ZA Car » Ferrari

Wallpaper Wednesday: From Dylan, with love

christo — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:30:44 +0000

Each time we look at doing a Wallpaper Wednesday, we reach out to our Twitter audience and ask what they’d like to see. This week’s one came as a suggestion from one Dylan Laubscher - click his name for his site – who has some of his own shots to show off. With his permission, we’ve linked to his selection of wallpapers. And if we could add: we’re extremely jealous that he’s been able to shoot some of these cars. We’re also jealous that he’s got talent we can only dream of. Rock on, Dylan!

ZA Car Show 154: The pick of the bunch

trevor — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:02:11 +0000

Audio stream – Download audio file (zacs154.mp3)
Christo, John, Patrick and Trevor explore their best (and worst) cars from the 84th Geneva Motor Show in Episode 154. Christo also sheds a tear at the announcement that Lotus has stopped development on its projects after the disinvestment of it Malaysian funders. Finally, we wrap up the show with a review of the endearing Audi RS5, but the verdict might surprise you. Go on have a listen and let us know what you think by clicking here

You’ve seen some of the more than 150 new model reveals at the Geneva Motor Show, what was your favourite?

Was it the Lamborghini Aventador J?

Perhaps it was the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta? Do you want to see a full gallery, click on the image.

This little beauty was also unveiled in its production form. What a looker. Click on the image to view a gallery.

To wrap it up, we review the non-facelifted 2012 Audi Rs5

Episode 154 download

ZA Car Show 152: Top Gear Test Track

trevor — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 04:07:20 +0000

Audio stream – Download audio file (zacs152.mp3)
We like to think of our friend Thomas Falkiner (@WheelDealBlog) as a celebrity. At first it was just the playboy lifestyle of his with a Porche 944 in the garage and a Mustang fastback for the track that had us convinced he’s worthy of a petrol head hall-of-fame entry. But he’s just returned from the Top Gear test track, also known as the Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, UK, where he drove the McLaren MP4-12C and how many of you can claim to know someone who has done such a thing? Tom then, is our star in an unreasonably priced car. Is McLaren on your all-time lust list? Well, you can find out more about it from Tom on this episode, in the mean time, here’s a video from of Thomas’ experience. He’s quicker than a Kia C’eed, but is he as quick as the other celebs, watch to find out.

These ‘leaked reveals’ whether by accident or intentional, ahead of international motor shows, are getting a little tiresome, but they do offer us great content sometimes as we found this week with the first pictures of the Range Rover Evoque Converitble, good or bad idea we’d like to know what you think? We don’t have a problem telling you what we think.

Click on the image to see a gallery of this car. If you're streaming the show, right click and select "Open in new window/tab"

This is the best view. Don't go around the front, it's very much an acquired taste.

We obviously picked the picture that shows off its least flattering angle, just to keep the rerpoting real here. We didn't get to drive it so me might as well judge it on its looks.

We won't be getting Imprezas anymore, but we will get this, the raised body, Impreza crossover at an eye-watering R329 000. The previous version sold out and didn't look as good so despite the price, this might just fly.

This week we review the 2012 VW Jetta. The model we had on test was the 118kW 1.4 TSI Comfortline, but we decide rather whether there is a better VW Jetta for the price.

At ZA Car Show we don't just drive a Jetta and tell what it's like, we drive the old one to tell you whether it is that much better than the old one so you know whether you need to change your car now, or not. How's that for service?

Episode 152 download

ZA Car Show 149: Doriftuuu!

trevor — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:14:54 +0000

64kbps stream Download audio file (zacs149.mp3)

Drifting, like Facebook, in eight years has taken the world by storm. This storm is blowing into South Africa very uncharacteristically from the north and east and as posters with pig ears of Ferrari F430s and Bam Magera fall off kids’ walls from the drying prestick, they are being replaced by posters of Vaughn Gittin Jr, Rhys Millen, Ken Block, and extreme sports legends like Travis Pastrana, Brian Deegan and Rob Dyrdek to name only a few. That is why we’re joined by Jim McFarlane from XS Promotions in Episode 149. XS Promotions has long been in the lead when it has come to extreme sports promotion and event organisation not least of which is the SuperDrift series in South Africa Atomic Junkies shows which wil be taking place in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg this year.

