By Greg Migliore, AutoWeek

Twelve-cylinder powerplants have been synonymous with Ferrari since the very beginning. From 1947's 125 S to the modern 599 GTB Fiorano, the Prancing Horse has made 12 cylinders dance like no other company. Ferrari makes engines glamorous, and the latest V12 rocket is revved for the Geneva motor show.

Ferrari revealed the F12 Berlinetta on Wednesday, and it packs 730 hp and 509 lb-ft of torque from a 6.3-liter engine (6,262 cc). Ferrari is billing this new supercar as the fastest its ever built, and that's reinforced with nearly breathtaking statistics. It can sprint from 0 to 62 mph in 3.1 seconds and clocks a top speed of more than 211 mph. That's a significant jump from the performance specs of the 599, which made 611 hp and is being replaced by the F12 in the company's lineup.

By David Arnouts, AutoWeek

Mini has revealed the new Mini Countryman John Cooper Works edition, which comes with all-wheel drive and an improved engine making 211 hp. It debuted on Tuesday ahead of its live reveal next week at the Geneva motor show.

The Countryman JCW edition will be the first of the performance Minis to offer an automatic transmission in place of the standard six-speed.

The engine, now with a variable valve control system based on BMW's Valvetronic technology, gets a boost of turbocharged horsepower, to 211 hp at 6,000 rpm, and 207 lb-ft of torque from 2,000 rpm to 5,600 rpm. It also has reinforced pistons and intake valves.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

I just returned from Mazda's official launch of its new compact CX-5 crossover along the Monterey Peninsula, with the day's activities based at - where else? - Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. For those who aren't aware, Laguna Seca is an 11-turn road course that has lots of elevation changes, challenging corners, and annually hosts amateur and professional road racing and motorcycle racing, including the American Le Mans Series and Moto GP. 

But the 'real' reason everyone wants to drive at Laguna Seca is because of Turn 8 - aka the Corkscrew - a six-storey plunge off what feels like the side of a mountain. Turns 9 and 10 continue down the hill albeit at a less violent grade, ending up at the relatively flat Turn 11 onto the front straight.

Being and avid fan of racing video games, I've turned plenty of 'virtual' laps at Mazda Raceway, but never had the opportunity to experience the track in person until now. I'll leave impressions of the CX-5 for the upcoming review, but in a nutshell, it was a great vehicle to use and never felt like it would bite back.

When you're powering up the hill towards the Corkscrew, there's no feeling that matches that first time. You have to commit to your line early by using a marked oak tree for reference and pray that you picked the right one. Then it feels like the whole earth falls away and you're just hanging on for dear life... What a thrill!

Racing fans will remember Alex Zanardi's last-ditch 'pass-in-the-grass' on Brian Herta back at Laguna Seca back in 1996, and now having driven it myself, all I can imagine is that Zanardi had major guts to pull off that move successfully.

So one track off my own personal bucket list. What track would you give anything to drive or ride on? Road America in Wisconsin? Road Atlanta in Georgia? Daytona in Florida? Indianapolis? Or even Canadian equivalents like Mosport in Bowmanville, ON or Le Circuit at Mont Tremblant in Quebec?

Photo courtesy David Dewhurst

By David Menzies for MSN Autos

Getting caught up in an accident on Lap 2, Danica Patrick probably wants to forget all about her Daytona 500 debut. Still, the former IndyCar driver is a pro. She’ll rebound and will surely be a contender for the checkered flag in future NASCAR races.

But what has many auto racing observers shaking their heads in stunned disbelief (myself included) is Patrick’s attempts to seemingly reinvent herself as a dead serious (rather than dead sexy) athlete.

At the Daytona 500 media day, Patrick said she really doesn’t care for the “sexy” label anymore.

The 29-year-old was asked if she still hears sexist remarks or if sexism is a non-factor in racing.

Her response: “Probably until it’s 50-50 girls and boys, I think you’re going to hear some of that. It’s like if there is a pretty girl, they don’t know how to describe a pretty girl other than being ‘sexy.’ And that has such a negative connotation to it. You don’t say those kind of things or frame it like that for a guy or even sometimes talk about it – but it seems like with female athletes, if they’re pretty, they only know how to describe them in a sexual way.”

Well, knock me down with a spark plug!

After all, who-oh-who is responsible for Danica Patrick being perceived as a sex symbol in the first place? Golly... surely not Miss Patrick herself? Indeed, Danica has dined out on her sexuality since Day One of her career.

