123-829: The Northeast Grand Prix (until 2006: New England Grand Prix ) was a professional sports car race held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut , United States as part of the IMSA SportsCar Championship . Previous editions of the Grand Prix belonged to the SCCA National Sports Car Championship , the IMSA GT Championship and the American Le Mans Series . The race currently has
246-793: A business-only vehicle . In the past, GM also assembled the Suburban and Avalanche in Mexico for export to other markets, chiefly the U.S. and Canada. In 2009 China became Chevrolet's third-largest market, with sales of 332,774 vehicles, behind only the United States and Brazil (1,344,629 and 595,500 vehicles respectively). By 2010, Chevy sold just over half a million, with the Cruze being its best seller there. A total of 673,376 locally-manufactured Chevrolets were sold in China in 2018 (down from
369-615: A back seat to GT cars with the FIA replacing the World Championship for Sports Cars with the International Championship for GT Manufacturers. In national rather than international racing, sports car competition in the 1950s and early 1960s tended to reflect what was locally popular, with the cars that were successful locally often influencing each nation's approach to competing on the international stage. In
492-524: A car with a similar powerplant (Peugeot 908). P2 cars can weigh much less — first 675 kg, then 750 kg and now 825 kg — but are restricted to 3400 cc V6 or V8 normally aspirated or 2000 cc turbocharged powerplants. In the European series in which endurance is a priority and P2s have been run largely by privateers, P2s have not challenged P1s for outright victories; in the American Le Mans Series with generally shorter races P2 has become
615-614: A controlling interest in General Motors . After the deal was completed in 1918, Durant became president of General Motors, and Chevrolet was merged into GM as a separate division. In 1919, Chevrolet's factories were located at Flint, Michigan ; branch assembly locations were sited in Tarrytown, N.Y. , Norwood, Ohio , St. Louis, Missouri , Oakland, California , Ft. Worth, Texas , and Oshawa, Ontario General Motors of Canada Limited . McLaughlin's were given GM Corporation stock for
738-538: A crop of large-engined "big bangers" the technology of which largely gave rise to Can-Am but soon died out. Clubmans provided much entertainment at club-racing level from the 1960s into the 1990s and John Webb revived interest in big sports prototypes with Thundersports in the 1980s. There was even enough interest in Group C to sustain a C2 championship for a few years; at 'club' level Modified Sports Car ("ModSports") and Production Sports Car ("ProdSports") races remained
861-633: A duration of 2 hours and 40 minutes and takes place in July, previously having been held on Independence Day weekend compared to the Lime Rock Grand Prix that was held on Memorial Day weekend. This sports car racing -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to sports in Connecticut is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sports car racing Sports car racing
984-509: A feature of most British race meetings into the 1980s, evolving into a "Special GT" series that was essentially Formula Libre for sports or saloon cars. After a relative period of decline in the 1980s a British GT Championship emerged in the mid-90s. Italy found itself with both grassroots racing with a plethora of Fiat based specials (often termed "etceterinis") and small Alfa Romeos , and exotica such as Maserati and Ferrari – who also sold cars to domestic customers as well as racing on
1107-515: A franchise-like approval system in which only approved constructors are eligible, with rules stability enforced for several years at a time, although this led in 2007 to established constructors like Lola and Dallara entering the 2008 series by taking over the rights of existing constructors (Multimatic and Doran respectively). Grand Touring (from the Italian Gran Turismo ) racing is the most common form of sports car racing, and
1230-632: A high point in the history of the sport. In Europe, the FIA adopted the ACO GTP rules virtually unchanged and sanctioned the Group C World Endurance Championship (or World Sportscar Championship ), featuring high-tech closed-cockpit prototypes from Porsche, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz , Nissan , Jaguar and others. In the US, the IMSA Camel GTP series boasted close competition between huge fields of manufacturer-backed teams and privateer squads –
