Autoblog

Perhaps this is Ferrari's answer to the FIA's threat to move to standardized engines: standardized building blocks! What could be more fair than to have every team start out with their own huge package of LEGOs? The drivetrain could remain unique or might even be a LEGO V8, but each team would get a color-specific mega-pack of blocks to build their own bodywork. All parts must be used, but how you place them is up to you. The resulting cars would have the aerodynamics of a brick so maybe safety would improve as speeds were reduced. Drivers would also have to slow considerably into turns, as lateral g's generated by modern F1 cars can easily exceed block lock integrity at will. None of this is true or has anything to do with the car in the photos, but this is far more interesting than reading the true story about some uber-geek who built a LEGO F1 car in Amsterdam to celebrate the "LEGO World" event. While we love the LEGO Mustang, Camaro, Batmobile, "Death Proof" Nova et al that we've shown you before, we have to admit that a full-size LEGO car is a step above. 80,000 bricks and about $20,000 later, this guy has a Ferrari F1 car of his own. And he doesn't have to cut open his basement wall to remove it.


[Source: 0-60mag]

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Show-stopping new production cars and concepts were not lacking in Geneva this year. There were so many, in fact, that we struggled to take it all in. Yet while Ferrari didn't have any new models to show us, somehow we couldn't help but slow down in front of its booth as we rushed from press conference to press conference. Maybe it was the classic Daytona sitting next to the 612 Scaglietti bathed in soft light, or maybe the pair of lookers standing next to them. Guess we'll never know, but you can feast your eyes on all the sexy models in the gallery below.

What Ferrari did unveil at the Swiss show, however, was a new customization program. Called One-to-One, the program takes the catalog of options under the existing Carrozzeria Scaglietti Programme a step further. A customization studio is being built at the factory in Maranello where clients can hand-pick a wide variety of options from leather swatches to brake calipers and everything in between. The program is being launched on the 612 Scaglietti, but will assuredly be broadened to the entire range in due course. For the 612, Ferrari also announced the availability of the SuperFast robotic gearbox and a new electrochromatic glass roof that can tint and lighten at the push of a button like the folding hardtop on the limited edition Superamerica. More on the latest from Maranello is available in the press release after the jump.

Despite being more than three weeks away from the first Formula 1 race of the 2008 season, Jarno Trulli has already predicted that Ferrari will win the 2008 championship. After testing in the Toyota alongside Ferrari in Bahrain, Trulli declared that "the championship already looks over to me before it has started." The F2008 was noticeably quicker than the competition, posting lap times half a second quicker than even McLaren. Meanwhile, Trulli seemed depressed about the Toyota TF108, saying that it was "unrealistic to talk about podiums."

[Source: F1-Live.com]