By AutoWeek

It seems as though Infiniti has been pulling from the files of Carl Macek. The American anime impresario famously kitbashed three unrelated Japanese cartoons--Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA--stringing them together as the 85-episode Robotech, an imperfect saga which nevertheless blew many a young mind back in 1985.

Upon seeing the latest iteration of the QX56, we thought it looked as if it could have been designed as some Zentraedi wheeled transport from Macross. Plus, it's certainly big enough to house a few giant supersoldiers.

Now that Infiniti has released a set of official images of its Emerg-E hybrid sports-car concept, we can't help thinking that it resembles some manner of speedy biomechanical Invid machine from the last third of the series.

Since the company is holding all manner of specs close to the vest until the Geneva motor show, anime-oriented conjecture is all we currently have. Speaking of the genre, is that new episode of Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing up on Hulu yet?

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos Canada

When it comes to the auto industry, well-funded car company public relations departments, running twenty-four/seven, make every attempt to make sure you get the latest information on any new car news when they want to give it to you. It's especially the case with the run-up to any big auto show. Automakers want to get you excited, but they don't wnat to give too much away. Hence the “official teaser” image.

By Davey G. Johnson, AutoWeek

To bend a quote from the little green sage of Dagobah, “Begun, the CrossCab wars have.”

When Carlos Ghosn shepherded the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet to production, many questioned the need for a lifted, AWD Jacuzzi. And while we haven't run across too many in our corner of California, we can confirm that driving around the festivities surrounding the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance last year, the convertible Murano attracted as much attention as anything else on the Monterey Peninsula. Even the most jaded parking attendants flipped over the wacky ute.

Apparently, Land Rover was smitten with the concept as well, because it is dropping a convertible iteration of the Evoque at the Geneva motor show.

Since one of the oft-repeated derisive phrases about the CrossCab is, “It looks like a concept car that should've stayed a concept,” and one of the most hoary plaudits given the Evoque is that it resembles a concept car made production-car flesh, it stands to reason that Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern might consider an Evoque décapotable to be a potentially desirable line extension if he felt that he could nail the execution.

Land Rover's engineers say that 165 pounds of additional bracing would be required to stiffen the small luxury ute for drop-top duty, as well as about two years of R&D to get things just so. With 50,000 Evoques produced and orders for 60,000 more, the company is looking to gauge reaction to the drophead. If interest is low, it doesn't feel the need to divert production capacity for a niche model.

However, if it's a smash hit, the convertible Evoque could bust the open-air CUV microsegment wide open. After all, nothing improves the breed like competition. We'll be waiting for the BMW X6 M cabrio.

By David Menzies for MSN Autos

Much like a Super Bowl telecast, part of the fun of watching the Oscars is getting to view some innovative ads. Granted, it was slim pickings last night. But one advertiser did manage to stand out for all the wrong reasons: Nissan.

Indeed, Nissan’s ads for its Frontier pickup truck and Leaf electric car were so downright stupid and cheesy one wonders what Nissan’s ad agency is thinking these days.

The Frontier ad depicts a red pickup truck hurtling down a steep, snow-covered mountain as if it were a vehicular-shaped snowboard. The truck then catapults a few hundred feet into the air, performing a somersault before returning to terra firma and landing perfectly on all four wheels. (Naturally, several microscopic fine-print disclaimers warn potential Darwin Award candidates not to attempt such a stunt given that the whole endeavour is a CGI fantasy.)

At the conclusion of the ad, the narrator intones: “The midsize Nissan Frontier; full-size capability. Innovation for doers. Innovation for all.”

The words ring hollow, of course, because if the ad was reaching out to “doers” in need of a midsize pickup that can do the work of a full-size truck, then why not actually show a bona fide act of power (i.e., the Frontier towing something massive)?

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos Canada

This past week, the Interweb was all a twitter over the supposed leaked patent drawings of a new version of the SLS AMG, Mercedes-Benz’s unofficial “supercar”. Unlike the existing two-door, two-seat hardtop or convertible, this SLS had four seats and four doors: a pair of top-hinged “gullwing” openings up front, and two “suicide” rear-hinged at the back for, ostensibly, to make it easier for rear passengers to enter and exit graciously.

By Davey G. Johnson, AutoWeek

Eastern Europe has proved to be the gift that keeps on giving over the past couple of days. First, images of the Volvo V40 leaked via a Polish Facebook page, Latvian loonies Dartz announced their Prombron Black Dragon, and now a Russian Web site has spilled a plethora of images of the A3 to be unveiled at the Geneva motor show next month.

The car is both unmistakably A3 and utterly Audi-nouveau, with the more trapezoidal grille from the latest larger exemplars of the line and taillights reminiscent of those on the A6.