorpe speed demons Vmax200 about. UK firm Extreme Motorsport, which seems to have been set up solely to set blindfold driving and riding records, wants to wrest the record from Newman using a Ferrari 458 Challenge and the even longer runway at Elvington Airfield in York, England.
Strangely, it appears the terms "legally blind" and "blindfolded" equate to the same thing. The Guinness record and Extreme Sports say "blindfolded," but Newman and the man who held the record before him, Turkish pop singer Metin Sentürk, are legally blind and neither of them wore blindfolds during their record attempts.
No matter - the real point is that Extreme Motorsport is casting about for a driver to set a new record. The could-be-shady part is that Extreme is pretty vague about what's involved; they'll provide the car or the motorcycle, but you have to "choose a charity and pledge to give them all the funds you raise above the entrance fee and for any other personal expenses you may need to participate in the challenge." Extreme doesn't give any indication of how much that entrance fee might be.

1964 Ferrari 250 GTO sees Petrolicious embracing gorgeousness

We've never, ever accused Petrolicious of slacking when it comes to the quality of cars it features. Each week brings a new, exciting, rare vehicle that has some special quality or provenance to it. But this week's video... it's beyond everything else the series has ever done.
That's because it stars the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO, also known as (possibly) the most expensive vehicle ever sold. Only 36 were ever built, and this particular 1964 example was the first of the Series II range. Rather than some tinkerer or restorer behind the wheel of this masterpiece, Derek Hill, son of the first American Formula One World Champion, Phil Hill, is on hand for the interview and is slotted into the tight cockpit of the Rosso Corsa masterpiece.
This particular GTO was raced multiple times by Hill Sr., and it recorded wins at Daytona and Nassau, thanks in part to its 300-horsepower, 3.0-liter V12 engine. That makes it a bit special for the younger Hill, who can speak with some authority about this car's provenance - and wheel it rather well himself, as he's a fairly accomplished racer in his own right. Of course, if you're like us, you'll forget everything Hill says and will go completely slack-jawed as soon as that V12 starts to sing.