The new Ferrari F12 Berlinetta in Geneva 2012

A new Ferrari is always a sensation, the new F12 Berlinetta makes no difference. Ferrari not only changed (again) the logic of the model naming they also packed all their engineering knowhow into the car, resulting in a bit less weight and a lot more power (700+ hp).
Never before the difference between what you get and what you actually can use in normal driving conditions was so big. When driving with the almost normal 80 km/h roughly 15 hp are enough, and even at 120 km/h you don't need more than 40 or 50 hp. So what on earth will you do with the other 650+ hp? They are there and they make the car expensive as everything needs to be adapted to cope with this massive power. Anyway, so be it. But maybe you remember the Fifties, when a Ferrari had some 120 or 150 hp and drivers have been able to use all of them quite often ....

Ferrari F40 vs Porsche 959

In the last episode of the current Topgear series Hamster had the pleasure to drive both the Ferrari F40 and the Porsche 959, the mid 80ies super cars. What a wonderful movie! As usual the pictures were marvelous, but the sound track was even more exciting. Amd Richard got it right by summarizing the characteristics of the two cars. And of once he and Jeremy even agreed on what the better car was, both voted for the F40. But Richard made a good point, that the Porsche 959 actually was the car to show where the future would be, not the Ferrari. Funny, that at the end both cars apparently collapsed on the fast lap with Stig, but anyway the track was damp and ....

Auto Zurich 2010 - McLaren MP4-12C Ferrari 599 GTO Aston-Martin Cygnet ...

Auto Zurich cannot be compared with the Geneva car show. But looking at the range of new cars presented in Zurich it must be said that it's still an impressive show. New cars on scene were the Ferrari 599 GTO (for people with a lot of money) , McLaren MP4-12C (for people with a need for exclusivity), Volkswagen Passat (for people with families), Aston-Martin Cygnet (for people who want to pay twice the money to receive a Toyota IQ), Ranger Rover Evoque (for people who thing the BMW X6 isn't nice enough), Brabus Mercedes-Benz SLS (for people who thing the standard thing isn't expensive enough), Mercedes-Benz CLS (or people who only know short people to get into the back), Porsche Carrera GTS (same as a standard 911 for the GT3 price when fully loaded), new Veritas (if convenience is not an objective), Mitsubishi MIEV (if electricity is available where you park), and so on. The Zurich show is also a good show, because you can see all the cars in roughly 90 minutes ...

Ferrari SA Aperta - already sold out

Isn't that how you want it to have as a car manufacturer? You create a new car, and even before it's officially presented, it's already sold out. Exactly this is what happened with the Ferrari SA Apperta, the open version of the 599. It's a good looking car and with the limitation to 80 examples to be built it's clear that there's at least initial collector's value. Whether the money will keep the value, that's another question, but we will see. By the way the "SA" goes back to Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina, and the "80" comes from Pininfarina's 80st anniversary.

It's not easy to make money by investing in cars, but it's possible

One of the most often read blog posts on "driving philosopher" is talking about today's investment opportunities in the automobile space. 10 cars are presented that have good chances of gaining in value. There's something to say however. Gaining in value isn't enough to be a worthwhile investment if the only objective is to make money. The chart here shows a very simple model. Assume you buy a car at € 20'000, 30'000.- or 500'000. Assume it will gain 10% in value every year over twenty years. Assume you spend some money to keep the car road worthy and properly stored and insured. At the end of the period your total gain was € 14'318 if you bought a € 20'000 car. This means you average interest rate per year was 3.6% if you kept the car for so long. But only after 17 years you actually are in the positive zone. Before that you lost money. What this chart also says is that it's easier to make money with more expensive cars. The reason is that maintenance and storage don't influence the figures as much as with less expensive cars. But, very few cars really gain 10% in value very year. It probably has been true for a Lamborghini Miura, few Ferraris and some rare racing and sports cars. But the well loved Mercedes 280 SL Pagoda (R113) for example gained only 30-40% in the last ten years, so less than 4% per annum. So this is a tricky business. Anyway, I stick with my argument mentioned earlier, buy your car because you like it and love to drive it, take any money you win with it as an expected up-sight.