1353-456: A larger emphasis on the reliability and efficiency of the car and its drivers as opposed to outright car performance or driver skills. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of one of the best known sports car racing series. A type of hybrid between the purism of open-wheelers and the familiarity of touring car racing, this style is often best associated with the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. First run in 1923, Le Mans
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#17327830787281476-399: A long Japanese tradition of such hybrids; a Grand Champion series ran for many years with rebodied Formula 2 and Formula 3000 cars, rather similar to the second incarnation of Can-Am ). In the US, however, road racing actually saw a decline. The IMSA GT Championship had been prototype-based since 1983, with less emphasis on production cars. NASCAR was becoming increasingly dominant, and
1599-629: A market share of 21.5% of the region's plug-in electric passenger car segment. Combined global Volt/Ampera sales passed the 100,000 unit milestone in October 2015. As of June 2016 , the Volt family of vehicles ranks as the world's all-time top selling plug-in hybrid, and it is also the third-best-selling plug-in electric car ever, after the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S . Volt sales in
1722-644: A mechanic if necessary or permitted. Cars such as the Bugatti Type 35 were almost equally at home in Grands Prix and endurance events, but specialisation gradually started to differentiate the sports-racer from the Grand Prix car. The legendary Alfa Romeo Tipo A Monoposto started the evolution of the true single-seater in the early 1930s; the Grand Prix racer and its miniature voiturette offspring rapidly evolved into high performance single seaters optimised for relatively short races, by dropping fenders and
1845-810: A number of GT series sprung up at national and European level, with the BPR series eventually evolving into the FIA GT Championship . IMSA GTP continued for a few more years but was replaced by a series for World Sports Cars – relatively simple open-top prototypes – which gave rise to cars such as the Ferrari 333SP and the Riley & Scott Mk 3, supported by GTs. As the 1990s progressed, these prototypes and others like them started to be raced in Europe and an FIA Sports Car series evolved for them. Since
1968-513: A race for touring cars ) and sports cars, whether descended from primarily road-going vehicles or developed from pure-bred racing cars came to dominate races such as Le Mans and the Mille Miglia . In open-road endurance races across Europe such as the Mille Miglia , Tour de France and Targa Florio , which were often run on dusty roads, the need for fenders and a mechanic or navigator was still there. As mainly Italian cars and races defined
2091-532: A racer as the foundation for his new automobile company. The first factory location was in Flint, Michigan at the corner of Wilcox and Kearsley Street, now known as " Chevy Commons " at coordinates 43°00′31″N 83°42′36″W / 43.00863°N 83.70991°W / 43.00863; -83.70991 ( Chevy Commons ) , along the Flint River, across the street from Kettering University . One of
2214-681: A record of 767,001 in 2014). In 2018, Chevrolet held just 2.90% share of the Chinese market (down from a record market share of 5.33% in 2012). The best-selling Chevrolet models in China by 2019 were the Cavalier (~ 10 000 units per month). Malibu (~ 3500 units per month), Equinox (~ 2000 units per month), Cruze - at one time the best-selling model (~ 1500 units per month), Sail (~ 1200 units per month), new Orlando (~ 1000 units per month), Malibu XL (~ 800 units per month), Trax (~ 100 units per month), Lova RV (~ 100 units per month), representing just 9 of
2337-496: A result, some cars racing in the GT category did pass as true sports prototypes, in turn leading to some road-going versions for homologation purposes. The Dauer- Porsche 962 LM, Porsche 911 GT1 -98, Mercedes CLK-GTR and Toyota GT-One were prime examples of prototypes masquerading as GTs. In simplistic terms, sports prototypes are two-seat racing cars with bodywork covering their wheels, and are as technically advanced and, depending on
2460-486: A result, sports car racing is seen more as a team endeavour than an individual sport, with team managers such as John Wyer , Tom Walkinshaw , driver-turned-constructor Henri Pescarolo , Peter Sauber and Reinhold Joest becoming almost as famous as some of their drivers. The prestige of storied marques such as Porsche , Audi , Chevrolet , Ferrari , Jaguar , Bentley , Aston Martin , Lotus , Maserati , Lamborghini , Alfa Romeo , Lancia , Mercedes-Benz , and BMW
