Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

People around the world are dying to get their hands on Ferrari's new flagship supercar. Novitec Rosso is among the first.

The new F12 Berlinetta stands as the most capable vehicle Ferrari has ever offered, lapping the company's Fiorano test track faster than any road car before it. But for some even that won't be enough, and for just such characters, there's Novitec Rosso. The German tuning house has made a name for itself customizing Ferraris, and has now gotten its hands on Maranello's new V12 super-GT, giving it more power for a higher top speed, a new set of wheels mounted to an upgraded suspension and a revised interior.

The 6.3-liter V12 leaves the factory with 740 horsepower, but by remapping the ignition and injection, Novitec has upped that figure to 763 hp while optimizing power delivery. The redline has increased to a screaming 8,900 rpm, and the top speed is up to a quoted at 214 mph. Not satisfied to stop there, Novitec has also fitted the yellow F12 pictured here (the first we've seen in that color) with its NF4 wheels measuring 21 inches in the front and 22 in the back (replacing the standard 20-inch rims) with five double spokes and low-profile Pirelli rubber. And by low profile, we mean low profile: the shoes at the back feature a miniscule 25 profile rating.

The wheels are mounted to in-house sport springs that can bring the Berlinetta up to 40 mm closer to the tarmac, with an optional lift kit to help the nose clear curbs, driveway inclines and speed bumps. The German tuner will also upgrade the interior with a variety of carbon fiber and Alcantara- or leather-trimmed components. Novitec is also offering its NF3 modular wheels for the F12, and plans further engine and cosmetic upgrades for the near future, so watch this space for more.

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Ferrari F12 Raises Over $1 Million for Hurricane Relief

Ferrari and its customers dig deep to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy with $1.5 million in donations to the Red Cross.

There's little doubt that Ferrari makes money hand over fist. But when disaster strikes, it also extends a helping hand. The Italian automaker donated cars and other items which it auctioned off earlier this year for earthquake victims in northern Italy, tsunami victims in Japan last year and disaster victims in the Abruzzo region of Italy in 2009. After Hurricane Sandy, Ferrari pledged the first F12 Berlinetta to arrive in America towards the American Red Cross, and auctioned it off this weekend.

The auction was held during the re-inaugurated United States Grand Prix this weekend in Austin, Texas. Bidding quickly escalated from the $315,888 starting price, with Long Island resident Larry Roth placing the winning bid at $1.125 million. Along with $345,000 in donations made by "Ferrari dealers, clients and friends," the purchase price brings the total donation to $1.5 million, which the Red Cross of Central Texas received yesterday in Austin. Roth will take delivery of his F12 in the second quarter of 2013, after which deliveries will begin to other buyers who've been waiting for their new supercars to arrive as well.

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Maserati QP to Offer Turbo V6 and V8 Engines

New family of turbocharged, direct-injection V6 and V8 engines expected to slot in under the hood of Italy's new flagship luxury sedan.

When Maserati took the wraps off its new Quattroporte a couple of weeks ago, it didn't give us much in the way of details. (That's why we've been tweaking the few photos it has released so far in a variety of colors to give you an idea what it'll look like beyond the beige in which it was released.) When that first series of videos hit, however, Maserati's product development chief Roberto Corradi indicated that the new QP was designed from the start to accommodate a variety of engines.

We'll have to wait until we get closer to the car's full unveiling at the Detroit Auto Show in January to get the full skinny, but the latest reports give us some insight into what we might find under the hood. We've known for a while that Ferrari was working on a new family of engines in both six- and eight-cylinder formats and with forced induction, but which of those engines (and in what form) would find their way into the new QP remains to be seen. According to AutoEvolution, however, buyers can expect a 3-liter turbocharged V6 with 410 horsepower and a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 with 530 horsepower (apparently confirmed by the "QP 530 HP" license plate).

Expect 0-60 times north and south of the five-second mark with top speeds reaching 177 and 191 mph, respectively. Both engines are expected to be built around aluminum blocks (as opposed to heavier steel units) with direct injection and mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission furnished by ZF. Rumors have also suggested that all-wheel-drive could be offered as well, though we'll have to wait for confirmation on that, as well as these other details, when Maserati is ready to announce.

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Porsche 918 Weissach Gives You Less For More

Want to strip 77 lbs of excess weight off the Porsche 918 Spyder? That'll set you back $929,000, or $84k over the base price.

Power-to-weight ratio. It's all about the power-to-weight ratio. And as with any equation, there are two ways to optimize it: you can up the power, or you can cut the weight. The best course of action, of course, may be to do both, but we'll gladly take either. Whatever path an exotic automaker takes, however, it usually doesn't come until the car in question has been on the market for at least a couple of years. Look at the Ferrari 430 Scuderia or Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.

Porsche has its own precedent with RS versions of the 911 GT3 and GT2, but it won't be waiting around that long to strip down the new 918 Spyder. The hybrid supercar isn't even in dealers yet, but details have already surfaced of its more hard-core variant, and it will be available as an option right from the start. Called the Weissach Package, it's one of a number of high-priced options on the 918 order form, including a speed-charging station ($22,100), special Liquid Metal Blue Chrome paint ($63k) and special black leather with green piping ($26,000). As costly as those other options are, the Weissach Package is the most expensive at a whopping $84,000.

For reference, that's enough to buy a new 911 Carrera. So what do you get for all that extra cash? Well, you get less. And that's the whole idea. The Weissach edition strips some 77 lbs off the Spyder's curb weight, thanks to widespread use of titanium, carbon fiber, magnesium and ceramics. The wheels, for example, shed 30 pounds of unsprung mass, and a race-livery foil wrap that replaces the paint. The result is a reported two-second drop off the car's Nurburgring lap time. And that's nothing to sneeze at, particularly in a car that's schlepping around two powertrains. Whether the 918 Wiessach is worth $929,000 - or an extra Carrera over list - is another question entirely.

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Ferrari F430 on D2Forged Wheels

Graphite F430 gets a matching set of monoblock alloys.

The owner of this Ferrari F430 commissioned Arizona-based tuner Vivid Racing to fit a set of wheels and tires that would improve the performance of his supercar with less unsprung weight and a bigger contact patch. This was its solution: a set of MB1 monoblock forged alloys from D2Forged Wheels, wrapped in Michelin Super Sport tires. The wheels measure 19 inches up front and 20 inches at the rear and come in a titanium graphite finish, riding lower to the ground in the process.

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Ferrari Spider Design Study Proposes a More Organic Styling

Ferraris have always been a favorite subject among aspiring designers who wish to offer their own take on what a supercar from Maranello should look like.Enter the virtual world of Aldo Schurmann, who you may remember from some of his previous design studies hosted on CarScoop, including the BMW X Roadster and the Audi RS Roadster concepts.

Schurmann, who is a transportation design student at Turin's Istituto d’Arte Applicata e Design (IAAD), has come up with concept for a Ferrari Spider model with a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive configuration.

The two-seater study has a more organic styling than the 458 Italia, which it presumably targets to replace.

If you head past the break, you will find a complete set of renderings.

PHOTO GALLERY

 

 

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