Ferrari F12berlinetta in photos - pure stunner

Ferrari F12berlinetta, a new installment of the front-engined Ferrari is really a stunner. The replacement of the 599GTB, which in turn succeed the 575 and 550 Maranello, all of which hailed a heritage from 365 "Daytona" sports a true cutting-edge Ferrari latest design philosophy. Sharply styled, punctuated by holes and duct, it a sight to behold. It is simply breathtaking and phenomenally imposing. Recently launched in Japan, so wipe off your saliva, thanks to the gallery from Carview.

Vital dimensions: 4,618mm(L) x 1,942mm(W) x 1,273mm(H) and wheelbase of 2,720mm. Kerb weight is 1,525kg.

 The heart: 6.3L V12, 730bhp@8,250rpm, 508Nm@6,000rpm. Century sprint: 3.1s

 The devil is in the details. Some more detail photos after the jump.

Ferrari 458 Spider launched in Malaysia

Ferrari 458 Spider is now officially in Malaysia. Priced from RM1.9million, the topless Italian is also available with Ferrari Tailor Made customization program which could increased the price to the limit of your bank account (assuming you can afford it in the first place). The foldable roof sibling to the 458 Italia was launched globally back in September last year in Frankfurt motorshow, MMN article can be read HERE.

Spider version of 458 model is equipped with patented, fully retractable hard top instead of traditional soft top that usually fitted to Ferrari. Instead, Ferrari 458 Spider employed a folded hard that swing around rear buttress before being lowered on top of engine compartment.  

There's no need to dwell to long on the specification of the Ferrari 458 Spider as it is available on the net since last year. But in case you managed not to know, or managed to forget, here are vital numbers:

Dimensions: 4527mm x 1937mm x 1211mm (length x width x height) with 2650mm of wheelbase

Weight : 1430 kg with 42/58 weight distribution

Powertrain: 4,499cc V8 producing 570hp@9000 rpm and 540Nm@6000 rpm

Transmission: 7 speed dual clutch gearbox

Tyre size: 235/35 ZR20 (F) & 295/35 ZR20 (R)

Performance: <3.4 seconds for century sprint and 320km/h top speed

Fuel consumptions: 11.8l / 100 km

Full gallery can be seen HERE.

Main photo above from Motortrader.

Real life photos of Ferrari F12Berlinetta

After launching the car online, we have been served only with virtual pictures of the car. See the MMN coverage HERE. Anyway, thanks to Teamspeed, we can now have a first glimpse of the real life F12berlinetta. How imposing it is!

For a recap, the F12berlinetta is the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano replacement model which means it is a front engine-rear wheel drive layout, a configuration that evolved from the 550 Maranello, 575 and the 599. In this application, the drivetrain is FF derived, sans the front drive mechanism, and kicking out a whopping 730bhp and 690Nm of power and torque respectively capable of catapulting the 2 seater to a benchmarked 100 km/h in Enzo-slaying 3.1 seconds and a top speed of 340 km/h. More engineering details in MMN previous post HERE. One more photo of the interior after the jump.

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta - fastest and most powerful road going Ferrari ever!

Ferrari has launched online its latest supercar, F12berlinetta as a successor to the game-changer 599 GTB Fiorano. Dubbed the most powerful and the fastest road going Ferrari so far, the F12 boasts 730hp@8500rpm and an earth-pulling 690Nm at 6000rpm, out of which 80% of it is accessible from as low as 2500rpm, promising a much needed low speed tractability.

The new front-engined GT, previously rumoured to be called F620GT, is powered by a 6.3L V12 engine with 13.5:1 compression ratio. This powertrain masterpiece has taken some leaf out from the Ferrari F1 engine with its lowly positioned (30mm lower than 599 GTB) to bring down the centre of gravity. The engine is paired to the dual clutch transmission with integration with electronic E-Diff. No ratios are mentioned, but MMN believed 7 speed is a ball park figure.

Despite the notable increased in power from its predecessor, as with the 458 Italia, the F12 stays truth to modern Ferrari concept in delivering the performance in a cleaner, more efficient way. With the innovation such as the minimization of engine internal friction and multi-spark ignition function that is capable in producing 3 successive sparks of varying intensity and duration based on engine loading which help in reducing the fuel consumption by a whopping 30% from the 599 GTB, as well as reducing CO2 emission from 415 to 350g/km. All of these in a package that can deliver 3.1seconds 100km/h sprint, as well as 340 km/h top speed. 

The transaxle layout of the F12berlinetta is a refined version from the concept implemented in 599 GTB. Among the improvement are the centralized mass closer to the centre of the car, lowered c.o.g by optimization of component packaging and a reduction in frontal area. This results in tight packaging contained within the body of 4,618mm long, 1,942mm wide and 1,273mm tall. These dimensions are corresponding to 47mm shorter, 19mm narrower and  63mm lower than its predecessor. Weight has been slashed too by 70kg, thanks to aluminium construction and the weight distribution has improved slightly to 46:54. The reduction is frontal area has resulted in drag coefficient of 0.299, similar to 599 GTB despite the 76% increased in downforce, which now stands at 123kg at 200km/h.