2583-452: A resurgence of interest in sports car racing in the US, with the network originally showing a large amount of sports car racing and sports car–related programming before being replaced by Fox Sports. The IMSA GT Series evolved into the American Le Mans Series ; the European races eventually became the closely related Le Mans Series , both of which mix prototypes and GTs; the FIA remains more interested in its own GT and GT3 championships, with
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#17327830787282706-570: A single race, such as in the 24 Hours of Le Mans . In mixed-class races, an overall winner is awarded, though individual class winners are often recognised as well. Sports prototype is the name given to a type of car used in sports car racing and is effectively the next automotive design and technological step-up from road-going sports cars and are, along with open-wheel cars, the pinnacle of racing car design. The highest level in sports car racing, these cars are purpose-built racing cars with enclosed wheels, and either open or closed cockpits. Ever since
2829-616: A support series for the Rolex Series, provides a similar series to the old Trans Am Series, mixing conventional sports cars and touring cars. Due to Grand Am's affiliation with NASCAR, many NASCAR drivers occasionally participate in the Rolex Sports Car Series. Max Papis is a notable example in that he was a road racer prior to his tenure in the Sprint Cup Series. Many of these drivers only participate in
2952-592: A vehicle to increase performance as a season progresses, DPs are restricted to their original conception of the car from the start of the season. For these reasons, the category being labeled as a "prototype" has occasionally been criticised as misleading and being more in line with traditional "spec" race series prevalent in the United States. The intention of the DP formula was to provide a class in which tight technical regulations encouraged close competition and where budget would be relatively unimportant. DP chassis are subject to
3075-533: Is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built sports prototypes which are the highest level in sports car racing or grand tourers (GT cars) based on road-going models and therefore, in general, not as fast as sports prototypes. Sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing , alongside open-wheel racing (such as Formula One , IndyCar Series and Super Formula Championship ), touring car racing (such as
3198-697: Is also manufactured in Rayong, Thailand. Starting in 2003, the Holden Commodore was badged as the Chevrolet Lumina in Thailand for the VY and VZ model series. Exports lasted until 2005. General Motors is currently exploring cost-cutting options as part of its restructuring plan. One of these options involves expanding the Rayong, Thailand plant to add additional capacity to export Colorados to
3321-401: Is built in part upon success in sports car racing. These makers' top road cars have often been very similar both in engineering and styling to those raced. This close association with the 'exotic' nature of the cars serves as a useful distinction between sports car racing and touring cars. The 12 Hours of Sebring , 24 Hours of Daytona , and 24 Hours of Le Mans have in the past been considered
3444-403: Is found all over the world, in both international and national series. Historically, Grand Touring cars had to be in series production, but in 1976 the class was split into production-based Group 4 Grand Touring Cars and Group 5 Special Production Cars , the latter of which were essentially pure-bred racing cars with production-lookalike bodies. GT racing gradually fell into abeyance in Europe in
3567-656: Is one of the oldest motor races still in existence. Other classic but now defunct sports car races include the Italian classics, the Targa Florio (1906–1977) and Mille Miglia (1927–1957), and the Mexican Carrera Panamericana (1950–1954). Most top-class sports car races emphasise endurance (generally between 6 and 24 hours), reliability, and strategy, over pure speed. Longer races usually involve complex pit strategy and regular driver changes. As
3690-575: The ACO regulations, two categories of sports prototypes are now recognised: P1 and P2. Cars competing in the P1 category must weigh no less than 900 kg and are limited to 6000 cc naturally aspirated and 4000 cc turbocharged engines. 5500 cc turbo- Diesel engines are also permitted in P1 ;– Audi scored Le Mans victories with such a car in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and Peugeot returned to racing in 2007 with
3813-549: The British Touring Car Championship , which is based on 'saloon cars' as opposed to the 'exotics' seen in sports cars. Supercars Championship , is an Production Touring Car Racing specs consists with 5-litre V8 Engine and the fastest touring car racing in the world) and stock car racing (such as NASCAR ). Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over particularly long distances or large amounts of time, resulting in
