21yo Saudi Arabian Millionaire Takes Delivery of 33rd Supercar

Actress Bo Derek once quipped, "Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping." Someone who would most likely agree with her is 21-year-old Dhiaa Al-Essa, a Saudi Arabian Engineering student and millionaire playboy with a collection of over 30 exotic supercars worth more than £4.5 million (US$7.3 million).

Al-Essa has recently taken delivery of his thirty-third exotic, the first Ferrari 599 GTO worth £345,000 (US$557,000). In his own words:

"I've been so excited about the Ferrari 599 GTO – I have had to wait six months for it to arrive. It's a limited edition car with more technology that pretty much any other car in the world – and it's the fastest ever Ferrari. My favourite car used to be the Mercedes McLaren SLR but now it's the 599. It's the best ever, simply amazing – I love it."

His collection includes a £350,000 (US$565,000) Ferrari SA Aperta and a £255,000 (US$411,700) Ferrari F430 Scuderia Spider 16M; both the last of the line. Al-Essa also owns several other Ferraris as well five Porsches, three Lamborghinis, two Rolls-Royces and a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

This latest acquisition is a stop-gap measure until he receives his 22nd birthday present: a Koenigsegg Agera and a Bugatti Veyron, both worth £1.6 million (US$2.6 million) a piece. Al-Essa concludes:

"I love speed, but the limit in Saudi Arabia is 75 mph (121 km/h) so I'm pretty limited. When the Bugatti arrives I hope to take it to Germany where you can drive as fast as you can on parts of the autobahn."

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Swsn & Metro / Photos: Ferrari

Ferrari's Already Sold Out SA Aperta Roadster Stops by Paris Show

The 'greener' California HELE wasn't the only new car on display at Ferrari's Paris Show stand. The 670-horsepower SA Aperta, which we reported on last week, also made its debut. All 80 examples of the limited edition, open-top 599s have been spoken for well before the car made its way to Paris.

Co-designed with Ferrari Centro Stile to celebrate 80 years of Italian design firm Pininfarina, the car was built partly as homage to Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina, the son and grandson respectively of company founder Battista Farina (latter Battista Pininfarina).

Like the Bugatti Veyron roadster, the SA Aperta features an emergency soft top [read: umbrella] and the same structural rigidity of the hardtop without adding any additional weight.

Pricing is irrelevant as you can't buy one, at least not new. There is, however, an online configurator, which doesn't make any sense but anyways...

By Tristan Hankins

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Ferrari Launches Online Configurator for SA Aperta even though it's Sold Out...

Ferrari may have sold all 80 examples of its awkwardly named SA Aperta before the roadster's world premiere at the Paris International Motor Show on September 30, but that hasn't deterred the company from launching an online configurator for the rest of the world to see.

Unfortunately, the configurator is preset, meaning you're only allowed to check out the five available configurations and can't fool around with paint schemes or interior decors, so unless you're a photoshop wizard, there goes your dream of creating a lime-green colored SA Aperta with pink seats.

If you don't fancy Ferrari's site, here are the five available color configurations of the SA Aperta:

Nero Stellato

Rims: Chrome shadow
Brake calipers: Rosso Corsa
Interior leather color: Sabbia colour with black straight stretch; ecrù stitching
Passenger zone dashboard: black wrinckled
Other features: F1 dashboard, radio doors/panels, collar badge in varnished black

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Blu Elettrico

Rims: Chrome shadow
Brake calipers: Argento Alluminio
Interior leather color: black with straight stretch, blue central part of the seat, central part of the panel and white stitching
Passenger zone dashboard: external Blu Elettrico
Other features: F1 dashboard, radio doors/panels, collar badge in carbon fibre

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Giallo Tristrato

Rims: Chrome shadow
Brake calipers: Nero
Interior leather color: black with yellow straight stretch and white stitching
Passenger zone dashboard: carbon fibre
Other features: F1 dashboard, radio doors/panels, collar badge in carbon fibre

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Rosso Fuoco

Rims: Chrome shadow
Brake calipers: Black
Interior leather color: black with red straight stretch and white stitching
Passenger zone dashboard: Argento Nürburgring Opaco
Other features: F1 dashboard, radio doors/panels, collar badge in varnished black

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Rosso Dino

Rims: Chrome shadow
Brake calipers: Argento Alluminio
Interior leather color: black with straight stretch, central part of the seat and central part of the panel in orange leather
Passenger zone dashboard: Black wrinckled
Other features: F1 dashboard, radio doors/panels, collar badge in carbon fibre