fuhro
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Yesterday I was in Hockenheim for Ferraris celebration of their 70th anniversary. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty crap, but nevertheless some very special and beautiful cars turned up
Ferrari themselves had brought 4 new 812 Superfasts (2 grey, 1 red and 1 blue), as well as two LaFerrari Apertas (black & red), and loads of 488s, GTC4Lussos (also the V8 version) and California Ts. The track was mainly open for clients who wanted to lap the Hockenheimring with their own cars.
Unfortunately I missed the parade lap with Kimi Räikkönen driving the LaF Aperta, but here are some pics I took from the day with some thoughts to these cars. Enjoy!
Starting of with the new 812 Superfast:
IMO it looks way better in real life than in photos, but I'm still no fan of the looks, especially the rear, which somehow seems a bit too angular and bulky and lacks the elegance of the F12. I also think the design works best in darker colours. Unfortunately they were behind a fence, so I could not take proper detailed shots, but here are some pics:
Now to the predecessor of the Superfast, the F12 Berlinetta:
IMO it is one of the most beautiful cars out there, I just love everything about it. The looks, the proportions and the V12 make it one of my (if not the one) favourite road cars (leaving aside the crazy rare hypercars). Especially this example in a darker shade of red is a wonderful machine:
Some of the F12s also went out on track, like this one:
They are relatively quiet compared to some 458s and Speciales, but the intake noise when it approaches you is simply wonderful. Luckily there are some possibilities to make the F12 louder, like the Novitec N-Largo does. IMO the bodykit ruins the elegant look of the F12, but you can't deny the fact that it has such a presence on the road, and the sound...oh my...
Take the F12, make it twice as loud and give it an even higher pitched sound produces just glorious noise. It has such a unique sound, that even inmidst of several Ferraris, you can hear it clearly before you can see it. This particular car is also quite famous for having been to several events and Top Marques Week etc.
Another car with a very unique and loud sound is the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale. I think it even is louder than the N-Largo, and this with a completely stock exhaust (damn EU-noise regulations today).
I also think, it still looks good and kept its age pretty well, and with that V8, it surely is a future classic!
The other cars on track were mostly 458s and 488s, here is a small selection of them:
This Blu Corsa one was very nice looking, imo one of the best colours for the 488 Spider.
And a darker shade of blue (could be TdF blue?)
Lookswise, I think, the 488 looks better than the 458, it also looks more flat on the surface with less body roll, but it just lacks the sound of a high-revving NA V8. They are loud (Christian Gebhardt once got banned in the 488 for being too loud in Hockenheim), but the noise they make is like a Ferrari-V8 mixed with a vacuum cleaner, and the engine gets cut off too early to really scream and overtone the vacuum cleaner
I have absolutely no doubt that they have a wonderful performance and they look awesome and the sound is still miles better than Porsche 911 Turbo for example, but when a 458 comes around the corner, I just have to look away from the 488 to enjoy the full noise of a free revving NA Ferrari V8. Luckily, there is a mix of 488s aggressive looks and 458s wonderful sound-
the 458 Speciale: They look awesome (especially with those blue-white stripes and Rosso Corsa) and sound marvellous. Out of all the participating road cars, the Speciales also had the highest corner speeds by far and always looked perfectly composed. Here are some examples (thumbs up for the drivers for really pushing their cars
)
This one had some pretty interesting stripes (not sure, I like them- a bit too much for my taste) and really pushed his car near the limit
There were also two pretty rare 458 Speciale Apertas, this one also drove pretty fast on the track:
There were also a few older (not really old, just older than 458) cars, like this 430 Scuderia, which also sounded awesome. To be honest, I don't really like the overall looks of the F430 (the Scud is better, but still not a beauty imo), but also the standard ones sound absolutely great (which can't really be said about the 360). Here is a pretty unique white and red Scuderia:
And Ferraris latest model was also driven on track: the GTC4 Lusso T. I don't really see the point of putting the V8 in this car, other than making more profit, but the V12 sounds soo much better. Lookswise I prefer it over the FF, I think it looks a lot sleeker than the somehow awkward FF.
There was also a pretty special and (surely) rare thing on the track: This old Ferrari racecar (I have absolutely no idea, what it could be- maybe one of you can help).
