Ferrari P4/5 Competizione on the Franciacorta racetrack

More great video from Marchettino, who continues to kindly spare us the usual techno-soundtrack for the simple and wonderous mechanical sounds of the car in question.

This time it's the Ferrari P4/5 Competizione, doing some testing on the Franciacorta racetrack in Northern Italy in preparation for its entry at this year's 24hr Nürburgring endurance race in June.

It's a foggy day but that doesn't slow down the P4/5 Competizione one bit. And Marchettino also manages to take us into the pit garage too and even have a peek inside the cockpit. The car is also wearing a New York license plate which we don't believe is entirely applicable to an Italian race track.

The Ferrari P4/5 Competizione is a project by James Glickenhaus, who commissioned a one-off Pininfarina-designed P4/5 back in 2006 but has now developed his own Competizione version based on the F430 Scuderia and using the same engine and suspension as the Ferrari F430 GT2 ALMS.

Source: Marchettino/Youtube

Ferrari 612 Shooting Brake interior spied plus new rendering

Our spy photographers have had a decent amount of success lately stalking their prey at local gas stations as automakers conduct their winter testing in northern Europe.

This time the prize is a Ferrari 612 Shooting Brake prototype spotted fueling up near the Arjeplog testing center in Swedish Lapland. These shots, although of a car still heavily camouflaged, give us a better sense of the shape of the car than the last group of pics we saw as well as give us a good look inside the cabin and at those rear seats.

The 2012 Ferrari 612 Shooting Brake is a 2+2 (four-seater) 2-door coupe which is expected to come with a 458 Italia-like front fascia, headlights and a hatch rear end. It will replace the 612 Scaglietti and is scheduled to debut at the Geneva auto show in March.



Code named the F151, the car will feature a sophisticated all-wheel drive system with a secondary clutch to send power to the front wheels when a slip is detected but, according to some reports, will only do so at speeds over 145 km/h (90 mph).

Expected to power the next 612 is a 6.3 liter V12 engine with 670 hp (500 kW / 679 PS) connected to a seven-speed double-clutch transmission. It will manage the 0-100 km/h sprint in 3.7 seconds and have a top speed of 335 km/h (208 mph).

The Italian supercar-maker has hinted at a hybrid variant for the 612 featuring Ferrari's HY-KERS hybrid system with a 74 kW/100 PS electric motor first seen in the 599 HY-KERS concept. But we just don't know whether that will be this 612, a separate 612 variant, or an altogether different model.

We will have to wait until Geneva.

Lamborghini Murcielago/Aventador camo pics released

Here are some photos of the upcoming Lamborghini Murcielago replacement, once referred to as the Jota and possibly to be called the Aventador LP700-4, that were released by Lamborghini but have made the rounds on the Internet as spy photos.

The Lambo here is still heavily undercover but the shape of the vehicle appears more discernible in these up-close shots. The Murcielago successor seems up to the task of carrying the Lambo mantle.

Lamborghini is still being tight-lipped about certain details of the car, such as the name, even as it lets journalists test drive the vehicle and Lambo's boss has already started shopping the vehicle around to selected customers.

The next flagship Lamborghini will come with a new 6.5 liter V12 producing 515 kW (700 PS / 690 bhp) and 690 Nm (509 lb-ft) of torque coupled to a 7-speed single clutch gearbox with independent shifting rods (ISR). It will be extremely lightweight and have a 0 to 100 km/h sprint time of 2.9 seconds with a top speed of around 350 km/h (217 mph).

Source: Lamborghini via Inside Line