Northeast Grand Prix - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-655: The Chevrolet Camaro , all were commercially successful and included family sedans, practical station wagons, and sporty coupes and convertibles. As the popularity of small, fuel efficient imported vehicles began to find buyers in the US during the 1970s and 1980s, the Chevrolet Vega was introduced while the Chevrolet Chevette was the result of international collaboration. By the mid-1980s, the Vega
4059-882: The Chevrolet Cavalier , followed up by the Chevrolet Celebrity . Chevrolet during the 1990s formed a partnership with Toyota and introduced the Geo Prizm while also offering the domestically produced Chevrolet Corsica . As mid-sized family sedans began to gain popularity, the Chevrolet Lumina found many buyers and as minivans began to find buyers, the Chevrolet Venture followed the popular selling Chevrolet Trailblazer and Chevrolet Traverse SUV's. The basic Chevrolet small-block V8 design has remained in continuous production since its debut in 1955, longer than any other mass-produced engine in
4182-585: The Chevrolet Cruze , Chevrolet Spark , Chevrolet Optra , Chevrolet Aveo , Chevrolet Tavera , Chevrolet Captiva , Chevrolet SRV , Chevrolet Beat , Chevrolet Sail and Chevrolet Aveo U-VA . The Chevrolet Forester , a rebadged Subaru , was imported directly from Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan until 2005. The Cruze and Tavera were built at the Halol plant. Chevrolet also was the sole engine supplier for
4305-702: The Chevrolet Tahoe . In 2018, the Corvette was added to the roster, making it the most expensive vehicle in the lineup. It is legally imported, as the government has seized and destroyed expensive vehicles that were bought into the country illegally. In 2019, the Camaro returned to the Philippines with a 2.0-liter turbo engine at 275 hp and 398Nm to compete with the Ford Mustang ever since it
4428-1059: The Chevy C2 , which is a reworked older-generation Corsa B. Vehicles based on US platforms are the Avalanche, the Suburban, the Equinox, the Tahoe, the Cheyenne (which is similar to the Silverado), the Aveo, the HHR, the Traverse, the Malibu, the Camaro and the Corvette. The Chevrolet Optra , assembled in South Korea by GM Korea, was also sold in Mexico. The second-generation Epica was sold as
4551-539: The Chrysler Corporation formed Plymouth in 1928, Plymouth, Ford, and Chevrolet were known as the "Low-priced three". In 1929 they introduced the famous "Stovebolt" overhead-valve inline six-cylinder engine, giving Chevrolet a marketing edge over Ford, which was still offering a lone flathead four ("A Six at the price of a Four"). In 1933 Chevrolet launched the Standard Six , which was advertised in
4674-585: The Corvette , a two-seater sports car with a fiberglass body. In 1957 Chevy introduced its first fuel injected engine, the Rochester Ramjet option on Corvette and Chevrolet Bel Air passenger cars, priced at $ 484 ($ 5,251 today). In 1960 Chevrolet joined the newly popular "compact car" market by introducing the Corvair , with a rear-mounted air-cooled engine. In 1963 one out of every ten cars sold in
4797-577: The Formula Rolon single-seater series in India. In 2017, GM ceased the production and sale of Chevrolet cars in India, but it continues to run service centers. In 1999, Opel was rebranded to Chevrolet as a coincidence of Chevy's entry to Indonesia. Chevrolet stopped selling cars and ceased production in Indonesia by the end of March 2020. From 1995 to 2000 Toyota in an agreement with GM sold
4920-996: The GM LS1 engine , commonly known by the name or a variant thereof of its progenitor, the Chevrolet small-block engine . On November 8, 1911, the Chevrolet Motor Car Company was incorporated. It was founded by Swiss race car driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet with his brother Arthur Chevrolet , William C. Durant and investment partners William Little (maker of the Little automobile ), former Buick owner James H. Whiting , Edwin R. Campbell (son-in-law of Durant) and in 1912 R. S. McLaughlin CEO of General Motors in Canada . Former Buick officers were also employed, including Curtis R. Hatheway as secretary. Durant
5043-415: The Sonic , Captiva , Camaro , and Corvette in limited numbers through an agreement with Yanase Co., Ltd. dealerships. In the 2000s, General Motors Asia Pacific (Japan) had distributed and marketed the TrailBlazer also. As of 2010 , Mitsui Bussan Automotive distributes and markets the Chevrolet Tahoe , Chevrolet Express , Chevrolet HHR , Silverado , and Traverse . Previously, it had also marketed
