Our last post, which showed a Ferrari Enzo after it had been hit by a bus and careered into a VW Golf, didn’t perhaps illustrate the car at its best.

Here’s the rundown of this tip-top model :

Named after company founder Enzo Ferrari, the Ferrari Enzo was built in a limited run of 399, with an extra car that was offered to the Pope. It is an outstanding expression of the concept of extreme sportiness, developed for road use, yet epitomizing the most advanced concepts of Formula 1 racing technology.

Ferrari set out to develop the Ferrari Enzo as an integrated system designed for extreme performance, in which even the limits of the performance achievable by the driver were enhanced, thanks to a man-machine interface typical of Formula 1.

Make and Model: Ferrari Enzo
Engine Type: 6-liter V-12
Torque: 485lb-ft@5500rpm
Acceleration 0-60: 3.6 s
Suspension: 4-wheel independant
Wheel Base: 104.33 inches
List Price: $652,000
Horsepower: 660bhp@7800rpm
Top Speed: 217 mph
Brakes: Brembo 4-wheel vent. disc
Transmission: 6-speed Electrohydraulic
Weight: 3009 lbs.

Useful little runabout, maybe?

When you own a rare supercar of which only 399 were made, you may like to think that you’re the one capable of driving “like a bat out of hell”. However, businessman Frank Mountain has issued a High Court writ, claiming a reckless bus driver has wrecked his £600,000 ($1,150,000) hand-built Ferrari Enzo.

The tycoon, who was in the passenger seat, was being driven to a race track by a Ferrari dealer. The writ claims the crash cost more than £300,000 in repairs and related expenses, including compensation for loss of earnings when the owner had to travel to Italy to pick up the vehicle, loss of use of the Ferrari and a drop in the car’s value. “As a consequence of the collision the airbags inflated and the Ferrari filled with smoke and dust, rendering the driver unable to see and causing the Ferrari to collide with the VW Golf.” The Golf was written off.

The bus driver said, “My wife Christina was furious. She said, ‘You couldn’t have been in an accident with anything cheap could you?’”

Wilts and Dorset bus company, whose driver was involved, dispute the claim. Finance Director Matt Dolphin said: “We have filed a counter claim.”

All that fuss over a car!

A professor at Purdue University, Jerry Woodall, has found a method of producing hydrogen from aluminum alloy pellets and water. This is very important for the motor industry as it promises to solve many of the problems that confront the introduction of engines running on hydrogen as a fuel.

Although hydrogen is the perfect alternative fuel, its exhaust containing nothing more harmful than water vapor, its use has been dogged by a bad press, with memories of old airship disasters like the Hindenburg, the problem that generating it by electrolysis uses more power than it produces, and the difficulties involved in storing it in quantity. The Purdue solution offers a way around all of these, suggesting that cars of the future need only fill up with the alloy pellets.

Hydrogen is generated spontaneously when water is added to pellets of the alloy, which is made of aluminum and a metal called gallium. The researchers have shown how hydrogen is produced when water is added to a small tank containing the pellets. Hydrogen produced in such a system could be fed directly to an engine.

Gallium is an important ingredient since it stops a skin of aluminum oxide forming and protecting the metal from further reaction with the water. And the by product of the reaction is hydrogen…

The Purdue Foundation has applied for the patent to the process and plans are in process for its commercial use.

In keeping with the “earthdream” color scheme for their F1 racers, Honda has been trying out a hydrogen-fueled car, the FCX, with selected customers in California. The styling is a bit retro, boxy and unimaginative but, when it’s alternative fuels that matter, who cares about the car’s looks?

Well, it seems Honda does. They have been showing off a new body for the FCX that is much more up to date and stylish. Called the FCX Concept, it has the usual modern grin for a grille and swooping lines everywhere.

I must be getting old - to me it just looks ugly…