While most of the world’s attention to yesterday’s Ferrari auction in Italy centered around the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, which became the most expensive motor car in the world ever sold at at an auction by selling for 9,020,000 Euros (roughly $12.2M U.S. dollars at today’s exchange rate), I was more interested in the last production F430 which was being auctioned off to assist the earthquake victims of the Abruzzo region of Italy.
Since the auction results were not yet posted, I contacted Ferrari media and spoke with Joanne Marshall. Ms. Marshall said the hammer price for the F430 was 180,000 Euros (approx. $244,000 U.S. dollars). As with most charity items, there was no buyer’s premium paid. Ms. Marshall also said that Ferrari collected another 40,000 Euros for Earthquake victims through the auction of some memorabilia.
Given today’s earthquake in Los Angeles, all of us here in California are painfully aware of how a sudden jolt can upend lives. Kudos to Ferrari for its noble efforts to provide aid to earthquake victims.
This guy is just giving Ferrari owners around the world a bad name. Further proof that just because you can fork over almost $300,000 for a super tuned Ferrari, doesn’t mean that you are capable of making the most out of the 500 HP. This F-430 Scuderia owner is taking part in a parade of Ferraris in the south of France, and even though it looks like he’s the grand marshal, he doesn’t even know how to get the car into gear. At least he gives us a nice taste of what the adrenaline charged Ferrari F-430 sounds like.
With the Ferrari F-450 right around the corner, the Italian super car builder is hoping to stir up additional demand for the future mid-engine Ferrari by halting the production of its predecessor. All for a good cause of course.
The last Ferrari F-430 to roll of the production line will be auctioned by R&M. The proceeds will go to benefit the victims of the recent Earthquake that devastated the nation on April 6th. The efforts will be mainly focused on the rebuilding of Aquila, a small central Italian town that was most hurt by the incident; and the F-430 wears a two tone paint scheme in honor of the town.
Maybe we should start a petition to get Italy to have a trade embargo with Russia. Although this breaks the streak of Lamborghinis crashed in Russia, a wrecked Ferrari F430 doesn’t hurt any less.
This situation seems to incorporate two people with more money than brains: the 19-year-old driver and his bank manager father who bought him the Italian exotic.
The kid was driving was reported to be driving at over 200 km/h (124 mph) on Moscow city streets when he lost control and hit a Range Rover. The driver and passenger were injured but will survive, and the occupants of the Rover were not seriously hurt.
A driver in Lisbon, Portugal lost control of this Ferrari F430 and hit a guardrail. The damage in the pics seems to back up the reports of the car speeding. Although the car is ripped in half, reports indicate that the driver walked away with only a few scratches on the head - proving once aging that Ferrari performs extensive crash testing.
Judging by the photos, Novitec Rosso, the Ferrari tuners are not bashful about fiddling with the latest and greatest from Maranello, the Formula 1 Championship celebrating 16 M. Knowing that Novitec have gotten 700 HP from the hardtop Scuderia, expect one very cool convertible.
The FIA GT3 European Championship will have a new competitor this season. The Ferrari F430s in competition are being replaced by the F430 Scuderia. This particular example of the F430 Scuderia GT3 was developed by Kessel Racing of Switzerland. The race team has already proven themselves in the European championship winning the GT3 title in 2007 with an F430 GT3.
Like the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, the F430 Scuderia is a racing car meant for daily driving on the streets. This should be advantageous for the Swiss racecar builders because most of their work has already been done in Maranello. The Scuderia in street trim is 220 lbs lighter than the normal F430 and the 4.5 liter engine means gains of about 30 HP bumping maximum output to 508 HP. The F430 Scuderia also features Ferrari’s signature Superfast transmission that shifts gears almost as fast as the F1 car.
What’s stronger? A Ferrari or a brick wall? Well, our advice to you is to leave it to the experts, and not to lend the F430 to your girlfriend so she can test her hypothesis!
Of course the 490 HP Ferrari ended up in pieces, but miraculously the driver survived the accident. The incident occurred somewhere in Poland.
So now that you have the answer, you don’t have to try it at home with your supercar!
Fabulous is a Japanese tuning house that specializes in VIP styling. The cars are traditionally JDM luxury sedans (like the Lexus LS460 by Fabulous), and the styling is executed with large diameter wheels, full body kits and significantly lowered ride height. The Fabulous F430 is no exception.
A few months ago Topspeed reported on a Ferrari F430 modified by Japanese tuners TG-2. Although we were not taken with the grinning Ferrari, someone must be, that is the only reason why the kit has been fitted to an F430 Spider. The mechanics at TG-2 have also fitted their signature Super Sound muffler. Let’s just hope that the car sounds better than it looks.
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