Ferrari's custom 599 convertible loading

Ferrari’s current portfolio of cars too generic for you? How about a neat custom P540? Ferrari’s rather unique 599 convertible.

You know the deal with Maranello – money talks. If you have a practically unlimited budget and impeccable breeding the fabled F1 team’s road car division can be awfully accommodating to your design whims.

Enter Edward Walson. Doesn’t sound familiar? Well, that’s hardly surprising.

Chasing a TV dream?

Edward’s not a celebrity in his own right but his father John did invent cable TV and you can only imagine the inherited financial resources at Edward’s disposal.

So, when Edward decided he wanted a contemporary Ferrari custom built (to pay homage to the legendary Fantuzzi-designed Ferrari 330 LM built specifically for the 1968 Fellini film, Toby Dammit) it simply had to happen.


Aero duct louvres behind both axles look the business, as does the large aft deck area and superb rear wheelarch curve-line.

The P540 Superfast Aperta is based on Ferrari’s outstanding front-engined 599 GTB Fiorano. Some striking Pininfarina designed bodywork adds 66mm bumper-to-bumper over a stock 599.

Despite being open-topped the P540 is 36mm taller than a 599 and 20kg heavier, the additional weight due to carbon-fibre strengthening to offset the loss of rigidity sans roof.

Traditional V12 values

Powering Walson’s car is a 456kW 5l V12 shifting through a six-speed paddle-shift transmission.

Performance promises to be epic and kudos to Ferrari for producing the complete car from sketching to homologation in only 14 months – just in time to make this Christmas Edward Walson’s best ever.

An interesting aside to the Edward Walson project is that such a one-off Ferrari’s owner receives the car’s tooling as part of the purchase to ensure it cannot be replicated.

Conversely, Ferrari reserves the right to buy back both the car and tooling again, to ensure Special Project Ferraris are not speculated against.

Special Ferrari 599 supercar

Meet the Ferrari P540 Superfast Aperta. Not a typical Ferrari name, but this isn’t a typical Ferrari. It’s an exceedingly bespoke version of our current favourite supercar, the 599 GTB Fiorano, and it’s the work of Ferrari’s Special Projects division.

While it keeps the 611bhp 6-litre V12 and F1 gearbox of the standard supercar, the bodywork is completely different. The P540’s silhouette is reminiscent of a mid-1970s Corvette Stingray, while the front end is a lot like the new Ferrari California. The styling is the work of Pininfarina.

Losing the roof has prompted some extra bracing to strengthen the P540, with around 20kg added to the kerb weight. The gains in mass have been kept under control via much use of carbonfibre.

It’s been made at the request of Edward Walson, son of the man who invented cable TV. He approached Ferrari in 2008, and after the company okayed his plans, its development began, the Superfast taking 14 months to put together.

Ferrari says that Special Projects is able to turn down requests, but was happy to pass Walson’s P540. Anyone who does get a one-off car this way also receives the tooling as part of the purchase, ensuring each one remains unique, although Ferrari reserves the right to buy back both cars and tooling to keep Special Projects produce from being snapped up by speculators.

This Special Projects team came bout after the Ferrari Enzo-based P4/5 (pictured, red) was produced by Pininfarina in 2007. Due to it not coming from under Ferrari’s roof it doesn’t wear a Prancing Horse badge and is ineligible for Ferrari concours events. Cars like the P540 will be.

Special Ferrari 599 supercar

Meet the Ferrari P540 Superfast Aperta. Not a typical Ferrari name, but this isn’t a typical Ferrari. It’s an exceedingly bespoke version of our current favourite supercar, the 599 GTB Fiorano, and it’s the work of Ferrari’s Special Projects division.

While it keeps the 611bhp 6-litre V12 and F1 gearbox of the standard supercar, the bodywork is completely different. The P540’s silhouette is reminiscent of a mid-1970s Corvette Stingray, while the front end is a lot like the new Ferrari California. The styling is the work of Pininfarina.

Losing the roof has prompted some extra bracing to strengthen the P540, with around 20kg added to the kerb weight. The gains in mass have been kept under control via much use of carbonfibre.

It’s been made at the request of Edward Walson, son of the man who invented cable TV. He approached Ferrari in 2008, and after the company okayed his plans, its development began, the Superfast taking 14 months to put together.

Ferrari says that Special Projects is able to turn down requests, but was happy to pass Walson’s P540. Anyone who does get a one-off car this way also receives the tooling as part of the purchase, ensuring each one remains unique, although Ferrari reserves the right to buy back both cars and tooling to keep Special Projects produce from being snapped up by speculators.