Northeast Grand Prix - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-426: The Targa Florio and as they grew bigger (via the Porsche 910 to the Porsche 908 and finally the Porsche 917 ) the Stuttgart marque became first a competitor for overall wins and then came to dominate sports car racing – both they and Mercedes have made intermittent returns to the top level of the sport through the 1970s, 80s, 90s and 2010s. Sports car racing has intermittently been popular in Japan – in
5289-439: The Triple Crown of endurance car racing . And also the additional of Bathurst 12 Hour , Spa 24 Hours , Nürburgring 24 Hours and Suzuka 1000km are considered the Crown Jewel of Endurance race. According to historian Richard Hough , "It is obviously impossible to distinguish between the designers of sports cars and Grand Prix machines during the pre-1914 period. The late Georges Faroux contended that sports-car racing
5412-409: The United Kingdom , were to be moved upmarket. However, GM reversed this move in late 2013, announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe from 2016 onward, with the exception of the Camaro and Corvette . Chevrolet vehicles were to continue to be marketed in the CIS states, including Russia . After General Motors fully acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create GM Korea , the last usage of
5535-400: The World Sportscar Championship was conceived, there have been various regulations regarding bodywork, engine style and size, tyres and aerodynamics to which these cars must be built. Sports prototypes may be (and often are) one-of-a-kind machines, and need bear no relation to any road-going vehicle, although during the 1990s, some manufacturers exploited a loophole in the FIA and ACO rules. As
5658-458: The plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt , sold as the Opel/Vauxhall Ampera in Europe , which received multiple awards including the 2012 North American Car of the Year, European Car of the Year , and World Green Car of the Year. The Volt/Ampera family was the world's best selling plug-in electric car in 2012 with 31,400 units sold. The Opel / Vauxhall Ampera was Europe's top selling plug-in electric car in 2012 with 5,268 units, representing
5781-429: The 1920s. In the mid-2000s, Suzuki imported and marketed the Chevrolet TrailBlazer and the Chevrolet Optra wagon in Japan. Suzuki, a GM partner, also assembled and marketed the Chevrolet MW microvan. The MW was originally a rebadged Suzuki Wagon R+ and later a rebadged Suzuki Solio. Suzuki had also marketed the Chevrolet Cruze subcompact in the past. In the 2010s, General Motors Japan Limited distributed and marketed
5904-403: The 1950s, sports car racing was regarded as almost as important as Grand Prix competition, with major marques like Ferrari , Maserati , Jaguar and Aston Martin investing much effort in their works programmes and supplying cars to customers; sports racers lost their close relationship to road-going sports cars in the 1950s and the major races were contested by dedicated competition cars such as
6027-460: The 1960s and 1970s. In Britain 2-litre sports cars were initially popular (the Bristol engine being readily available and cheap), subsequently 1100 cc sports racers became a very popular category for young drivers (effectively supplanting 500 cc F3), with Lola , Lotus , Cooper and others being very competitive, although at the other end of the scale in the early to mid-1960s the national sports racing scene also attracted sophisticated GTs and later
6150-424: The 1960s progressed, with worldwide battles between Ferrari, Ford, Porsche, Lotus, Alfa Romeo and Matra as well as other more specialist marques running on into the early 1970s. The competition at Le Mans even made it to the movie screens, with Steve McQueen 's film Le Mans . This era was seen by many as the highpoint of sports car racing, with the technology and performance of the cars comfortably in excess of what
6273-403: The 1960s small-capacity sports racers and even a local version of the Group 7 cars as raced in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup were popular; a healthy local sports prototype championship ran until the early 1990s and now the Super GT series provides high-budget exposure to manufacturers, with many international drivers appearing. The Japanese manufacturers have also been frequent visitors to
