1989 Ferrari Testarossa Base Coupe 2-door 4.9l on 2040-cars

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1957 Ferrari 335S sells for $34.9M, still not most expensive Ferrari ever sold

Here's your reminder that the price of a good vintage Ferrari is absolutely staggering – the 1957 335S that just sold at an Artcurial auction in Paris for $34.9 million isn't even close to a record when it comes to Prancing Horses crossing the block. While this 335S still represents a hell of a lot of money, we're actually wondering why it didn't do better. For one, this car, chassis number 0674, has the all-important racing provenance collectors crave. It's been raced by legends Mike Hawthorne and Sir Stirling Moss. In its first year of competition, Wolfgang von Trips took it to second place at the Mille Miglia, while Peter Collins and Maurice Trintigant drove it to sixth at the 12 Hours of Sebring. It even recorded the fastest lap at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (although it retired with engine problems just 56 laps into the race). So yes, consider the provenance box checked. Besides famous racers and races, it was owned by some huge names in the Ferrari world, including Luigi Chinetti, the founder of the North American Racing Team and the first Ferrari importer in the US. But for the past 45 years, it was a part of the legendary Bardinon Collection, which was known for its wide array of high-quality Ferraris. While the 1957 335S falls short of the record-holding 1962 250 GTO sold by Bonhams for $38.1 million during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance festivities in 2014, it's still one of the most expensive cars ever sold at auction. And hey, it even landed in the meaty part of its $31.2 million to $35.6 million estimated sale price.

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.

Race recap: 2016 Monaco Grand Prix gets very wet, a little wild

More than at any other race, the Monaco Grand Prix question is: which combination of demolition derby, Safety Cars, and bad pit strategy will decide the podium? Last year Lewis Hamilton's late, confounding pit stop cost him victory. The year before, Nico Rosberg's qualifying "mistake" put him on pole and Mercedes-AMG Petronas' pit strategy sealed his win – good for Nico, bad for Hamilton and the rest of the field. In 2013 Hamilton dropped from second to fourth when he lollygagged in the pits. In all three years, Rosberg won. The new X factor for 2016: a Red Bull resurgence that helped Daniel Ricciardo clinch his first career pole. Nevertheless, bad pit strategy had its say in the results. Ricciardo built up a 13-second lead by Lap 15 in spite of heavy rains that forced the Safety Car to lead the first eight laps of the race. Ricciardo stopped on Lap 23 to switch to intermediate tires for the drying track, ceding the lead to Hamilton. Hamilton pitted from the lead on Lap 31 for softs, then Red Bull pulled Ricciardo in again on Lap 32 and made a snap decision to put him on ultra softs, but the tires weren't ready when Ricciardo reached his pit box. What should have been a three-second pit stop turned into a 13.6-second pit stop. Ricciardo left the pits as Hamilton came down the straight and the Aussie lost the lead into the first corner. Despite two attempts to pass later in the race, Hamilton finished first, the Aussie second. It's the second race in a row where pit strategy cost Ricciardo a near-certain win. Conversely, Force India nailed both tire strategy and pit timing with Sergio Perez. The Mexican started in eighth but got into third before half the race was done, passing four cars in the pits, and finished on the podium's final step. Otherwise the order barely changed from about half distance, with Ferrari driver Sebatian Vettel in fourth, followed by Fernando Alonso in the McLaren, Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India, Rosberg in the second Mercedes, Carlos Sainz for Toro Rosso, Jenson Button in the second McLaren, and Felipe Massa taking the final point for tenth for Williams. Storms didn't only hover over the area, though – dark clouds hung around several teams and drivers. Mercedes' reliability is no longer so reliable. The Silver Arrows suffered engine issues on both cars in qualifying, and Hamilton's problem almost kept him from setting a time in Q3.