From the RAID Prolog in Zurich

Accidentally I ran into the opening ceremony of this year's RAID Prolog in Zurich today. It's refreshing to see so many classic cars in the center of Zurich where usually only 2010 Mercedes and Porsche drive around. Already in the morning the cars gathered at the Burkliplatz were impressive with Alpine A110, Lancia Flaminia, Facel Facellia, Alfa-Romeo Giulia SS, collections of Jaguar XK and E-Types, Porsche 356 and 914 and even a Citroen DS transporter with a Dino 246 GT loaded. If you want my opinion, they could do this every day!

Amazing night race at this years AVD Oldtimer Grand Prix

This years AVD Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nurburgring showed again amazing cars and races. One of the best for me was the race for two seater sportscars on Saturday night, started at 20:30 and ending 1 hour later, so going into the night. Not only was the field of cars impressive and exciting (you can spot two Maserati Birdcage, a Lotus 19, Lister, Ferraris, HWM, Lotus, Mercedes Gullwing, and many other precious sportscars), but the sound and light were just impressive too. The drivers gave their best and made the race a thrill. That's historic motor sport as we love it. But let the pictures speak!

Oldtimer Sunday Morning in Zug - great variety and really rare cars

Finally I found the time again to visit the Oldtimer Sunday Morning Meeting in Zug. It usually takes place on the first Sunday during the summer months. Usually there's a special topic, today it was "Alfa-Romeo - cuore sportivo". And with probably 100+ Alfas there was a great selection ranging from Giulietta Spiders, to GTAs and other rare types. There was even an Alfasud, that many of you probably remember. I also found quite a selection of Lancias. What really makes this meeting special is that there's everything at one place. You can see Volkswagen Beetles side by side with a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso or an ASA race car. And you can find big American classic cars, Italian and English cars just sitting side by side. It's all about bringing your car and watching all the others. It's a lot of fun.

The new Ferrari 458 Challenge - better, but better?

Yes, this is the brand new, just announced, Ferrari 458 Challenge. It beats its predecessor (430 Challenge) by 2 seconds in Fiorano and that's a lot, it's kind of a racing light year! So, these new cars get better and better, faster and faster, but is this really better? Do all these electronic gizmos really help to make the good driver look good and the bad one suffer? I doubt it. And it's not even that exciting to observe as it's so bloody controlled. Let's go back to less electronics, smaller tires and more fun, that's why I still prefer old racing cars.

Five generations of car noise

I love cars with a characteristic and well tuned noise, always did. So I certainly admire an Aston Martin DB9 or a Lamborghini Murcielago. But let's take one step back and look at the past. We probably have seen five generations of car noise.

A) Early stages
In the beginning cars often were equipped with low revving large pot engines often not delivering a great noise

B) Unlimited fun
Until the sixties countries didn't know noise emission rules for cars and it was more a comfort thing whether your car was making a lot or little noise. Cars like the early Astons made great sounds, but it's also surprising how quite a Jaguary SS 100 can be. Low noise was a luxury attribute. You bought a Rolls Royce or Cadillac also because it was so quiet.

C) Semi-silent fun
Beginning in the sixties countries defined noise regulation and cars had to get more and more quiet. More and more sophisticated rules on how to measure the noise were developed, i.e. enter with 50 km/h of speed, reach point A, then accelerate in the 3rd longest gear with max throttle input, measure after 20 or so meter at point B with a distance from 7 meters .... etc. These rules made cars more and more quiet and many Ferraries of that age actually have a quite disappointing sound. Also with the introduction of catalysts and fuel injections a lot of earlier car's sound quality got lost

D) Electronically controlled exhaust noise
In the late 90ies and the 200x the car industry developed new exhaust systems that changed their throughput in a way to fulfill the regulation, but still being quite noisy and well-designed for revs and speeds not measured during the noise emission tests. Good examples are the Aston-Martin DB9, but also the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, a car that reached more than 130 dbA measured by a German car magazine. That's actually so loud that on some race tracks the car which is legal on the road was banned because many race tracks only accept up to 100 dbA (measured differently though).

E) Silent generation
Soon we will have cars that actually make almost no noise, i.e. electrical cars. And to make traffic more save they will create artificial noise, i.e. imitate an 8 cylinder engine. The noise in the interior can be tuned to fit your taste and will probably come through your stereo rather than through an exhaust system.