The interior of the F12berlinetta carries the same concept pioneered by the 458 Italia, with driver-centric console with instrument control housed within the steering wheel. The cabin accommodation has been improved in spaciousness by being capable to housed 1.95m occupants, with 320L of boot space. Taking the leaf out of the Ferrari FF, the boot is expandable to 500L with some folding mechanism. As per the FF, the car also features sub-instrument screen in front of the passenger seat.

Ferrari F12berlinetta will make its official unveiling at Geneva Motorshow next week. For now we have to be contented with the official studio-supplied photo gallery. However, if you fancy having a (Ferrari) wet dream why don't you try to build your own Ferrari F12berlinetta? Head to the Configurator. Stay tune for more news. More photos after the jump.

McLaren, Ferrari and Force India launched their 2012 challenger

After 3 month of doldrums, Formula 1 fans can finally cheer again. This time of the year is usually filled with the suspense of waiting for the team to release their new car, with fans eagerly waiting to see how different the car is from the previous year, as the regulation has changed quite dramatically for this year. 

While Caterham has released the detail of their car way ahead of the rest of the grid, this week we has witnessed the launched of 'big boys' i.e McLaren, Ferrari and also the Force India team. McLaren was the first among this trio to release their car on Feb 1st, where the MP4-27 was unveiled in Woking.

While Caterham CT-01 featured a platypus nose with stepped nose cone section to satisfy the 2012 regulation (Caterham coverage HERE), MP4-27 appears to adopt a more elegant solution, at least on the launch car. The transition of high tub to the lower nose cone is smooth. The car looks nothing like last years, particularly the sidepod where the aggressive U-shape cross-section has been replaced with a more familiar design, not unlike the MP4-25.  Don't be fooled by the so-2011 wing, as they are indeed an old wing, the nose is particularly interesting as there is a secondary floor cascading the cone. The car also is shorter in wheelbase than before to compensate for the loss of rear downforce resulting from the ban of EBD. Therefore, the exhaust now has been relocated to the back of the sidepod.

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However, unlike McLaren, Ferrari and Force India has followed the Caterham solution, respectively with their F2012 and VJM05. While Felipe Massa dubbed the car looks "aggressive" and Domenicali said it will kick-off the season with a win, so there must be some thing significant underneath the bodywork of the conservative looking F2012. However, Nikolas Tombazis, Ferrari Chief Designer said the car is certainly aggressive in its design approach, while simultaneously defending the ugly outlook. He also said the car will definitely changed by the time of the first race, particularly the exhaust layout as the definite configuration will only be decided after a series of test. 

Force India also lift the lid of their VJM05 today at Silverstone. Like Ferrari, VJM05 also features a stepped nose, but unlike Ferrari, the transition between the higher chassis to the lower nose section is gradual, and eared like the CT-01 solution.

The Mercedes-powered car also features a heavily revised sidepod design, with long, flowing and heavily undercut towards the bottom in response to the changed in exhaust layout dictated by the regulation. Force India has also abandoned its blade style roll-hoop design. Like Ferrari, Force India also mentioned that the exhaust is not yet definite until the first test session.

More photos of each car can be found after the jump.

Official Ferrari 458 Spider debut

If there is a car maker that can produce car with sensuous curve that warrant your entire attention, the one that can excite any heart to beat to the extremities and drive you to uncontrollably grasp and feel the body, this is it, the Ferrari. Despite beating off-beat sometimes with ill-fated styled product, yet any of it never fail to capture uninterrupted attention when one passes by. Say hello to the new Ferrari 458 Spider.

With official photos and video circulated in the internet since late August, with launched announced for Frankfurt Motorshow, Ferrari has debuted the car yesterday in its hometown Maranello.

Spider version of 458 model is equipped with patented, fully retractable hard top instead of traditional soft top that usually fitted to their topless V8 mid engine family. Here is the scene it is being driven by Ferrari F1 ace, Fernando Alonso, double world champion. Perfect combination between ultimate driver in equally perfect machine.

Ferrari 458 Spider employed a folded hard that swing around rear buttress before being lowered on top of engine compartment. Incidently, this arrangement eliminated the showcase of its powertrain, featured on the coupe version. More photos after the jump.

Ferrari 458 Spider

The stunning Ferrari 458 Italia has just been given an open top sibling. The V8 supercar is no longer fabric topped like its predecessor, but gain a retractable folding hard top. See video below from Ferrari.

Ferrari FF now available in Malaysia

  The new Ferrari FF is now available in Malaysia, brought in the official importer Naza-Italia. The 612 Scaglietti replacement costs a cool RM2.8 million, many thanks to our very enriching tax structure. Full gallery can be seen at my previous post here and also at Paultan launch gallery. Wipe your "air liur" dude!

Ferrari FF photo gallery

Just more photos of the stunning Ferrari FF to savor. Now wipe you saliva! Just to recap, this is a 660PS 6.3l V12 powerhouse from Ferrari. For the first time the drive is channelled through all four wheels. The car is designed to be a luxurious 4-seater, contained within 4907mm (L) x 1953mm (W) x 1379mm (H) dimensions. 450 litres of boot space is available too in this 2990mm wheelbased car. This 1790kg car is capable of sprinting to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds, on its way to 335km/h top speed. 

More pictures after the jump.