Friday, August 17, 2007

Which Ferrari is Right for You?

Author: Jonathan Blocker

Ferrari 250 GTO

If you are considering a Ferrari car as an investment, you have made a choice of valuing a Ferrari so that they will not only increase your net worth, but you'll have fun enjoying these stunning vehicles in the process. There are several different models of new and pre-owned Ferrari sports cars from which you can choose your favorite to build your portfolio and increase your friend's envy.

Italian Enzo Ferrari started out by building race cars, but included road cars in 1947. Many of the body styles came from Pininfarina, an Italian car design company. The street cars come in V6, V8, and V12 models. Body styles are referred to by letters. M refers to models that are modified from the original version, while GTB is the reference for coupes. GTS stands for older-model convertibles or targa top models. Modern convertibles use the designation of Spider. Some Ferraris are called Daytona or GTO, but these are not officially sanctioned names. The Dino models got their name from Enzo Ferrari's son, Dino.

The Ferrari road cars come in several different types. Sports cars are designed for their excellent handling, speed and good looks. GT cars are called grand tourer vehicles, and are usually of the coupe body style, and are a bit bigger than a sports car. The 2+2 style indicates that there are two seats in the front of the vehicle and two seats for passengers in the rear. The America-type Ferraris are grand touring cars that feature the big V12 engines. FR designed vehicles stands for front-engine, rear wheel drive. You might also hear of the RMR type of Ferrari, which is the rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout. The name Supercar refers to their top of the line sports car.

A two-seat GT that Ferrari built was the 250 GT Coupe Pininfarina. The Ferrari Pininfarina was named the 250 GT Boano, which was a coupe. The Ferrari 250 GT California is a beautiful car that was featured in the hit movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 is informally called the Ferrari Daytona, in reference to the 24 Hours of Daytona car race, which the Ferrari team won in 1967. For lovers of speedy cars, the Daytona could reach zero to sixty miles per hour in a minuscule 5.4 seconds. A 365 GTB/4 was driven from New York to Los Angeles in just under 36 hours in a race in 1971.

The Ferrari 250 GTO is considered to be one of the finest sports cars ever built. Their value has skyrocketed, and if one happens to become available its cost would be in the millions. Ferraris such as these make an excellent investment.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/classics-articles/which-ferrari-is-right-for-you-170407.html

About the Author:

Jonathon Blocker is a Ferrari aficionado. Jonathon has driven a variety of Ferraris, and has developed an expertise on the collectible Ferrari.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Historic Rallying in the U.k

Author: mexico

Lancia Stratos Historic special stage rallying continues to grow in popularity in the U.K. Events regularly see entries of 90+ cars of varying ages. Cars are grouped into classes depending on age and engine capacity.The Historic class is for cars first registered before December 31st 1967 , Post Historic is for cars first registered between 1st January 1968 and 31st December 1974 and Classic is for cars first registered between 1st January 1975 and 31st December 1981. These sections are further divided into engine capacity classes. All cars must use a tyre of 70% aspect ratio or more and the only modifications allowable are those that were used at the time of the cars original motorsport use and must have been used in rallying. All of this means that costs are kept down while the closeness of competition is maintained.

Events are predominantly loose surface forest rallies ( mostly in Wales )with some ashphalt rallies ( including the Isle of Man) included for an even better championship.

Events for 2007 are :-

Robin Hood ( forest )
Astra Stages ( forest )
Pirelli Rally ( forest )
Severn Valley ( forest )
Mid Wales Stages ( forest )
Isle of Man ( tarmac )
Harry Flatters ( tarmac )
Tour of Flanders ( tarmac )
Rally Yorkshire ( forest )

This is a full blown rally series not a leisurely drive in the country the cars are driven as fast as possible the only difference between them and modern WRC cars is their age!

The season is rounded off niceley by the R.A.C. ( Roger Albert Clark ) rally which lasts 3 days in takes in yorkshire, cumbria , scotland and kielder much like the old Lombard RAC rally. Recent competitors have been Jimmy McRae , Stig Blomqvist and Mark higgins. Cars vary from the ultra succesful Mk1 Escort through to the fabulous Lancia Stratos of Steve Perez.There is also a classic section which covers slightly more modern cars e.g. Mk2 Escort etc but no four wheel drive cars allowed so plenty of sideways action.

More info can be found in my blogs or goto the Historic Rally Car Register website www.HRCR.co.uk

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/classics-articles/historic-rallying-in-the-uk-99090.html

About the Author:

Have a look at my historic rally blogs :-
More Historic Rally Information
My Historic Rally Car
My business website :-
Private Number Plates