So, in a few years we will be more than happy to buy some of these 90ies and 200x cars with engineered exhaust systems to create a nice noise. Take the Maserati Quattroporte GTS, what a sound! However, there's nothing better than real engine noise created by a straight six from the 50ies or 60ies, I find. But that's my humble opinion.

Yes, your Corvette Z06 can save a lot of fuel!

Fuel consumption of fast and large cars looks often very bad, looking at the ECE measured average consumption. The magazine Auto Motor und Sport in Germany has introduced their own fuel efficiency lap, which every test car has to do. The differences are interesting, also the extremes. While it's obviously possible to drive a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti oder a Covertte Z06 at emission levels 40% lower than anticipated by the ECE measurement cycle, other cars like the Toyota iQ actually use 30% more fuel than measured in the ECE cycle. Obviously fast and heavy cars are penalized, but funny enough also the Dacia seems to look to bad.

Producing bigger and bigger numbers - what about the collector?

Lamborghini celebrates 10'000 Gallardo's being built. Good for them. But is it good for the buyer and collector? Numbers produced is an important factor when it's about estimating the future value potential of a classic car. While cars like the 350 GT or 400 GT, and even the Jarama have been built in the hundreds, modern super cars get manufactured in the 10'000s and higher. I bet that Gallardos will never become as sought after as a Miura or a 400 GT. Same with modern Ferraris. The 355, but even more the 360 and the 430 have been an enormous sales success. And they usually don't rot away as many of their predecessors have. But none of these cars has reached the bottom of the price curve yet and most of these cars probably will never really gain in value through their live. But let's see ...

Do Sportscars and Hybrid contradict each other?

Among the car manufacturers to push for hybrid technology there are also a number of sportscar companies, i.e. Porsche, Ferrari and others. But, does the combination of a sportscar with hybrid engine technology really make sense? There are quite a number of reasons against it:
(1) Hybrid technology makes a car heavier, easily 50, but most commonly 100-150 kg extra weight. Weight is bad for handling and performance
(2) Hybrid technology only really makes a car save fuel if it allows to shift earlier or to run without the gasoline engine. However, the fun of driving a sportscar often comes with revving the engine and listening to the noise the car makes
(3) Driveability often suffers due to the effect when you use the electrical engine to slow down the car. This has also been a huge issue with KERS in formula 1.
Of course there are also a number of good reasons why adding hybrid technology to a sportscar can make sense, as for example the successful 997 GT3 Hybrid has shown or the future 918 spider will maybe illustrate, but I stay with my opinion that we should rather save weight and come up with simple efficient sportcars that are fun to drive!

Audi triumph at Le Mans 2010

Rarely there has been more suspense and excitement at the 24 hours of Le Mans. What looked like a probable victory for the fast Peugeots turned into a threefold triumph for the Audi diesel race cars. What a victory. So much drama. Reliability wins over speed. After 22 hours the last Peugeot disappeared.
What also is clear that not the most beautiful cars have won, but the most efficient and effective package. A surprise is certainly the Ferrari 430 coming in second in GT2 and to some extent the Saleen winning the GT1 class.

ADAC 24 Hours of Nurburgring 2010 - BMW and Ferrari win, Porsche and Audi suffer

This year's 24 hours of Nurburgring showed as always a very diverse starting grid. A highlight was the Porsche 911 Hybrid racer that almost won the race, but retired after 20 hours or so. As some of the Audi R8 LMS also suffered from various problems the victory was with BMW and its M3 GT2 car no 25. Second came in the Ferrari 430 GTC as a surprise, it was the first start of the 430 at the 24 hours of Nurburgring. A couple of Audi R8, Porsche GT3 and BMW (M3, Z4 GT3) completed the first eleven. Twelfth was the Nissan Z33 with nine laps behind the winner. And thirteenth was a Porsche GT3 RS, a street legal car, impressive! 16th was the Volkswagen Scirocco GT 24-CNG (-80% CO2), 18th the Lexus LF-A, 19th the Opel Astra OPC, 27th the first Aston Martin Vantage V8, 30st a Honda S2000. Interesting also the car coming in as 34st, it was a four door Aston Martin Rapide, driven by the Aston CEO Ulrich Bez and a couple of other chaps. The Lotus Exige burnt down in the morning, but the Ginetta G50 GT4 arrived after 112 laps, noting that the winner finished 154 laps. Average lap times of the front running cars were between 8:30 and 9:00 for the 25.378 km long track (Nordschleife and Grand Prix course coupled). As always there were hundred thousands of fans around the track making this event to a week long party. It's a unique race and probably one of the largest racing events overall on a worldwide scale, no wonder that so many prominent drivers join the race every year.

