5
NEWS
LA MOTOR SHOW: Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo
Radical concept makes sense in some distant time and place – will someone please explain?Concepts that don't drive are common, but the Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Tursimo concept exists in reality so it can be reproduced in the virtual world for Gran Turismo 6.
Gamers can race the Chaparral 2X VGT this holiday season by downloading an online update for Gran Turismo 6. In the real world the Chaparral name and legend emerged from the Texas-based Chaparral Racing team lead by Jim Hall in the 1960s. Hall, a mechanical engineer, enjoyed the thrill of developing technologies.
"I really like seeing what happens when ideas are tested," he said. His thinking and the race cars he engineered were definitely revolutionary and often pushed the rules beyond the limits.
In his late 70s, Hall (pictured) is still very sharp mentally. He stands tall at about 6 foot 2 inches maybe taller. A small hearing aid overcomes the effect of decades of race engines and straight-pipe headers. The Chaparral 2X concept appeals to his innovative mind in many ways.
"This concept is an audacious and ambitious vision – and one that demonstrates to a new audience how Chevy's engineering and design teams challenge norms and explore the technologies of tomorrow," said Clay Dean, executive director of advanced design.
Dean pushed his designers to reach beyond the limits of their initial ideas. "The team for the first few weeks working on the project kept coming up with modern interpretations of Hall's early Chaparral race cars like the 2J fan car."
Freedom can be confining but once the designers realised they had few rules to box them in, the design team began to look forward and the concept renderings began to move forward.
The driver lays prone with head forward very similar to a skeleton sled and very low to achieve a very low centre of gravity. The driver views the road via camera images displayed inside the helmet and face shield. The camera's perspective, however, is taken from the viewpoint of a driver in a traditional sitting position. Instrumentation is also projected on the helmet's visor.
The driver more or less wears the car around his body. "Think of it as adapting a wing suit to a racing car, where the driver's movements control certain aspects of the aero package," said Frank Saucedo, who oversaw the team that worked on the concept. "In many ways, the Chaparral 2X VGT is like a racing wing suit with a protective fuselage for 'flying' very low to the ground."
The Chaparral 2X VGT's concept propulsion system is very futuristic, inspired by technology derived from work targeted at space travel and future aircraft design. It features a mid-mounted laser beamed-energy propulsion system, which pulses beams of light that focus in a shroud, creating shock waves that generate tremendous thrust to the magnitude of 670kW. Chaparral 2X VGT is capable of a 385km/h top speed in the video game with 0-100 acceleration in less than 1.5 seconds.
The Chaparral 2X VGT concept pushes the mental and mechanical limits of the physical realm, but in the imaginary gaming realm of Gran Turismo 6 this is one bad-ass racer.
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Written byTodd Hallenbeck
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