Ferrari Building a Smaller, Lighter, Quicker Enzo

The go-fast gurus at Ferrari are working on a successor to the jaw-dropping Enzo that could be the lightest, quickest two-seater ever to roll out of Maranello.

We told you months ago the Scuderia's next supercar would be based on the Millechili concept that embraces the "less is more" ethos. Ferrari sees lighter cars as the best way to reach its goal of increasing fuel economy 40 percent and reducing emissions 25 percent without compromising its reputation for performance. The Millechili is a guidepost to that greener future.

The future arrives in two years in a 600-horsepower car that weighs 2,200 pounds.

According to Car and Driver, Ferrari will introduce the as-yet-unnamed supercar in 2010. C&D says it won't be called the Millechili -- but it will look a lot like the styling concept (pictured) Ferrari showed off last year.

The car will have an aluminum space frame similar to the F430 Scuderia but stretched to a wheelbase of 104.3 inches and fitted with a V10 engine. That's a break from Ferrari's tradition of putting V8s or V12s in its road cars, but Ferrari won five consecutive Formula 1 championships with its V10s, so the engine undoubtedly will be a corker.

The only thing sweeter than the car's engine is its weight. Millechili is Italian for 1,000 kilos, and that's just what the car will weigh. Not only is that 660 pounds lighter than the Enzo, it's 200 pounds lighter than a Mazda MX-5 Miata and only 216 pounds heavier than the Lotus Elise. The Enzo accelerated from 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) in 3.65 seconds and had a claimed top speed of 225 mph, so it's safe to say the Millechili will be very quick. It'll certainly have one of the best power-to-weight ratios of any car on the road, coming in behind the Caparo T1 and SSC Ultimate Aero but ahead of the Saleen S7 and Bugatti Veyron. Active suspension will adjust the ride height for maximum aerodynamic efficiency and handling.

That kind of performance doesn't come cheap. If you want one of the 300 or so cars Maranello plans to build, be ready to lay out half a million dollars.

Photo by Ferrrari.

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Add your own images to other people's photos with the Image Fulgurator

The "Image Fulgurator" by Berlin-based artist Julius von Bismarck (which recently picked up a Golden NICA at this year's Ars Electronica Festival) is a device that physically manipulates photographs by implanting messages onto the object being photographed. The device senses if a camera's flash goes off and synchronizes a projection on the object being photographed at the same time. The result, as can be seen in the video on the site, is that tourists and others taking photos end up having bizarre images mapped onto their photos. Check out the details on how it works at the link below, and there's even info about his patent application for the gadget.

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Monet Painting Fetches $80M At Auction

An auction house worker poses for the photographer Thursday June 19, 2008, in front of Claude Monet's 'Le bassin aux nympheas' 1919 painting, ahead of an auction on June 24, at Christie's auction house in central London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

(AP) A water lily painting by impressionist master Claude Monet was sold for more than $80 million at auction Tuesday, kicking off a week of modern-art sales expected to reach records that defy the global economic downturn.

The painting "Le bassin aux nymphéas," or "Water Lily Pond," was sold by Christie's for $80,451,178 including buyer's premium, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold by the auction house in Europe.

It was part of a four-work collection of water lily paintings that Monet put up for sale during his lifetime. He saw the oil paintings of his water garden as a cumulative work in progress, and rarely sold them.

The four large-scale paintings of Monet's water lily garden were signed and dated by the artist in 1919. One of the other paintings is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, while another was sold at auction in 1992 for $12.1 million and is in a private collection. The final painting in the series was cut into two before World War II.

The one sold Tuesday was purchased in a 1971 New York auction for $320,000. It has not been publicly exhibited since.

The bold brushstrokes in the painting are characteristic of Monet's later works, especially his "Grandes décorations," a 22-panel work of water lily paintings that was installed in Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris five months after Monet's death in 1926.

Monet created his water garden in Giverny, France by rerouting a river. He selected different hybrids of water lilies in an effort to get as many different colored flowers as possible, deliberately creating the garden as a motif for his paintings.

Tuesday's auction kicks off a week of major modern-art sales at Christie's and its rival Sotheby's, as the international market continues to set records despite global economic troubles.

The Christie's auction also features a rare pastel work by French impressionist Edgar Degas showing two ballet dancers. It is expected to fetch $8 million to $12 million.

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