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.

Video : UTP intern at Mercedes GP PETRONAS

Paultan has put up a video on Michael Schumacher and Jazeman Jaafar paid a visit to a bunch of UTP students who are currently doing their internship at the F1 team Mercedes GP. Quite an interesting watch, however, there's a lot of bugger who brought up the issue of Bumi VS Non-Bumi as early as the 7th comment!!!! How stupid, and how really silly act is this when we are supposed to stand proud of witnessing our fellow Malaysian in the global spotlight, there is group of bugger to keep thinking about being racist all day long. Anyway, to those UTP students, seize your moments while you can. Opportunity like this does not come everyday!

Again I would like to stress out, please, and please support Malaysian as a whole as in the eyes of the world, they don't give a damn about your race, but more on your nationality. In this 55 years of independence, its time to be Malaysian rather than shouting Bumi and non-Bumi!

Honda Malaysia launched the updated Insight

Honda Malaysia has brought in the updated Honda Insight to Malaysian shore. The car actually is not new, as it has been launched in Frankfurt Motorshow back in September 2011. MMN has covered the news before, head HERE. 

In a nutshell, the 2012 revision brought in a reduction in CO2 emission to 96 g/km through some internal friction reduction, 2% reduction is aerodynamic drag and slightly improved fuel mileage. Styling updates includes  a blue tinted headlamps to perhaps further accentuate its environmental credentials. The grille and front lips has been sharpened up. At the back, the spoiler has been revised to enhance visibility and the tailgate garnish has been re-colored as grey as opposed to body color. The NVH has improved by the adding of more noise insulator, while the cabin volume has been improved by re sculptured rear seats that brings in 15mm more rear head room.

The updated Honda Insight is still priced at RM99,800 and still powered by the Hybrid IMA paired to 1.3L engine. The larger 1.5L hybrid powering the Insight Executive is not yet offered in Malaysia. For greater details about the enhanced Insight, head to Honda Malaysia website.

Seat Toledo Concept

SEAT will unveiled a thinly-disguised fourth generation SEAT Toledo in Geneva Motor Show next week. The new  Toledo marks the return of Toledo nameplate to a more conventional sedan concept, which the 3rd generation unsuccessfully drifted into the midi-MPV arena.

SEAT Toledo traditionally is based on the VW Golf platfrom, but with an added rear overhang to give a massive boot, even greater than the VW Vento which is the Golf-derived sedan. The first two generation were designed by Italdesign Giugiaro and shares major parts with the rest of VW model such as Audi A3, Skoda Ovtavia, and VW Golf ( including Bora). However, the 3rd generation dramatically shift into the midi-MPV arena, when chief designer Walter de Silva penned that generation Toledo into the unsuccessful Renault Vel Satis format. Refer photos below for the evolution of Toledo generations of cars, the 3rd gen is on the right-most.

The latest Toledo concept adopts the classic proportion of a saloon, with a clearly defined 3-box design. Its design language is a further development of the new SEAT corporate  design  with a powerful and solid stance, clear and precisely-executed surfaces and lines, and with the new SEAT signature headlamp design. SEAT has previously presented its new style language with the highly acclaimed IBE, IBX and IBL concept cars. 

The SEAT Toledo front end design is characterized by the trapezoidal radiator grille with honeycomb mesh, with the lower radiator opening adopting the same meshing pattern. The  pentagonal headlamps holds some distinctive features too with the chromed ‘wing’ between the main headlamp and daytime running light.

  

Meanwhile, the broad rear lights also underscore the mature styling of the new SEAT saloon, while the entire rear end conveys the impression of quality and solidity with its few, simply drawn lines. However, MMN is beginning to feel the somberness of cold Germanic design, which influenced anything from the VW Jetta to Proton EMAS ( and P3-21A) to certain extend. The rear fascia especially, is very familiar sights among the VW Group.  More elaboration 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.