Information about New Cars

Named after its founder Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari this day is a world famous brand that needs no introduction. Known for its sports automobile and engines, Ferrari is among the top most Formula 1 team in the world. Enzo Ferrari stared his career in a lesser known automobile company to fuel his passion for automobiles and racing. During his brief racing career with Alfa Romeo he acquired the logo of “prancing horse” from Francesco Baracca but had to move till 1932 to alter and present it on a car. While working with Alfa, Enzo started his dream team “Scuderia Ferrari” for Alfa.

It was only in 1947 that he could come out of adversities and started making automobiles bearing the study Ferrari S.p.A. In the year 1950, Ferrari participated in Formula 1 for the first time. But the success was nowhere in sight. During 1950’s and 1960’s Ferrari was more into events like Le Man’s and Mille Miglia. In 1960, due to financial pressures, Ferrari had to offer its stake to Fiat.

Initially Ferrari visaged many internal as well as external hardships but at the end of 1960, it put itself in a far superior situation than previous time. Later, Ford became a larger competitor and Ferrari had to even boycott sports automobile racing in 1968, to oppose FIA’s new rules. In 1969, Fiat increased its stake to 50%, this resulted not only in more finances but also in more influence on management. But the sports automobile racing department managed to stay untouched for some time.

The year 1972 and 1973 saw some great wins, defeats and finally exit of Ferrari from the sports automobile racing arena. And in 1988, death of Enzo Ferrari led to a situation not imagined by anyone. The brand Ferrari rose to a new height, value of old automobile and understanding of new automobile suddenly increased.

From 1996 onwards, Ferrari’s position changed after hiring Michael Schumacher. He dominated F1 and Ferrari was in top spot from 2000 till he retired in 2006.

Today Fiat owns 85% stake in Ferrari. But Ferrari is a part of FIAT S.p.A, not FIAT Auto. And fiat S.p.A has controlling interest in Ferrari.

The Stig is the unidentified test driver of automobiles on the favourite BBC Sunday night programme, Top Gear. So far unbeaten, The Stig’s laptimes are breathtaking.

However, he came very close to being beaten last Sunday by Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton performed a lap in 1 minute 44.6 seconds in wet, oily conditions. This came in at a mere .2 of a second behind The Stigs 1 minute and 44.4. And his performance was in dry conditions.

Lewis Hamilton has thrown down the gauntlet to The Stig with a challenge for both drivers to compete in the same weather conditions.

Fans of Top Gear will undoubtedly have joined the debate over the true indistinguishability of The Stig. William Hill bookmakers have stunt driver Russ Quick as the hot favourite at odds of 2/1 with friend Hill at 4/1. Ben Collins is a tiny known racer who has appeared on Top Gear as part of a parachuting stunt and this led to speculation over whether or not he was the secret Stig. However, bookies surmise that at just over 6′ tall, Collins does not fit the bill.

Maybe they are all wrong. Personally, I think The Stig is a woman. I mean, you only have to look at the driving skills coupled with the fact that there is a definite demand of accidents. It’s well known that women have far fewer accidents than men. Maybe its Sandy Togsvig or Dame Judi Dench? Well, anything is possible. Maybe that’s why they won’t reveal The Stig’s indistinguishability because it would dispel all myths about women drivers!

The Stig has set some of his ideal lap times in BMW’s. With an amazingly rapid 1 minute 26 seconds in the BMW Z4M, closely followed by 1 minute 28 seconds in a BMW M3 CSL, this has to be one of his favourite cars. With its smooth handling, precision cornering and eventual power, all the BMW’s tested by The Stig have come in at under 1 minute and 32 seconds per lap.

Viewers of this week’s Top Gear would also have been among the first to witness the test drive of a new BMW currently being developed. This BMW is one-of-a-kind in the fact that on board personal can ‘learn’ a route and then drive itself. After only one drive around the track by presenter Jeremy Clarkson, the automobile was healthy to memorize the route and then take over.

Looking petrified, Clarkson let go of the wheel, removed his feet from the pedals and shrieked as the BMW took off, braking at the last minute on bends. The BMW finished the lap leaving Clarkson in one piece. However, the general feeling was that it would be extremely difficult to trust this on the road. Not due to any problem with the automobile but simply human nature to want to be in control of such power.

So, Top Gear team, make the Hamilton challenge more interesting. Let’s see The Stig take on Lewis Hamilton and a woman driver, in dry conditions, in a BMW.