This Special Projects team came bout after the Ferrari Enzo-based P4/5 (pictured, red) was produced by Pininfarina in 2007. Due to it not coming from under Ferrari’s roof it doesn’t wear a Prancing Horse badge and is ineligible for Ferrari concours events. Cars like the P540 will be.

Ferrari Speical Edition

If you had a lot of money - and we mean, like, a lot of money, a sort of quite-close-to-infinite amount of money - with which to create your perfect, custom-built Ferrari, would you order a gold, convertible 599?

No? Well, tough. Because you don't have a swizillion dollars. But Edward Walson does. He's the son of John Walson, the man who invented cable television, and he is Very Rich Indeed.

Last year, Walson Jnr approached Ferrari's Special Projects Programme - established after Pininfarina created James Glickenhaus's P4/5 and Ferrari realised it could create an in-house division to grab a bit of the ultra-lucrative one-off market - to develop a car to his very exacting specifications and very expansive wallet.

So say hello to the Ferrari P540 Superfast Aperta, a coachbuilt 599 convertible modelled, apparently, on the gold Ferrari from the 1968 short film Toby Dammit (nope, us neither).

The Aperta took 14 months to build, with much of the work going into strengthening the chassis to deal with the loss of the roof. Still, the Aperta is just 20kg heavier than a stock 599, thanks to extensive use of deliciously expensive carbon fibre.

Walson opted to leave the 599's 6.0-litre V12 (which is, admittedly, a masterwork in standard form) unchanged, which seems a touch odd to us. Surely if you were spending gazillions of dollars creating your own unique Ferrari, you'd demand a tweak or two to the engine... just to make it special, like?

Schumacher is Free to Leave Ferrari

So it looks like Michael Schumacher will surely make a comeback to Formula 1 fans - Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo stated on Tuesday that the Italian team will not stand in Schumi's way if he wants to drive for Mercedes GP.

The off-season news is all about Schumacher's return to the sport and we really hope this isn't just a publicity stunt for F1. Schumi is, after all, bound by contract to the Ferrari team as a consultant till the end of 2012. However, di Montezemolo told reporters today that Schumacher's deal is 'not binding'. If Schumacher does shift to Mercedes, he will partner his fellow countryman Nico Rosberg and end his 13-year stint with Ferrari.

"It's clear that, if he decides to take another road, our agreement will no longer be valid - that is logical," explained di Montezemolo. "You can't work with a competitor and with us at the same time. I still haven't spoken to him about it. He is only a dear friend, not a team member. He is a consultant for our road cars," he added.

On a side note, Mercedes (formerly Brawn GP) may face a $100 million slash in their budget in the 2010 season. German consumer products honcho Henkel is claiming that a three-year sponsorship contract with Mercedes in invalid since the contract was signed by a former employee without authorisation. Henkel alleged that they had informed Daimler (the parent company of Mercedes) of the problem back in September. As a result, Henkel sued Brawn GP in November and the legal proceedings are still on.

Henkel was paying through its nose to Brawn, and lack of funds would mean Michael Schumacher won't get what he asks for. According to German dailies, Schumi is having talks of upwards of $40 million with Mercedes to drive for the team. Lets wait and watch.

MODIFICATION EXTREME BMW 318i

MODIFICATION EXTREME BMW 318i

Entertainment features to the car audio system, and carried headunit CD-Changer 12 chip from Pioneer, a unit of power Sound Stream, a unit of Sierra speaker 6 ", one unit Ligtning Audio subwoofer 12", and one capacitor bank Intersys 1.5 farad. "The installation of audio streams is a specific SQ or SPL. Clear, I hear music like R & B and trance in the car, "said Budi.the first contest in this modification ABT desires have not been accomplished. Men who joined in the Domino-R at the beginning of 2008 this hope can be signed in King Nominee. If that so, come back again next year, dude

Grand Prix BMW Breakdown in japanese

Grand Prix BMW Breakdown in japanese

Spesifications Grand Prix BMW Breakdown in japanese:
2JZ-GTE bored out to 310cc
HKS T51R turbo
HKS V-Cam Pro
HKS 1000cc injectors
HKS intercooler
HKS radiator
HKS manifold
Sui:Vax muffler
6 speed sequential transmission
ORC clutch

Exterior:
Vertice Design Front/Rear Bumper
Vertice Design Fenders
Vertice Design Sidesteps
Craft Square Side Mirrors
SARD Carbon Spoiler

Wheels/Suspension:
Rays G2 Wheels 19″ x 9.5 with +20 offset
Advan Front Tires – 255/30/19
Advan Rear Tires – 265/30/19
*Suspenion is rumored to be JIC*

Interior:
Bride Zerta III seats
Vertex 90mm Steering wheel
Custom carbonfiber dash