Little changes made a much better car - Porsche 924 Carrera GT

Porsche had somewhat an image problem with the 924. It was not seen as sporty enough. Therefore they came up with the plan to bring the car closer to racing. To achieve the homologation of a car that stood chances in racing they built 400 (actually 406) Porsche 924 Carrera GT.
Despite the fact that the car still looked pretty much like a stock 924 there were a few design changes that made the car actually looking much more serious and fast. Anatole Lapine, design chief at Porsche, came up with new rear and front (GFK) wings and a bonnet intake for the turbo intercooler. Completed with a rear spoiler and wider wheels that pretty much was it. The fact that the drag factor and the overall air resistance was as good as the one from the stock 924 must be mentioned as quite an achievement. And it made all quite a difference. Later cars, specifically the 944, re-used some of these design elements, however in a smoother and less aggressive form.
The major changes in the CGT against the stock 924 Turbo was however the engine, producing 40 extra hp and the suspension setting, as well as the brakes, sourced from the 930 Turbo.
All in all it was a convincing package and Porsche was able to sell it at roughly the price of an 8 cylinder Ferrari 308.

Ferrari 599 FXX below 7 minutes around the Nurburgring

The new Ferrari 599 FXX lapped the Nurburgring in less than 7 minutes. That's quick! And it looks quite impressive too. Have a look yourself!

Do you want a Family-Convertible-Trackcar-Cruiser?

There's a trend to try to merge car categories these days. Convertibles and Coupés get married, designers try to squeeze four seats in a car that barely can fit two, trunk sizes need to capture multiple golf bags, trucks/4wds are merged with sportscars, etc. A good (?) example is the Ferrari California. It tries to emulate a Coupé, a Convertible and a Cruiser and to some extent a practical family car (4 seats), but is it really good in all these disciplines? Wouldn't you be better of buying let's say four cars? For example go for a track car like a BMW M3 E30 or a Lotus Exige, consider a cruiser like a Mercedes 300 SL (R107) or a Ford Mustang Convertible, choose a family car like an Audi A4 Avant and if money is left add a used Ferrari 308 GT/S if you really need a prancing horse. You would have spend less money, have less depreciation per annum, probably not much more maintenance and insurance cost (depending on the country and the condition of the cars of course) and I reckon much more fun! At least me personally I prefer to drive different cars and not always the same! Different cars also feel different and make you feel different.

Replica Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California - was the movie copy good enough?

I like car movies. Many you may remember "Ferris Bueller's Day off", when the two youngsters tried to turn back the mileage clock when the car fell down and left the house through the back window. Of course we wouldn't have wanted to destroy an original Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder for this scene, right?
But, if you look at the replica car today with its Ford 289ci/4.7
V8, is it really good enough? The shape seems to be okay, if we compare it with an original car. But the detailing sort of got horrible. Light covers, windscreen and stuff like this seems to be quite wrong.
I am sure most people watching the movie didn't notice. So, we saved a great car and the movie hopefully made its budget in revenues.
But I rather don't have a 250 GT than the fake one.

Picture of the week - Ferrari 512 BB Brochure show Engine Bay

This is one page of the 1980 (approx) Ferrari 512 BB sales brochure. It shows the engine of the Berlinetta Boxer from the top. What an impressive engine! It's basically half the car and so nicely presented.
What I find though even more interesting is that Ferrari presents the red car on a yellowish ground while the brochures border and background is designed in a bright orange color. Horrible, I find. The brochure itself has a bulky oversize format is probably worth quite a bit of money today. But let's not talk about the display, but rather about this amazing engine with the large number of carburetors and a 5 liter displacement.