by Chris Shunk

For many, owning a Ferrari is the pinnacle of life. From the exotic lines to the prodigious power, Ferrari is at the very top of the automotive food chain. But alas, exclusivity has a price. The only thing that may cost more than a new Ferrari is perhaps a used Ferrari.

Knowing that demand for their products is unquenchable, the folks over at Ferrari have decided to slap a Ferrari logo on everything from laptop computers to cell phones and everything in between. Ferrari world is on its way for the automotive kid in all of us. Travelers will one day even be able to shack up at the Ferrari hotel.

Now all we need is a Ferrari-logo’d home entertainment system. Lucky for us Meridian and Ferrari have just announced one. The F80 is the do-everything entertainment device that packs DAB/AM/FM tuning and a CD/DVD player into one super-sized snow globe shape that comes in classic Ferrari Red, Yellow, White or Silver. It can pump 80 watts of power into any enthusiast’s living room or garage while providing the manly style that is all Ferrari.

No word yet on pricing or availability, but we’ll bet on expensive and in time for Father’s Day. Hey, if you can’t afford a Ferrari and you aren’t allowed to live in Maranello village, you might as well get some Ferrari love in your entertainment center.

[Source: Engadget]

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by Noah Joseph

Ferrari North America has announced the schedule for the 2007 Ferrari Challenge series. The series gives private gentleman-racers the chance to compete in the longest-running sanctioned racing series behind the wheels of their own specially-prepared F430 Challenge cars at locations around North America, in parallel to series across the ocean.

The series has been running since 1993, when the 348 was the chosen vehicle, replaced two years later by the 355. While the earlier cars were retrofitted, the purpose-built 360 Challenge was introduced in 2000 and is being entirely phased out in the new season after one year of overlap with the 430. This season will bring the Ferrari Challenge series to Homestead, Florida the weekend of March 9-11, Infineon in California April 13-15, Virginia May 18-20, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal to coincide with the Canadian Grand Prix from June 8-10, up at the renovated Circuit Mont Tremblant the following weekend, down to California Speedway August 10-12, then at Laguna Seca the next weekend before the world finals in Italy in late October.

Continues after the jump, where you’ll also find the official press release.
[Source: Ferrari North America]

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by Noah Joseph

Shell Oil, those guys who are getting richer while we all get poorer at the gas pumps, are aiming to break the record for the most expensive advertisement, and the Super Bowl doesn’t even factor into it. The fossil-fuels giant is a long-time sponsor of Scuderia Ferrari, and pours millions into the F1 team each year so that enthusiasts and consumers will associate its fuels – Shell V-Power high-performance gasoline, specifically – with Ferrari’s racing success. But just to drive the point home even further, Shell is spending close to ₤2 million to produce a television commercial.

Wondering how you could possibly spend that kind of cash on a TV ad? No big name endorsements; that’s already taken care of. No elaborate sets or costly special effects; you don’t need that when you’ve got a 700-horsepower F1 car at your disposal. The commercial is anticipated to feature an F1 race car speeding around the corners and down the streets of New York, London and Sydney. And we’ll bet it’s not going to be at five in the morning, either. Closing down big city streets in the middle of the day costs big, and Shell is spending big.

[Source: GrandPrix.com]

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by Noah Joseph

The centerpiece of the 2007 Montreal auto show was supposed to be the Plethore, a supercar being developed in Quebec by HHT Locus Technologies. As we reported previously, the car nicknamed “the Quebec Bomb” employs carbon fiber construction and an 8.2-liter V8 to produce a high power-to-weight ratio driving from behind a three-passenger cabin with a center-line driving position, an innovative layout employed in the record-shattering McLaren F1 supercar (and in a 1966 Ferrari 365 P prototype), but not replicated since.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with such ambitious projects, the car was far from ready to be unveiled when the auto show opened. Instead, designer Luc Chartrand and company took the wraps off a non-functioning pre-production prototype, essentially a mock-up for display purposes. Next to the prototype they displayed the 8.2-liter GM-sourced V8 that is anticipated to propel the Plethore to mind-boggling speeds, if and when it finally gets rolling.

Locus Technologies anticipates its creation will be ready for delivery in the fall, when a limited annual run of no more than 400 will each sell for $330,000 CDN. They can call it the Plethore, the Quebec Bomb or whatever they’d like… we’ll call it blind ambition.

We’ve got 25 high-resolution images of the Plethore from the show floor. Click on any of the images below or right here.

(Source Autoblog)

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by John Neff

Will the maddness ever end? Word has just surfaced that yet another Ferrari Enzo has been trashed after a crash in Abu Dabia left it far from pristine. We have no details yet on what happened, who was driving or even who owns the car, but the yellow Enzo definitely came in direct contact with the stubby trunk of a palm tree-like plant. That’s normally something you want to avoid while driving an Enzo. From the pictures that are viewable by clicking the Read link, it doesn’t appear the Enzo was damaged too badly, so perhaps it’s salvageable.

[Source: Tovx.com]

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by Scott Davis

Ferraris have often been compared to beautiful women. Like some of the aforementioned companions, they can become high-maintenance over time. Sure, the first couple of years of getting to really know each other are fun (or, in the case of the Ferrari, under warranty). But once the honeymoon is over, however, you might find that your bank account is getting more attention than you are, and that maybe this endeavour is a little more than you bargained for.

Sports Car Market has a story covering the first 6 ½ years of the life of a very-well-maintained Ferrari 550 Maranello. It began life as a $225,000 plaything for a successful real-estate investor in California. The well-documented repair history takes you through 36,000 miles of Ferrari ownership, and illustrates why owning a Ferrari means so much more than being able to simply buy one in the first place.

On the surface, it seems amazing just how much money has been spent on maintaining, personalizing, and repairing this vehicle. It’s really all relative, though. For someone of considerable wealth, covering the maintenance costs of a Ferrari is no different than a person of average means picking up the tab to maintain his or her Toyota, Ford, Honda, or Chevy. The Sports Car Market piece is interesting because it provides such an unusually comprehensive look at one particular exotic’s total cost of ownership. Make sure you read it through to the end for a great quote from one of the subject car’s owners, which helps put it all into perspective.

Like we said, everything’s relative.

[Source: Sports Car Market Magazine]

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