EDIT: I found out now, it is a 1955 Ferrari 121 LM Scaglietti Spyder
The driver was an absolute baller, as he was driving really fast, basically entering the corner slightly sideways and overtaking several modern cars, and this thing did move- I did not expect it to be that fast. It was a really funny sight to see him hooning around the track with no windscreen and that gigantic wooden steering wheel
In the end, there were also some Challenge cars, like the 458 Challenge and the 488 Challenge.
These things were on a completely different level in terms of corner speed, and were also significantly louder than the roadlegal cars, but again the 458 sounded a lot better than the 488, although the 488 was clearly faster.
Unfortunately I missed the FXX and FXXKs, as I heard them go out just as I arrived, but they did not come out again.
Moving on to the Parking Lot then:
Here were again lots of 458s, 488s, and also Dinos (meeting of Dino-Club). Some shots:
Tailor Made California T
Nice looking Speciales
599 GTO:
There was also this special one of one 599 GTO in white with brown stripes and brown tinted carbon. I think this is one of very few cars around the world to have tinted brown carbon and it looked pretty special
Scratched wheels also in brown carbon (not real carbon wheels though, I think- it would surprise me if they are)
He also did some slow laps on the track, giving us some hints on the glorious sound of the 599 GTO (that downshifts).
There were also 2 F12 TdFs, which sadly did not come out of the box:
There was also a showroom with some rare (and stupidly expensive) classics, like this one:
One of these legends was also there: The Ferrari F40. Apparently there was a second one and a F50 there, which I both could not find.
Coming to the end, there only remains the star of the show: the LaFerrari Aperta. There was a red one hidden in the pitbox and a black one on display, and always all the crowds around it (funnily leaving the F40 completely unlooked at the side)
They really are awesome machines with looks matching the pricetag and the unbelievable performance.
There was also one LaF Coupé in the boxes, but it was barely visible in the low light, so no photos of that.
So that's it. I hope you enjoyed my small report and the pics, as I really enjoyed the day in Hockenheim.
Let me know, if you want to see some more photos (I still have hundreds) as it is really annoying to upload them with slow wifi
Ferrari themselves had brought 4 new 812 Superfasts (2 grey, 1 red and 1 blue), as well as two LaFerrari Apertas (black & red), and loads of 488s, GTC4Lussos (also the V8 version) and California Ts. The track was mainly open for clients who wanted to lap the Hockenheimring with their own cars.
Unfortunately I missed the parade lap with Kimi Räikkönen driving the LaF Aperta, but here are some pics I took from the day with some thoughts to these cars. Enjoy!
Starting of with the new 812 Superfast:
IMO it looks way better in real life than in photos, but I'm still no fan of the looks, especially the rear, which somehow seems a bit too angular and bulky and lacks the elegance of the F12. I also think the design works best in darker colours. Unfortunately they were behind a fence, so I could not take proper detailed shots, but here are some pics:
Now to the predecessor of the Superfast, the F12 Berlinetta:
IMO it is one of the most beautiful cars out there, I just love everything about it. The looks, the proportions and the V12 make it one of my (if not the one) favourite road cars (leaving aside the crazy rare hypercars). Especially this example in a darker shade of red is a wonderful machine:
Some of the F12s also went out on track, like this one:
They are relatively quiet compared to some 458s and Speciales, but the intake noise when it approaches you is simply wonderful. Luckily there are some possibilities to make the F12 louder, like the Novitec N-Largo does. IMO the bodykit ruins the elegant look of the F12, but you can't deny the fact that it has such a presence on the road, and the sound...oh my...
Take the F12, make it twice as loud and give it an even higher pitched sound produces just glorious noise. It has such a unique sound, that even inmidst of several Ferraris, you can hear it clearly before you can see it. This particular car is also quite famous for having been to several events and Top Marques Week etc.Another car with a very unique and loud sound is the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale. I think it even is louder than the N-Largo, and this with a completely stock exhaust (damn EU-noise regulations today).
I also think, it still looks good and kept its age pretty well, and with that V8, it surely is a future classic!
