Choosing which Ferrari to buy can be a tough decision. The raw performance of the 430 Scuderia? The dynamic superiority of the 599?The versatility of the new California, with its retractable hard-top? And that's just the model...once you've got that down, there is a seemingly endless range of options available, including a limitless array of exterior colors. Might we suggest, then, that you let the chairman decide for you, and help out a good cause while you're at it.

For the first time ever, Ferrari is auctioning off a vehicle online. And it's not just any Ferrari, either: this example is the personal ride of one Mr. Luca di Montezemolo, a hereditary marquis, chief of the Formula One Teams Association, chairman of the entire Fiat group and president of Ferrari since Enzo himself passed on. Montezemolo is putting his own ride - in Rosso Monza with charcoal interior and outfitted with carbon-ceramic brakes, optional 20" wheels, sat-nav and iPod connectivity - on the virtual auction block to raise funds for research fellowships. The auction is taking place right now, so follow the link to head over and check it out for yourself.

Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo's black-on-black Porsche 911 convertible (above) is being offered for sale in the UK. As we reported back in January, the champion athlete who is set to play for Real Madrid after his club Manchester United accepted a record £80 million bid last week, totaled his Ferrari but walked away unscathed. The car on offer is a Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Tiptronic S which Ronaldo bought in 2007, the UK Auto Trader reports.

It's just one of a fleet of supercars which have been owned by the 24-year-old, who mainly drives a Bentley Continental GT Speed these days. The Porsche can accelerate from 0-62 mph in 5.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 177 mph. It has only 16,000 miles on it and is priced at £69,995 or about $115,000. Ronaldo was recently snapped canoodling with Paris Hilton in Las Vegas celebrating his new contract.

Rapper, producer, designer, and tastemaker Kanye West could obviously have any watch in the world. The one he chose is a customized all-black Rolex Submariner by Swiss firm Black-Out Concept (above), on a black nylon NATO spec strap. Kanye made a decision a while back that Rolex would be his signature watch brand, but he wanted to add his own twist; Black-Out's version was perfect. "It looks hard, it looks really cool," he explained in naming the watch one of his 10 style essentials. "It's a new take on a classic watch." He also likes the fact that they take a Rolex and literally "paint it black" (coat it, actually).

Black-Out Concept was founded in 2007 by Fabrice Letellier in Geneva. An avid watch collector, racecar driver and all-round exotic car enthusiast with the means to indulge his passions, the idea was born when Letellier had some of his supercar collection given a matte black treatment, i.e. blacked-out. Next he decided to do the same with his Rolex, and soon some of his fellow car and watch aficionados followed suit. Obviously there was a market for it. Letellier contracted with one of Geneva's best watchmakers to perfect the black out process for timepieces, which is done using two low-friction, scratch-proof finishes used by the military, PVD and DLC (diamond-like carbon).

Black-Out also creates customized blacked-out cars, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley and Aston Martin; the Black-Out package on the latter (see the gallery) costs about $40,000. They do customized matte black motorcycles as well built on a Harley-Davidson base, blacked-out Vertu Ascent cell phones - basically anything you can think of that would look better in all black. In addition to the Submariner they also black out several other Rolex models, including the GMT II, Daytona, Milgaus, and Deepsea, as well as other brands like Panerai, Bell & Ross and Audemars Piguet. Letellier has his own high-end watch brand in the works as well.



Of course, Black-Out aren't the only ones to offer blacked-out Rolexes; we've written before about Bamford & Sons' $30,000 PVD Daytona and other models, as well as Jacques Picard's $18,000 DLC Deepsea. (No, we don't know who thought of it first.) Black-Out doesn't actually sell watches, however, they customize yours at a cost of €5,000, or about $7,000, which includes Fed-Ex'ing to and from Geneva, and a set of three different straps including the NATO. So you can in fact get the look of the far more expensive models for much less - if you pick up a used Submariner in the $5,000 range - yet still have a watch that's every bit as exclusive, not to mention Kanye-approved. You can contact Black-Out's U.S. representative Christian Ginet at blackoutconcept@mac.com for more info.

As we reported last month, a rare 1957 Ferrari recently sold for $12 million, setting a new world record. That doesn't mean that all classic Ferraris are outrageously expensive, though it is a good indication that the cars are bound to significantly increase in value once the recession is in remission. At the Hamptons Auto Classic on June 13 in Bridgehampton, NY, some of the fat cats who've had to sell their fancy mansions there are apparently unloading their classic car collections as well. The star lot is this 1962 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Cabriolet Series II, estimated at only $525,000 - $575,000; 250 GT spyders regularly fetch seven figures. One of only 200 built, the car has had a full restoration to a very high show standard including paint, leather and engine.

