Car FYI

Ferrari HC25 (Photo credit: Ferrari S.p.A.) It’s an unmistakable fact that ownership of a Ferrari instantly bestows a sense of exclusivity. Understanding how any driver almost needs to prove their worth to possess such a vehicle exhibiting masterful Italian performance and design beauty, it’s particularly intriguing to envision a Ferrari being shaped to an owner. Last week’s Ferrari Racing Days event that took place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas served as coming-out party for a one of a kind creation developed to showcase a unique spirit for the Prancing Horse.   The Ferrari HC25 was constructed by  the sports car company under the commission by an unidentified customer through what the brand describes as their Special Projects programme. This organization exists in Ferrari to specifically tailor their vehicles to the desires of an owner. Built on the basis of the discontinued Ferrari F8 Spider, the HC25’s two-tone, dynamic exterior design definitely as...

  Photo Credit: Pirelli & C. S.p.A. The thundering sounds of Formula 1 engines once again flood the world. The stunning country of Australia serves as the first host of 24 events part of the eagerly awaited 2025 season. Major driver and personnel changes have led to uncertainties during the off-season that has only succeeded in dialling up intrigue for the new year of racing.  In the early part of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix race weekend, it was becoming clear that McLaren and British driver Lando Norris would be a major force. The team seeks to defend their 2024 constructors’ title while Norris is viewed as a future world champion. Saturday qualifying saw Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri secured the front row ahead of the Melbourne event.   For Sunday’s main event, the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix would be impacted by rain showers. The wet Albert Park race track may have contributed to all six driver retirements with the first occurring even before the firs...

Lando Norris in Friday Practice (Photo Credit: Pirelli & C. S.p.A.) Qualifying for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix has provided the first competitive showing for what is the new, hotly anticipated Formula 1 campaign. In setting the grid for the 58-lap race, the cars belonging to the 2024 Constructors’ champion McLaren demonstrated a desire to realize even more greatness this season. Lando Norris secured pole position on the eve of the opening round for the new season by wheeling his McLaren around the 5.278-kilometer Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in blistering 1-minute, 15.096-second lap. The British driver knocked his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri off the top of the time chart disrupting what might have been a home crowd triumph for the Australian inside the #81 car. With Q3 times separated by 0.084 seconds, the McLaren MCL39 lock up the front row of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix. Norris’ pole-scoring time of 1-minute, 15.096-second lap time was 0.819 seconds faster than Max Ver...

Photo Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. Product Lineup: 296 GTB, 296 GTS, Portofino M, Purosangue, Roma, Roma Spider, SF90 Spider, SF90 Stradale, SF90 XX Spider, SF90 XX Stradale Overall Brand Impression:  The devotion of the Italian artisans that has kept Ferrari as a premium sports car leader stretches right back to the company’s founder. However, while Enzo Ferrari believed in the construction of pure performance machines in disregard for creature comforts, today’s vehicles are assembled with more consideration of customers seeking luxury alongside supercar power. Despite a long resistance to engaging in the popular crossover category, Ferrari demonstrates a level of concession to the mass market in 2024 by introducing the all-new Purosangue. The Purosangue joins an exciting 2024 Ferrari lineup that also includes the introduction of the brand’s first street legal XX program vehicle. What’s New for 2024:  Every vehicle in Ferrari’s 2024 lineup is a merger of style and power. An auto b...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada   Theme of the Show: The New Era The first Canadian International AutoShow I attended, the 2009 Toronto exhibition was an event that operated in an uncertain economic time for the industry.  The great recession ended the decade causing considerable reassessments on many fronts. With roughly 1,674,100 vehicles sold in Canadian during 2008 equating to a roughly 1 percent drop compared to the previous year, the data actually showed a radical increase in passenger car sales while truck sales fell to its deepest level in seven years. Smaller, economical cars were favoured among new vehicle buyers while traditional truck-like struggled as a hangover of high gas prices and over-saturation of the marketplace. The fickleness of the 2009 buyer would be highlighted when auto sales took a deeper plummet in Canada with 1,484,900 new vehicles sold. Besides the attitude of car buyers, the biggest change that would appear over the course of 2...

