<![CDATA[Jalopnik: ferrari testarossa]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png <![CDATA[Jalopnik: ferrari testarossa]]> http://jalopnik.com/tag/ferrari testarossa http://jalopnik.com/tag/ferrari testarossa <![CDATA[ Ferrari-Driving French Techno Zombies Are The Right Way To Start The Day ]]> How to explain the video above? There's no point in making a techno-electronica album in the spirit of Giorgio Moroder without some sort of insane concept. Enter Kavinksy's 1986, an album kinda sorta about a guy who was bumped off in some sort of crash that involves some kind of crime. He dies unceremoniously but is somehow revived to drive his Ferrari Testarossa, which also revives itself. Zombie Ferrari. Zombie driver. He must get his revenge against... well... hard to say. The concept is a bit vague and the music is perhaps too derivative but a zombie Testarossa, what more could you want as a Monday morning pick-me-up? [YouTube]

]]> Jalopnik-381905 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EDT Matt Hardigree http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=381905&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ The Sultan's Ferrari FX: Forerunner Of Flappy-Paddle Shifting ]]> These days, paddle shifters are on everything from hatchbacks to luxury sedans. But not so long ago, they could only be found on certain exotica and racing cars. Some love 'em, but a lot of enthusiasts would rather have a good ol' fashioned third pedal and a stick. So who do we have to blame for this virus of sequential gearboxes? The man at fault may very well be the Sultan of Brunei. Back in the early '90s, his specially-designed Ferrari FX was the first road car to use a modern paddle-shift setup.

Based on a Ferrari 512M, the FX keeps the 440 HP 5.0-liter flat-12 engine, but nearly everythng else has been redone. The body was made by Pininfarina, and utilized aluminum and carbon fiber. All very well and good, but the really impressive upgrade was the gearbox. Keep in mind that Ferrari did not yet offer an F1-style gearbox for their road cars. So, the Brunei royals went to the Williams Formula One team to supply a F1-spec sequential transmission. That meant, in 1994, the Sultan's road-going supercar had a 7-speed flappy-paddle gearbox — four years before the Ferrari 355 F1 would debut as a '98 model. And it was all downhill from there. [via Supercars.net]

]]> Jalopnik-380458 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:20:00 EDT Mark Arnold http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=380458&view=rss&microfeed=true