An article in the London Times has celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay finally speaking out on his financial troubles. Ramsay, never one to mince words, called the news that his accountants wanted to put his business into administration and that he owed more than £7 million "the worst bollocking ever." In January auditors from KPMG found that Gordon Ramsay Holdings was losing millions and they wanted to take control of Ramsay's restaurant empire.

Ramsay admits now that he expanded too quickly opening 10 restaurants in 10 months last year. At the height of the crisis he considered selling up to 20% of the company and his £6 million London home. He did end up selling his Ferrari and managed to right the company by firing some staff, selling some restaurants and he and his business partner Chris Hutcheson, his father-in-law put £5 million of their own money into the business. Ramsay is hoping that KPMG will give his company a clean bill of health, finally putting an end to what he terms "the worst year of my life." Sounds like a true kitchen nightmare.

Ramsay wasn't the only British celebrity chef to have a bad year. Antony Worrall Thompson's company AWT Restaurants Ltd. went into administration in February 2009. Last fall Tom Aikens one of London's handsome and temperamental Michelin starred chefs ran into trouble when he could not pay his suppliers. Ramsay seems to have avoided their fate for now and perhaps his recent humbling will help shift his focus from the fame and back to the food.

Some things are exclusive because they're only available in limited quantities. Others are exclusive because few people actually want them. Under which category the Ferrari F430 Calavera falls is entirely a matter of taste. A joint effort by Unique Sportscars and Novitec Rosso, the Calavera takes the Ferrari supercar into questionable territory by enlisting the services of airbrush artist Knud Tiroch, who decorates the exotic with all manner of tattoo-style decoration, skulls and all. Novitec was brought in to give the Calavera the bite to go with its bark, strapping on not one, but two superchargers to boost power output up to 707 horsepower, driving it up to sixty in three and a half seconds and on to a top speed of 216 miles per hour. A tweaked suspension and aero kit round out the package, while Unique Sportscars has customized the interior as well for that, well...unique feeling. Only eleven examples will be produced, but whether that's a matter of exclusivity or optimism is, after all, a matter of taste.

Piaggio chief executive Alberto Galassi just announced that plans are finally in place for a new Ferrari jet based on the Avanti turboprop plane (above) at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva. Piaggio, which is partly owned by Ferrari and is licensed to use its prancing horse logo, says its shareholders in Abu Dhabi and India are backing the project but declined to release many details. "I promise you one thing, this [will be] a beautiful airplane," Galassi said. "You would not expect anything more from Italian style and Ferrari."

They're not taking orders yet, however. "Who wants to hear about a new airplane, take orders and then wait 10 years for delivery?" Galassi asked. "You don't see Ferrari announcing a new model and then spending years developing it. Ferrari designs the car, builds it and then launches it. I want us to be close to first flight and with the latest technology before we tell people about it." He also joked, "It costs the same to design an ugly aircraft as it does a beautiful one, so we have the beautiful one."

[via JamesList]

The ultra-rare 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa (which my colleague Noah Joseph wrote about back in February) just set a new world record for the most expensive motor car ever to be sold at auction, achieving a final price of €9,020,000 or about $12.2 million at RM Auctions' annual Leggenda e Passione event in Italy. The beautiful Scaglietti-designed "pontoon-fender" 250 TR was one of only 22 made. One of the most instantly recognizable cars in Ferrari's history, it's highly coveted by collectors - Ralph Lauren owns two of them.

"The historical significance of this car attracted a bidding war as collectors from around the world - both in the room and on the telephone – competed to secure one of the most alluring and iconic of all Ferrari racing cars," said Max Girardo, Managing Director of RM Europe. "The eyes of the world were watching today's sale as cars of this quality are so rarely offered to the market. The quality and the provenance of the Testa Rossa speaks for itself and the price we achieved today is testament to that."

Ferrari just opened its first store (above) in the UK in London's fashionable Mayfair, second in size only to their Milan flagship. Located in a beautiful historic stone building, the store features a Ferrari Formula 1 racing car on display and carries the full line of Ferrari by Panerai watches, sunglasses, luggage, clothing, model cars and even Ferrari-branded bicycles - everything but actual cars. Ferrari's Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen presided over the opening of the chic boutique, billed as not just a store but an "homage to the history and spirit of Ferrari's twin souls of racing and luxury." Ferrari plans to open 40 retail stores worldwide to capitalize on customers who want a bit of (relatively) affordable Ferrari magic.

The annual Leggenda e Passione auction at the Ferrari factory in Maranello always features a staggering array of unique sports and racing cars from the company's history, and this year's is shaping up to be no exception. Among the myriad historic Ferraris heading up on the block this weekend, Alain Prost's F1 car, a 330 P4 Le Mans racer and a unique 250 Testa Rossa are headlining in the event. But Ferrari has just added one more vehicle to the docket: a special one-off F430 to raise funds for relief work in the Abruzzo region of Italy, which was struck by a devastating earthquake last month.

