Here's Vettel ripping in a Ferrari FXX K.

The car is simply spectacular.  Sebastian seem to be having a good time (catch him go "broom broom" with his mouth as he downshifts?) and concludes the lap with an Italo-German utterance which might or might not translate into "Mamma mia this thing goes like a rocketship" but ...

Dear Ferrari,  can we talk about the person responsible for editing your clips?   When you have the best sounding engines in the world, with possibly the most exciting car of the moment driven by a four time F1 Champion and you still feel the need to add bad canned music well,  then we would suggest someone at the Scuderia needs to be put out to pasture!

Pure Sound next time please!

Watch Kimi Raikkonen hoon a 730 HP Ferrari F12

If you still clung to any faint hope Fernando Alonso might stay at Ferrari after all, forget it.

In Brazil Kimi would have gotten a radio call rather than being allowed to have fun holding up Fernando despite much older tires...



...and you certainly would not have seen Ferrari release a clip of just Kimi, without Alonso,  doing press duties with and F12 at Fiorano.

Kimi being Kimi,  he gives some of the the journos in the right seat some blank WTF stares, although, I did catch at least one smile...

Anyway,  let's hope Kimi and Vettel are more compatible stile wise and that next year, Ferrari can build them a car they can both find "simpatica".

Back to the clip, can I point out the awesome exhaust plume that seems to be shooting out of the left exhaust?

Ferrari conducts more testing at Fiorano

Forget mysterious turbo sounds, Marc Gene was conducting testing on a special traction device yesterday.

Fernando Laps LaFerrari At Fiorano....Slowly now

He promised two slow laps...
I'm guessing when they finally announce it, the current Fiorano lap record will be pulverized. Now, what's up with Nando's Lloyd Christmas haircut?
(H/t Borja!)

Ferrari F12Berlinetta vs Pagani Huayra On Track Video.

Bit of an apples and oranges comparison at Fiorano for an article on Germany's Sport Auto we can't find trace of anywhere.

In any case, we learn the Pagani sounds like an electric drill and has the most un-ergonomic, unreadable instrument ever. The Ferrari's naturally aspirated V12 sounds like, what would Jezza say... God gargling?

Enjoy.

"Fernando, the fuel is faster than you..."

Funny line the BBC giant got in. I post this more for the peek behind the scenes at Fiorano than anything else, that and to see if anyone will complain about Ferrari getting extra testing. Nice plug for Shell.

(via speedmerchantsmedia)

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Fernando flogs a 458 at Fiorano

This clip is sort of ruined by the the passenger's incessant cackling but watching Alonso at work in a Ferrari 458 Italia is cool.

The first lap is for showboating and then he tries to shoot for a faster lap. Quite interesting that even Fernando would change the manettino setting. Also notice how the dual clutch paddle shifter lets him upshift mid corner, while fully sideloaded, to reduce torque and catch a slide. "it's a very comfortable car" says Alonso towards the end...

It would have been nice to have some lap times for comparison but they were running on a non standard configuration of Fiorano so the 1:31 laps are not comparable to the official 458 record time of 1:25. 1:25 is the same lap time as the stripped out, track oriented 430 Scuderia, pretty awesome for a fully GT car. If you want to play guessing games on the inevitable future hardcore version, the 458 Challege laps in the 1:16s, add a few seconds for tires and you get the idea! Lust.


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Ferrari 458 GT2 testing, now better with video!

(motosportblog.it/youtube)

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Ferrari 458 Challenge testing video

A video of a Ferrari 458 Challenge testing different aero configuration at Fiorano.

The car is pushed by the same 570HP motor as the street version but with a radical weight loss, brakes from 599XX and 19 inch Pirelli slicks, achieved a lap time of 1:16.5. Compare that with the 1:24 of the 599GTO and the 1:16.2 of the Ferrari FXX. That's without using a rear wing, imagine what the 458 GT will be like...


(auto-motor-sport)
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A better video of Alonso lapping Fiorano.

God I love You Tube! Here is a nat sound version of Alonso lapping Fiorano last week.