For the first time in more than seven years, I was drawn to a movie theatre this weekend for what may be an obvious reason when I inform you that my last cinema experience was attending the documentary Senna in Toronto. In 2019, my film-going motivation was based on the big screen adaptation of the great American auto racing story behind Ford’s reign at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the latter part of the 1960s. Ford v Ferrari is a docudrama with the polish of a big Hollywood production that admittedly both excited and concerned me prior to the positive word of mouth after the Toronto International Film Festival debut since sport-related movies are a hit or miss affair. The production values of the Ron Howard movie Rush has inspired confidence that auto racing can be depicted honourably on the big screen. Much like the Ford GT40 race car that went on to climatic greatness on the race track in 1966 as well as on film screens today, the right balance of parts and components make Ford v...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy At the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, the most advanced formation of Italian sports car technology and design of its time was unveiled to the world . Called the LaFerrari, the spiritual successor to the Enzo supercar exhibited active aerodynamics and a hybrid powertrain system called HY-KERS. Besides causing a great deal of confusion on how to properly pronounce the vehicle's name (would we refer to it as Ferrari LaFerrari or just the LaFerrari), the hypercar's factory quoted 949-horsepower generated collectively between a gasoline-fueled 6.3-liter V-12 engine and a pair of electric motors was channeled into the rear wheels for spectacular launches to a top speed up to 217 miles per hour. After the 499 planned LaFerrari models were produced, strong demand paved the way to the open-top version. The 2017 LaFerrari Aperta will be officially unveiled at the Paris Motor Show at the beginning of October. Every essence of the ultra-performance machine represe...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy Car collectors enjoy no only the thrill of owning a vehicle but the culture surrounding the popular brands that have driven our passions and emotions. When collecting Ferrari, the love can be enjoyed with the possession of a multimillion dollar classic like a highly rare 250 GTO or something as little as a one dollar die-cast car. Ferrari aficionados also take pleasure the in full range of merchandise surrounding the ‘Prancing Horse’ brand. Hats, jackets, sunglasses, watches and picture frames are just a few officially licensed items offered to collectors of the Ferrari brand. Ferrari is one of the most coveted brands when it comes to merchandising. Now, for the latest collectible item, why not own a piece of the company ambitious founded by the legendary motorsport figure Enzo Ferrari? Selling 10 percent of the Ferrari company in an IPO (Initial Public Offering) release on the New York Stock Exchange, the first shares will be offered at $52 a share s...

Photo Credit: Porsche For the 83 rd time in history, sophisticated sports cars arrived in France for the ultimate daylong test of endurance and stamina. The 24 hours of Le Mans on the Circuit de la Sarthe delivered a fair share of surprises, disappointment and the eventual celebration for winners of the four classes of racing. As is often the case, the LMP1 class earned a great deal of attention as high-tech cars generating what is estimated to be around 1,000 horsepower. Faster than the other racing classes at Le Mans, the LMP1 category winner would also be almost guaranteed to be the overall race winner. Becoming a fight reserved for two German brands Audi and Porsche, the race saw new norms displaced by old norms. Returning to the top class at Le Mans last year with the 919 Hybrid , Porsche’s effort in 2014 came with a best run of 11 th place for the team. Having taken overall race victories in 16 24 Hours of Le Mans races in history (first in 1970 and the last in 1998)...

On Monday of this week, the Canadian city of Toronto endured what was one of its most crippling flash floods on record. In a mere two hour time period, up to 126 millimeters of rain was dumped on the major metropolitan area. The effects of the flooding caused massive property damage, electrical power outages and even requiring a water-bound rescue of riders of a passenger-commuting Go Train. While the flooding fortunately spared the Canadian city of loss of life, there was a noted casualty of the surging water. A victim of the deep waters in Toronto's downtown, a four-wheeled creation from Italy was a prancing horse that simply could not muster the strength to endure intact. The property of an employment lawyer Howard Levitt, a silver 2010 Ferrari California became a viral spectacle of the Toronto flooding. Around the dinner-time hour, rain pounded the ground in overwhelming amounts as Levitt drove his 454-horsepower Ferrari hardtop conve...

Photo Credit: Ferrari North Europe via Newspress Resisting the market trend that has inspired other sports car builders to redefine their business with unconventional products (ie. the Porsche Panamera and the recently announced Cygnet microcar from Aston Martin), Ferrari's 62-year history rests strongly on their commitment to building pure sports cars. As Ferrari remains focused on their time-tested formula of building high-performance machines, the iconic Italian sports car producer opting against the word “redefine” has led dedication to “refine” through engineering and design. Photo Credit: Ferrari North Europe via Newspress Quite literally driven by the mastery of their race car construction, road cars of Ferrari have been perfected by Formula 1-style gearboxes. Delivering lightning-fast automated manual shifts years before the dual-clutch transmission was introduced by other manufacturers, Ferrari vehicles are always built to reward the driver with a nirvana-like ex...