The other cars on track were mostly 458s and 488s, here is a small selection of them:
This Blu Corsa one was very nice looking, imo one of the best colours for the 488 Spider.
And a darker shade of blue (could be TdF blue?)
Lookswise, I think, the 488 looks better than the 458, it also looks more flat on the surface with less body roll, but it just lacks the sound of a high-revving NA V8. They are loud (Christian Gebhardt once got banned in the 488 for being too loud in Hockenheim), but the noise they make is like a Ferrari-V8 mixed with a vacuum cleaner, and the engine gets cut off too early to really scream and overtone the vacuum cleaner
I have absolutely no doubt that they have a wonderful performance and they look awesome and the sound is still miles better than Porsche 911 Turbo for example, but when a 458 comes around the corner, I just have to look away from the 488 to enjoy the full noise of a free revving NA Ferrari V8. Luckily, there is a mix of 488s aggressive looks and 458s wonderful sound-the 458 Speciale: They look awesome (especially with those blue-white stripes and Rosso Corsa) and sound marvellous. Out of all the participating road cars, the Speciales also had the highest corner speeds by far and always looked perfectly composed. Here are some examples (thumbs up for the drivers for really pushing their cars
)This one had some pretty interesting stripes (not sure, I like them- a bit too much for my taste) and really pushed his car near the limit
There were also two pretty rare 458 Speciale Apertas, this one also drove pretty fast on the track:
There were also a few older (not really old, just older than 458) cars, like this 430 Scuderia, which also sounded awesome. To be honest, I don't really like the overall looks of the F430 (the Scud is better, but still not a beauty imo), but also the standard ones sound absolutely great (which can't really be said about the 360). Here is a pretty unique white and red Scuderia:
And Ferraris latest model was also driven on track: the GTC4 Lusso T. I don't really see the point of putting the V8 in this car, other than making more profit, but the V12 sounds soo much better. Lookswise I prefer it over the FF, I think it looks a lot sleeker than the somehow awkward FF.
There was also a pretty special and (surely) rare thing on the track: This old Ferrari racecar (I have absolutely no idea, what it could be- maybe one of you can help).
EDIT: I found out now, it is a 1955 Ferrari 121 LM Scaglietti Spyder
The driver was an absolute baller, as he was driving really fast, basically entering the corner slightly sideways and overtaking several modern cars, and this thing did move- I did not expect it to be that fast. It was a really funny sight to see him hooning around the track with no windscreen and that gigantic wooden steering wheel
In the end, there were also some Challenge cars, like the 458 Challenge and the 488 Challenge.
These things were on a completely different level in terms of corner speed, and were also significantly louder than the roadlegal cars, but again the 458 sounded a lot better than the 488, although the 488 was clearly faster.
Unfortunately I missed the FXX and FXXKs, as I heard them go out just as I arrived, but they did not come out again.
Moving on to the Parking Lot then:
Here were again lots of 458s, 488s, and also Dinos (meeting of Dino-Club). Some shots:
Tailor Made California T
Nice looking Speciales
599 GTO:
There was also this special one of one 599 GTO in white with brown stripes and brown tinted carbon. I think this is one of very few cars around the world to have tinted brown carbon and it looked pretty special
Scratched wheels also in brown carbon (not real carbon wheels though, I think- it would surprise me if they are)
He also did some slow laps on the track, giving us some hints on the glorious sound of the 599 GTO (that downshifts
).There were also 2 F12 TdFs, which sadly did not come out of the box:
There was also a showroom with some rare (and stupidly expensive) classics, like this one:
One of these legends was also there: The Ferrari F40. Apparently there was a second one and a F50 there, which I both could not find.
Coming to the end, there only remains the star of the show: the LaFerrari Aperta. There was a red one hidden in the pitbox and a black one on display, and always all the crowds around it (funnily leaving the F40 completely unlooked at the side)
They really are awesome machines with looks matching the pricetag and the unbelievable performance.
There was also one LaF Coupé in the boxes, but it was barely visible in the low light, so no photos of that.
So that's it. I hope you enjoyed my small report and the pics, as I really enjoyed the day in Hockenheim.
Let me know, if you want to see some more photos (I still have hundreds) as it is really annoying to upload them with slow wifi