There has been some stink raised about Ferrari illegally testing because of this clip. In fact there is absolutely nothing illegal going on here as the rules allow for 100 Km of running for so called "promotional use". This can mean filming commercials, infomercials, training videos, pleasing sponsors, whatever a team need for "promotion". If you have Stefano Domenicali's cell, you could call him and ask what they did, but whatever they DID do was in no way illegal. They just ran their current car as every other team is free to do, for 100 km.

Not that Ferrari reads Axis but if you do, shoot me an email, I can suggest a couple of helmet cams with a quality actually worthy of an F1 team....
And how about Nando's neck? That's steadier than the Freep's roll bar mount! :)


(Ferrari)
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Around Fiorano in the F10 "B" with Fernando Alonso

Some of you wondered how was it possible for Ferrari to test its new low exhaust configuration on the Fiorano track last week what with the testing ban and all. Regulations do allow for a small number of kilometers to be run for "promotional" use, making commercials for example.

Not sure if Ferrari did much beyond adding a helmet cam on Fernando, but that's fine with us, we love helmet cams!


(via ItaliaSpeed TV)

Interesting read in this week's Autosprint magazine, exhaust blowing in the diffuser are is actually quite an old idea, Renault first used it in the turbo era. At the time gasses were vented under the car into the diffuser flow. The problem was that the additional flow was throttle dependent and thus quite unpredictable if the driver ever lifted. Scary.

These new versions blow on top of the diffuser between the "decks" of the double decker thus eliminating the worst aspect of the old solution. Apparently Ferrari had identified a problem with the F10's design right after the first tests (and probably after having a look at the RedBull who only used the low exhaust at the last test session and even then went as far as placing stickers to simulate a high exhaust position) but reconfiguring the internal packaging, with the original headers pointing forward and up to accommodate the low exhaust, took this long.
Chasing after the Mclaren F-duct was probably a distraction for Maranello as well. On a track like Valencia, I can't imagine this new system will help Ferrari much, maybe somewhere with fast corners like Silverstone.
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Ferrari 458 Five Minutes at Fiorano.

Five minutes around Fiorano with Ferrari's legendary test driver Dario Benuzzi.

Interesting about the 458 is Ferrari's claim, confirmed by all the reviews I've read so far, that the car achieves its maximum performance with the the driver aids on, albeit on their most "aggressive" settings. On this "RACE" setting, the traction control, more than a "nanny", is a performance aid along the lines of what was used in F1 a few years ago. Probably involves more than an adjustment, a leap of faith: just stay flat in corners where you would normally would run partial throttle ( Imagine the esses at VIR...) and let the car sort it out!

Of course Ferrari saw fit to allow the driver the choice to go slower, or to try and prove them wrong, by turning off separately, traction and stability controls. Rubber will be burned!

(autoDigest.it)


Home

One Hot Ride.

Remember those 3 seater F1 cars that were all the rage for a little while a few years back? I found this video, offered without much explanations. I imagine it must be rather hot stuffed back there between the radiators and the headers. Fun ride though.
Marc Gene is driving.
(10 seconds of black at the beginning...)

Velocity from Christopher Schmidt on Vimeo.

Do F1 cars come with foglights? Ferrari F2007 testing video.

First videos of the Ferrari F2007 testing at Fiorano with Felipe Massa. I guess hiding in the fog of Romagna is good way to keep those new aero details vague to the competition.

Hey...and who's that gentleman hanging out in the garage? He looks kind of familiar!
I know for sure that Schumacher has a good relationship with Massa but I wonder how the dynamic will be with Kimi Raikkonen, they seem so different. Then again, what do we really know about Kimi other than his blazing speed and his occasional "drinking-till-you-pass-out" nights out?

Mario Illien took a shot at him earlier in the year calling him an "engine buster".....frankly I have to call BS on that, sounds like a scapegoat hunt by the Mercedes exploding engine specialist.

"It's odd having him (Schumacher) at the tests, I think - really odd," Webber told ITV. "It's like having your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend there. Kimi must go 'what the f***?'' "It must feel so strange to have the teacher's pet standing above you while you are trying to get on with your own new programme." "Suffocation or what?".
With his recent quote describing Schumi's as an ex that won't go away Mark Webber proved himself truly worthy of a RedBull drive.
Tell me he would not kill to be suffucated in that way? Tell me an intelligent driver could not learn a thing or two hanging with a 7 time world champion?

Lets see how Kimi deals...

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