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Ferrari threatening to fine journalists $69,000 for breaking LaFerrari embargo?

In automotive journalism, we deal with embargoes on a regular basis. For the uninitiated, these are agreements between publications like Autoblog and manufacturers. While news embargoes (where pubs are provided with information and images and agree to hold until a predetermined date) are fairly common, today, we're focusing on drive embargoes. These are what we generally end up signing when we attend a vehicle launch. Generally, these are in the media's best interest. As drive programs are spread out over a week or two with multiple different "waves" of media, drive embargoes put the biggest and smallest publications on level footing when it comes to publishing reviews.
According to a report from Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe, Ferrari has taken its drive embargo for the LaFerrari hypercar a bit too far. See, initial reviews from the few publications that attended the drive event for the hybrid-powered monster can hit the newsstand or internet on April 30. Originally, syndicated stories - those sold by freelancers or publications to other outlets - couldn't be published until May 12. These syndicated reviews are big money for larger magazines and, in the case of freelance journalists, are a primary source of revenue. Inexplicably, though, Ferrari has pushed the syndication embargo back to May 26, which is bad news for everyone involved (aside from Ferrari).
This could have been nothing more than an annoyance. The stories would still get sold (although it might be for a bit less coin, considering the initial reviews will be nearly a month old) and you'll still be bombarded by reviews of the LaFerrari not once, but twice, just as Ferrari planned.

Race Recap: 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans defines 'endurance'

Commenting on the rush of events that rocked beginning and end of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Paul Truswell of Radio Le Mans said "the race is about the ability to endure, not just the ability of drivers to do what they do for a long time." The entire race machine, all the way down to the pit boards and radios, has to survive the stress and abuse of the entire day. This was the race to prove those words.
There were two Toyotas, two Porsches and three Audis, five of the seven led the race at some point, six of the seven ran in the top three. Toyota will be hugely disappointed that it didn't win when its car and drivers were so, so strong, but they gave Audi the kind of scare we haven't seen since the best of Peugeot's days, and Toyota did a better job of it even in the loss. Porsche blew away everyone's expectations, falling 3.5 hours short of a fairy tale ending that would have made Disney cry.
But Le Mans doesn't really do fairy tales. Well, not that fairy tale. Audi's Twitter handle during the event was #welcomechallenges. As usual, Le Mans answered for the entire field.

Behold the mad genius of the Ferrari-powered Toyota 86

Ryan Tuerck's latest project, a Toyota 86 with the F136 V8 engine from a Ferrari 458, has to be one of craziest projects ever envisioned. While the finished project will be nothing short of extraordinary, Tuerck reveals some of the finer details on fitting a large Italian engine into a small Japanese car. One of the most difficult tasks with the engine swap is getting the V8 to fit in the 86's compact engine compartment. Since the V8 is taller and longer than the stock 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, Tuerck and his team have had to do a lot of cutting and fabricating. Tuerck also revealed that the vehicle wouldn't be used in competition, which allows the team to go beyond the rulebook in terms of body strengthening and custom components. There's still a lot of work to be done, but Tuerck claims the vehicle will be ready by October. Donut Media, the YouTube channel that is covering the build, promises to cover every aspect of the project including the first start, which should be coming soon. Related Video: News Source: YouTube via Donut MediaImage Credit: Donut Media Aftermarket Weird Car News Ferrari Toyota Performance Videos toyota 86 engine swap scion frs