Casino valets give Ferrari F430 to wrong owner, let him drive away
As if we needed another reason to steer clear of valets everywhere, a report from The Herald Sun claims that a casino in Australia has handed over an F430 to someone other than the owner. This week, professional poker player Van Marcus stopped into the Crown Casino with some friends for a little recreation. Adam Ramsey was there at the same time, though when it came time to leave, Ramsey approached the valet stand claiming that he had lost his ticket. The guy points to the drop-head Ferrari F430 in the parking lot and says it’s his. The valet crew asks the gentleman to fill out a form with his personal information, which he does, and hands him the keys to the Prancing Horse.
When Marcus discovers his car is missing, he’s none too happy, and calls the police. It took the law a mere six hours to lay its hands on the car after Ramsey stopped for fuel. Now, typically, we look down on car theft in the biggest way possible. After all, you just don’t mess with another person’s vehicle. But you’ve got to admire the cajones on good Mr. Ramsey. He’s currently pleading guilty to charges of vehicle theft.
First Ferrari hybrid on sale 2015, following government pressure
Ferrari could put a hybrid car on the market by 2015, according to the automaker’s CEO and GM Amedeo Felisa. In an interview with Autocar, Felisa says that either European Union or Italian environmental regulations could force the company to put a hybrid up for sale.
However, Felisa comes off as defensive in the interview, saying he does not see the point in Ferrari being forced to comply with lowered emissions rules. “The issue of emissions for Ferrari is more a political one than real one,” Felisa said.
“Lowering emissions of every Ferrari will not save the planet, but it will cost us a lot of money.”
Currently, Ferrari is only exploring hybrid powertrains to reduce emissions within the next ten years. The company has not ruled out the eventual use of hydrogen.
2010 Ferrari Challenge at MMP: Ferrari FXX is king of the track
We were pretty impressed after initially watching the Ferrari F430 Challenge cars turn laps at Miller Motorsports Park this past weekend. After all, each of the cars boasts a 490 horsepower V8 and is set up specifically for racing. You can imagine that they’re quite capable of turning insanely quick laps. Then a trio of FXXs took to the track and our definition of “fast” was altered forever.
Despite the fact that it will never turn a competitive lap, the Ferrari FXX is a brutally impressive racecar. The second generation Evoluzione version (pictured above), is Ferrari’s most advanced GT car ever built with an 860 horsepower V12, a sequential gearbox that can perform shifts in just 60 milliseconds and a curb weight of just over 2,500 pounds. We might have preferred the beauty of the Ferrari 599XX, but there was no doubt which car was the most capable of the lowest lap times.
In addition to our photos of the FXXs in the pit lane garages, we also came away from the weekend with plenty of shots of the cars on track.
