“McLaren Readying Ferrari F430 Adversary” or so says the good folks at CarScoop. This has been in the wings, and on again/off again (depending on the relationship between McLaren & Mercedes) for awhile.

My first thought was, “Yeah, McLaren wants it to build a Ferrari F430 adversary, but they got a long way to go to beat that, given that Ferrari has been kicking their ass around the world for the past nine years .”

Look, I’ve got nothing against the McLaren F1; very impressive car in every respect (although Mario Andretti said the car was “aerodynamically spooky”, and the last time he said something like that was when he was racing CanAm, and THAT GUY knows whence he speaks). It’s just that lately, McLaren have been showing themselves to be struggling to maintain 4th place in the constructors championship, being stomped by the likes of Renault & BMW, let alone being able to challenge the likes of Ferrari.

Anyway, the main details come from Autocar in the U.K which basically boil down to this:

The new car, codenamed P11, will be in showrooms by March 2010, the official unveiling is slated for autumn 2009. The P11 will be available in both open-top and hardcore versions of the base model. It will be noticeably lighter and more compact than the Ferrari F430. The Mclaren P11 will be powered by a 550bhp V8 engine, built by Mahle (who bought out the old Cosworth business) in Northamptonshire, possibly based on an existing Mercedes unit. The Spider version of the P11 is expected to appear in March 2011.

OK Ron, let’s see what you can do.

OK … OK … calm down … breath … breath … slow down and breath … stay calm … calm … calm …

It seems that at the upcoming “Ferrari Leggenda e Passione” auction in Maranello, Italy that’s organized by RM Auctions, and by ‘upcoming’ I mean this weekend will feature an extremely rare 1964 Ferrari 250 LM.

It’s been around a lot (relatively speaking for this kind of car); one of its previous owners “converted” it for street use, but it has undergone a recent and complete restoration back to full 1964 racing specs. This 250 LM’s racing provenance is OK, but not stellar. The stated high watermark of its career is ” … in 1965 when driven by Jochen Rindt, it claimed first place at the Austrian Grand Prix.”

To me, these cars have it all.

They’re Italian. They’re red. They’re mid-engined AND they have 12 cylinders. And, best of all they were made for, and dominated The 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the world’s great races and THE greatest sports car race still running (maybe The Mille Miglia and The Tagra Florio are better, but they don’t run those anymore, sadly). Few manufacturers can say that, and no one can say it with this much style and grace, and let’s face it purity of purpose as Ferrari can.

RM Auctions says it’s expected to fetch around $6,500,000 - $7,500,000.

It’s worth every penny.

From the good folks at CarScoop (who are really living up to their name this time) comes word that rumored-for-awhile-now Ferrari GT will be debuted online, and right soon at that.

This link, “FerrariGTCountDown”, has just popped up live, and soon (they say) it will show what the new Ferrari GT will both look like and be named (both of which have been kept under heavy lock and key).

Of course, they won’t just put it out there all at once, oh no, they have to, being Italians, do it with a little more flair and showmanship. They will begin to reveal the new model little by little before its public debut at the Paris Auto Show this coming October.

First up will be the GT’s engine, followed by the first photographs of the sportscar itself and finally its name will also be revealed.

Well, what have we here?

Ferrari have been rumored to be working on a radical new nose for their F1 car, and a few days ago, they let it out of the R & D dept. and onto the track at Spain.

To me, it seems pretty obvious what Ferrari is trying to accomplish with this new nose.

Essentially, if you have the duct in the nose situated just aft of the trailing edge of the front wing, it will perform two tasks:

1 - it will relieve air pressure from the top surface of the wing, where the trailing edge of the wing and the underside of the nose start to meet, and

2 - by passing air streaming off the wing itself out the vent, it will create a low pressure area just aft of the effective surface of the wing.

This low pressure area will act like a cliff at a waterfall, it will draw more and more into it, and exhaust it through the vent on the top of the nose.

The more lower pressure generated just aft of the front wing will help pull more air under the wing.

The more air that flows under the front wing, the more down force it will produce.

The nose vent, working in conjunction with the way air is drawn through, and expelled out the front brake fairings (the disc on the outside of each front wheel) as a whole serve to generate a low pressure area just aft of the trailing edge of the front wing.

Air flows from high pressure towards low, like water flowing down a hill.

What Ferrari have done is effectively increase the slope of that hill.

Very clever.

Normally, I’m not into car auctions; I think they are to cars what art auctions are to art: a cancer.

But this auction sure is interesting.

Every so often, there is a Ferrari only auction held at the factory in Maranello. titled Leggenda e Passione, the next one is coming up on May 18, 2008 and is being run by RM Auctions. The list of cars up for bid is, to say the least, very impressive. When cars like Enzos and Daytona Coupes come across as ho-hum, you can guess how impressive the stars on the list are.

Cars such as Fantuzzi bodied Dino Spiders, not just one, but TWO 250 California Spyders (a ‘58 & a ‘61), a 1999 Ferrari 333SP sports racer, a gorgeous 1971 Ferrari 512M Le Mans prototype, and one-two-three-FOUR F1 cars (a 1995 Ferrari 412 F1 car, a 1996 F1, a 1997 F310B and an F1 2000).

As usual, I need more capital and more garage space … Chris, let’s talk about raises.

A full list & contact info after the jump.

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It’s a good weekend to be Ferrari (and what weekend isn’t?). Not only did Massa & Raikkonen kick ass and take names at Bahrain this weekend, but it’s also the 40th anniversary for the great Ferrari Daytona .

Back in the late 60s, this car was it. Yes, yes, I know, Lamborghini’s Miura was a very capable car (and not to mention that it was mid-engined), and not a ride to be easily dismissed. Lamborghini was also a new comer, and Ferrari was THE top of heap (still are) and this was, in many ways, their last shot at a “traditional” grand tourer.

The engine, a multi-carbed V-12 natch, sat up front and drove the rear wheels, they way God and Enzo intended it (not necessarily in that order). The whole thing was clothed in the finest of Pinninfarina bodywork and could get down the road at a then record top speed of 175 miles per hour,

And so, to celebrate all this still way cool goodness, Ferrari had an anniversary party & get together at Mugello (no, I wasn’t invited).

There’s more cool photos & the press release after the jump.

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