Yahoo Autos Mecum auctioning off three Ferrari LaFerrari prototypes in Monterey
The life of a test mule is short and hard. Pre-production prototypes normally get tortured on and off the track, sent to some of the planet's most inhospitable regions, then crushed. Four Ferrari prototypes have miraculously escaped this fate, and they're headed to auction.
Called M4, MP1, and PS1, respectively, three of the test mules were used to develop the LaFerrari. Ferrari built the M4 on a 458 Italia platform to test emissions equipment. The coupe features an unusually-shaped composite front end that's removable, a modified aluminum chassis, and a complete LaFerrari drivetrain, according to Mecum Auctions. The camouflage and the oddly-shaped exhaust tips hint at the M4's experimental nature, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Some panels are removable to let engineers access the hybrid system parts.
Getting the drivetrain to pass emissions must have been a Herculean task: The M4's odometer shows 192,264 kilometers, which represents about 119,500 miles. We'd be surprised if there's a LaFerrari with more than 100,000 miles on the clock anywhere in the world.