So if you’re keen on the drift scene, want to find out what it involves, what car you should consider if you’re just starting out, or how much money you should put side for tyres, take a listen. Take a listen. Do it now. John, Trevor and Christo have a great chat with Jim who clearly has a passion for getting your blood racing faster than an Nissan GTR through turn two at Zwartkops Raceway and in our books, that’s brilliant.

In this show we cover some news like the Ferrari Formula One team’s gifts of appreciation, a Fat Pig of a Jeep each - you can read about it by clicking here. No wonder Flippie and Fern are unimpressed.

If pictures could tell a thousand words and you see the disappointment on the Team Scuderia Ferrari’s faces then we wish we had a camera to show you what Christo looks like when he recounts the South African launch of the BMW (F10) M5, we’ve never seen him smile that much.

In other news we talk briefly about the Chevrolet Sonic Diesel — a new entrant in a segment with very few diesel offerings and the Kuga, and no, we’re not talking about older women who are after younger guys, we’re talking about the Ford.

Look we're as muscular (or fat) as our Jeeps

We have yet to test the Chevrolet Sonic but on paper the new 1.3 diesel seems to offer the best small-diesel package. Click on the picture to view the gallery.

This new M5 packs some serious heat; like bazooka to a pistol-fight heat. Click on the image for some more pictures of that car that Christo drive in Port Elizabeth.

The BMW M5 also makes great sounds, sounds that you might want to use as a ring tone, and you can find them right here if you click these slanty words…

This is Mikey from XS Promotions, Jim's business partner. They like to do this...

...forget about ZA Car Show's Sideways Saturdays Mikey and Jim do this for a living and if their passion for the sport while talking with us is anything to go by, then drifting is set to become something great in SA, just like it is around the world. Click on the image to view a XS Promotions' SuperDrift gallery on Flickr.

Doriftuuuu....

Episode 149 download

Scuderia Jeep. Fernando and Filipe get a subtle hint?

trevor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:34:18 +0000

Sometimes working for Ferrari has its perks and sometimes it doesn’t. As one of its Formula One drivers you might expect you get to drive a road going version of the race car, a Ferrari FF, or at least something special like the Abarth 500 Tributo Ferrari 695. Most time that is the case, but then the drivers sometimes have to pander to FIAT’s other brands, like Jeep…

Alonso: "Hey Filipe, can you see over the steering wheel, how much do you weigh these days, do you think we'll be able to clear the snow in this?"

Scuderia Ferrari Formula One drivers, Filipe Massa and Fernando Alonso are getting used to the ‘posing with a red car in the snow gig.’ Their most recent assignment involved some really really brash, really American, and ostentatious Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8s with Rosso Corsa (Ferrari-red to us simpletons) exteriors, red leather interiors, black stripes and black wheels, to give the models some racing-cred (we suspect). Or not.

Look we're as muscular as our Jeeps

These custom Jeeps have been built as a tribute to the Ferrari ambassadors, however if that’s the case the only tribute being paid is for something fat and chunky. Despite this the Grand Cherokee SRT8 has a big heart: a 6.4l HEMI V8 delivering 344kW (468 hp) and 624 Nm. The SRT8 achieves benchmark performance of 0-100 km/h in 5 seconds and has a top speed of 257 km/h, while massive disc brakes haul it from 100-0 km/h in only 35 m. Jeep also claims this is the best handling model it has ever built – though it’s coming off a pretty low base, if we’re honest.

Despite claiming these vehicles are a tribute to the drivers, they’re really to commemorate the imminent introduction of the SRT8 into Europe, in May this year.