The special-edition supercar will be the last F430 off the assembly line when production ends later this year to make way for the next-generation model. It will be painted silver and gold, the colors of the city of Aquila that bore the brunt of the disaster, and come equipped with an array of extra features from Ferrari's extensive customization catalog. The special F430 will be auctioned off at the event, with proceeds going to disaster relief in Abruzzo.

For $10,000 you can get a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture crafted from the gearbox of Ferrari's F2000 Formula 1 racecar. At the end of the 2000 racing season, the complete 7-speed gearbox was signed by Ferrari's championship-winning driver Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari Executive Director Jean Todt and Ferrari CEO Luca Cordero Di Montezemolo. It was mounted to a 18"x18" carbon wall plaque with an authentic Ferrari fender shield mounted in the middle. Performance furniture firm RaceChairs is now offering it for $10,000 with the option of having a custom lamp or table (above) completed showcasing the gearbox. RaceChairs notes that due to the espionage problems with rival teams, Scuderia Ferrari is no longer releasing these kinds of pieces to private collectors, so this is your last chance.

[RaceChairs via BornRich]

This year's Leggende e Passione auction event at the Ferrari factory in Maranello is shaping up to be, well... legendary. RM Auctions has run the historic Ferrari and Maserati auction at the factory for three years running now, but this year's roster of classic exotic machinery going under the hammer looks to be the best crop yet. In addition to the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa and 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 (among the myriad other priceless classics) we've already reported on, the auction will feature the historic Formula One race car which Alain Prost drove in his infamous duel against Ayrton Senna in 1990.

Packing a 685-horsepower 3.5-liter V12 revving up to 13,000 rpm and mated to a ground-breaking seven-speed sequential transmission, Chassis #121 is what Prost drove to five podiums over the course of the 1990 championship, including one race win. It's also what Prost was driving when arch-rival Senna crashed into him on the penultimate race of the season in Japan, ending the race for both but handing the title to Senna by default. It was one of the most controversial championships in motor racing history, and now the car in which it all happened is up for sale. Following a nearly €110,000 restoration at the Ferrari factory where it's being sold, Chassis #121 is expected to fetch €300,000-€400,000 when the hammer drops next month in Maranello.

Gotham Dream Cars, the premier exotic car rental and touring company that has a fleet of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche, Aston Martin and Maserati supercars, is planning their first ever Legends Dream Car Tour on June 9 and 10. Sports car and luxury auto enthusiasts will enjoy an exciting and scenic drive in the New York area, switching between five Lamborghinis led by one of the most famous test-drivers of all time, Valentino Balboni (above) of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. The four-hour event will take participants on more than 150 miles of open road as they experience the newest Lamborghinis including the Gallardo LP 560-4 Spyder and the Murcielago LP 640 Roadster. Space for the exclusive, adrenaline-packed event is extremely limited.

At a company as high-end as Ferrari, all customers are equal, but some are more equal than others. Those ones are the customers who get to participate in the company's exclusive XX development programs. And by "get to", we mean fork over a couple of million to play factory test driver with their own track-focused machinery. The initiative launched a few years ago with the FXX, a supercar based on the Enzo but with all sorts of added experimental technology which Ferrari has been toying with in the effort to make their incredibly fast cars go even faster. The FXX Evoluzione followed, with an even more extreme package, but at last months' Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari took the wraps off an altogether different beast: the 599XX.

Based on the all-conquering 599 GTB Fiorano, the 599XX features a host of modifications to its drivetrain and aerodynamics to turn an already phenomenal performance machine into a fire-breathing monster. Ferrari has only now released official details and photographs, revealing some of the advancements developed for the 599XX: thanks to reduced inertia, the V12 engine can rev up to 9000 rpm and produce 700 horsepower. The carbon-fiber brakes keep everything in check, while active aerodynamics ensure that the car has the optimal effect, reducing drag at high speeds while increasing downforce for cornering. As a result, the 599XX is faster around the race track than any roadgoing Ferrari in existence, and faster even than some of the company's race cars. Click on the thumbnail images below to view in detail.

The unique piece of architecture shown at right is the Ferrari museum which is currently under construction in the town of Modena, Italy. The design created by architecture firm Future Systems, includes a race car-like yellow roof that arcs over the two-story house that Enzo Ferrari was born in way back in 1898. The roof has fins and the design was inspired by the look of a classic Maserati. The museum is set to be finished in 2011 and should bring thousands of car-loving tourists to the town in northern Italy.