Additional features include:

Instrument cluster with yellow dials to give the cabin the fake look of the GT cars produced in Maranello
7-slot Jeep grill in matte black with red inserts
Race-inspired, offset black driver’s stripe with a white accent for the front and rear bumpers, hood, the entire surface of the roof (over those matt black sunroofs, no less) and the rear spoiler.
Carbon fiber mirror caps
Gloss black rear light bar with red accents on the Jeep logo
Italian flag painted on the underside of the rear spoiler: a tribute to the Ferrari F150º Formula One car
20-inch black alloy wheels

There’s also mention of a “matte black painted dual-pane sunroof,” which has us a tad confused.

Nevertheless, these features sound pretty interesting.

Filipe and Alonso having some real fun in a four-wheel-drive.

It’s good that Jeep is going this far to give its brand some racing heritage and tie into the partnership with the Fiat Group, but we’re rather disappointed with the heads at the Fiat and Ferrari for letting such a thing happen and building some pocket rockets in the past; cars like the Michael Schumacher Fiat Seicento and Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari offered far more petrolhead appeal. They brought handling and fun to the party, and the idea that Ferrari’s F1 team had a hand in developing the cars that were available in (relatively) affordable packages, so what on earth made them think a red SUV sends the same message?

"Look it's red inside, just like Lewis' MP4-12C, what does Seb drive, a Renault?"

For Sale: Ferrari F430 not Fast Enough?

trevor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:08:14 +0000

Perhaps you are lucky enough to own a Ferrari and perhaps you thought that the F430′s 4.3 V8 still lacked some poke? If you were in Europe or the USA, it would be easy power upgrade-deasy, just pop on over to an exhaust shop, find a reputable tuner, hand over a huge wad of cash and you’d be going places a little quicker than you previously did.

Apart from it being black, it looks like a regular Ferrari F430.

South Africa on the other hand is a somewhat different kettle of fish. When it comes to supercars, agents hold tight reigns on the sale and service of these machines and so it makes finding something special like this all the more impressive. It’s good to know that at some point in the past couple of years, there was a South African brave enough to explore the realms of euro-tuned supercars and to him we salute. *salute*

The Novitec Rosso Ferrari F430 gives the standard 4.3l V8 typically producing 360kW (483hp) @8500rpm and 465Nm (343lb-ft) of torque @5250rom a nice little bump up to 707hp or 520kW @ 8350rpm and 712Nm @6300rpm with the help of twin-superchargers. That’s no ~~fucking~~ joke. Seriously. This particular one has ticked almost the entire Novitec catalogue off, wheels, brakes, interior, carbon bits everywhere… If 520Kw was too much the previous owner could have cocked about and just put in the 656hp SuperSport upgrade or gone with an exhaust like most Ferrari owners. Nah, notafuck, this guy went the whole hog; all in; the whole enchilada; all chips on black; and he did it so you don’t have to. It’s for sale at a dealership in Fourways, Johannesburg, RSC Auto for around the same price as what you would pay for a regular F430 of the same vintage ZAR2 100 000. You won’t find many trick Ferraris like this, this side of the UAE. We suspect that an upgrade like this cost no less than R1 000 000 and so to us, this car sounds like the bargain of the decade (and a little bit more special than that boring old red Ferrari you see at show meets)

Click on these words for a link to the original advert.

Just in case you were wondering how fast a Novitec Rosso Ferrari F430 is, it’s quite a lot quicker than a Ferrari Enzo

ZA Car Show 146: The TT Arse

trevor — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:30:05 +0000

64kbps stream Download audio file (zacs146.mp3)

Two’s company and this week, our second show of 2012 it’s Trevor van de Ven and Christo van Gemert that keep you company while chatting about cars, some good and some bad. There’s a slew of new BMW engines destined for the BMW 1-Series (international markets only at this stage), which get’s our Captain Consumption aflutter with excitement, were still not quite sure why. BMW has also announced that it will be launching an M Performance series which will be more dedicated than simply adding an M-Sports pack to your Beemer, while being not quite as hardcore as BMW’s M cars. Why, well you’ll have to listen, won’t you? Christo van Gasoline reports back from the Abarth 500 launch that he attended recently and the two round off the show with a review of the Audi TT-RS and Mitsubusi’s Titanic Triton.

We dont have a picture of the engines so an image of the new M-Sport pack for the 1-Series will have to do. Can you spot the add-ons?

You think we included a picture of Dr. Friedrich Nitschke, the President of BMW M Gmbh, because of that magnificent moustache? You'd be wrong, there is a car behind him, which is the only indication that we have at the moment of what the new M Performance cars will look like and the M550d X-Drive looks deceptively like full-blown M5 unless there's some sloppy PR going on here.

There's a sting in the tail of this little car. Click on the image to view a comprehensive gallery. You will be redirected, so right click the image and select "Open in new tab/window"

The one we had looked identical to this, red is certainly the best colour for this beast that out accelerates just about everything on the road. Hear what we think on the podcast. For a gallery, click on the image but be aware that you will be redirected away from this page. To stay here, right click on the image and select "Open in new Tab/Window"

There's nothing new here, it's a Mitsubishi Triton. We review it...

Episode 146 hi-fi download (22MB)

Wallpaper Wednesday: Ferrari 288 GTO edition

christo — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:54:45 +0000

Earlier this week, as part of our 2012 social drive, we asked our Twitter followers what cars they’d like to see in this week’s Wallpaper Wednesday. We were overwhelmed by the sole – and speedy – response from @AlexDigsWilmot. He simply said, “Ferrari 288 GTO”.

So we dug deep and found some photos of this rather special car. See, this car on its own isn’t that noteworthy, but a quick history lesson shows how important it is in the development of the best Ferrari of them all: the F40. The 288 GTO had a 2.8-litre V8 with two turbochargers – a far cry from the 3-litre naturally aspirated V8 in the car it’s based on, the “Magnum” Ferrari 308.

In Ferrari nomenclature GTO stands for Gran Turismo (grand tourer, not the PlayStation game) Omologato (homologation), and that’s what this car was. A homologation of the 308, designed to go racing in the then furiously competitive Group B. Porsche already had the 959 (racing as the Porsche 961), and Ferrari had to save face.

The engine produced 298kW (400hp) and 496Nm of torque. Plenty, even now. Its 300km/h top speed also made it the first street-legal production car to reach the triple ton. But none of the 272 cars ever raced, so they remained road cars. Instead, Ferrari jumped onto its next project, the 288 GTO Evoluzione (Evolution; no, not the Mitsubishi). Only three were built since the Evo was a test bed for what was to come in 1987 – see if you can spot all the visual similarities between it and the F40.

*All photos are property of their respective copyright holders. If you see a photo that is yours, please get in touch and we can credit you, or remove it from this posting.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Simplicity

christo — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:32:27 +0000

Too many dials, gauges and buttons can be distracting. The new Ford Focus and Renault Megane both suffer from this – buttons, button everywhere!. Sometimes… simplicity is the best. And that’s the theme for this week’s selection of wallpapers. Something plain and elegant, where the objects of our automotive desire are the main focus.

*All photos are property of their respective copyright holders. If you see a photo that is yours, please get in touch and we can credit you, or remove it from this posting.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Forza Motorsport 4 edition

christo — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:48:09 +0000

It’s been a while. We apologise. We’ve been working hard on rounding up more high quality hoonage from around the web, and the return of this regular feature sees us start off with a twist.

We’ve asked the folks from the Forza 4 thread, over at the Something Awful Forums, to let us have their best snaps from that game. The game looks great, and it has the option to output some high-resolution images (great for printing out, or using as your desktop wallpaper). So we asked some of the Forza photographers to give us their best, err, shots.

Now this is the part where you have to read carefully: we want you to vote for your favourite wallpaper in this week’s selection. Voting will close at 23h59 on the 30th of November. And we’ve arranged a nice, game-related prize for the winner. See? We do like giving back to the community that supports us.

So get with the downloading and voting, as you feast your eyes on these.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.