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#17327830787286396-402: The 1980s and 1990s, with silhouette cars continuing to race in IMSA races in the USA. When GT racing revived after the collapse of the World Sports Car Championship at the end of 1992, the lead in defining rules was taken by the ACO. Under the ACO rules, Grand Touring cars are divided into two categories, Grand Touring 1 (GT1, formerly GT) and Grand Touring 2 (GT2, formerly N-GT). As the name of
6519-417: The 1st generation Chevrolet Camaro by the Yutivo family-owned General Motors plant. Other than Chevrolets, the plant also assembled Opels , Pontiacs , Holdens , Buicks , and Vauxhalls for the Filipino market. GM withdrew from the Philippines in 1985 and returned in 2000. During Chevrolet's absence in the market, many cars like the Chevrolet Suburban and the Chevrolet Astro have been imported new in
6642-523: The 24 Hours of Daytona. The original Trans-Am Series dissolved in 2006, but returned to action in 2009 with tube frame TA1 and TA2 divisions racing with production-based TA3-American and TA3-International divisions. In addition, the SCCA continues to provide a major support series for Trans-Am. This series, known as the SCCA World Challenge , consists of a one-hour race for each round, combining three classes: GT ( Chevrolet Corvette , Aston Martin DB9 , etc.), "GTS" ( Acura TSX , BMW 3 Series , etc.; replaced
6765-514: The ACO & FIA to come together to create the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) starting in 2012. This new series replaced the ILMC and was a spiritual successor to the former FIA World Sportscar Championship. In 2012, the Rolex Sports Car Series overhauled its Daytona Prototype class, allowing for production-based designs. The ALMS's new LMP/LMC format, however, has not held up. The prototype classes split again in 2011, with LMP1 having three cars and LMP2 having one. A new "GT Pro Am" class
6888-437: The ACO split GT2 into two categories, GTE-Pro (for all-professional teams with current-spec cars) and GTE-Am (for teams with one amateur and one professional per car using previous-spec cars), as a way to entice rookies to enter one of the three Le Mans Series. Chevrolet Chevrolet ( / ˌ ʃ ɛ v r ə ˈ l eɪ / SHEV -rə- LAY ), colloquially referred to as Chevy , is an American automobile division of
7011-424: The ACO's rules the basis for the LMS and ALMS. The Le Mans Prototype is somewhat reminiscent of the old Can Am prototype. Further splits in the American scene saw the Grand American Road Racing Association form a separate series, the Rolex Sports Car Series , with its own GT and prototype rules aimed at providing cheaper, lower-cost racing for independent teams. Grand Am's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge ,
7134-476: The American market passed the 100,000 milestone in July 2016. In October 2016, GM began production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV , the first ever affordable mass market all-electric car with a range over 200 mi (320 km). The Chevrolet Bolt won several awards including the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year award, the 2017 AutoGuide.com Reader's Choice Green Car of the Year, Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2017, Green Car Journal 's 2017 Green Car of
7257-416: The Atlanta Constitution on November 12, 1911. Others claim that the design was a stylized Swiss cross , in tribute to Chevrolet's home country. Over time, Chevrolet used several different iterations of the bowtie logo at the same time, often using blue for passenger cars, gold for trucks, and an outline (often in red) for cars that had performance packages. Chevrolet eventually unified all vehicle models with
7380-418: The Camaro and right-hand-drive Corvette in Japan. Kazakhstan-based Allure Group of Companies and Uzbekistan-based UzAuto Motors opened an assembly plant for the manufacture of Chevrolet-branded cars in March 2020, in the city of Kostanay . As of 2024, the vehicles are assembled from semi-knocked-down or complete-knocked-down kits. Assembly of the Chevrolet Onix from complete knock-down kits commenced at
7503-435: The Chevrolet Export Boxing plant at Bloomfield, New Jersey was repurposed from a previous owner where Knock-down kits for Chevrolet, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac passenger cars, and both Chevrolet and G. M. C. truck parts are crated and shipped by railroad to the docks at Weehawken, New Jersey for overseas GM assembly factories. Chevrolet continued into the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s competing with Ford, and after
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#17327830787287626-458: The Continental Challenge's Grand Sport class, promoting its other touring car class to "GTS". This came after several years of the old TC class being an Acura-BMW- Mazda affair. For 2012, the series adopted a "B-spec" touring car class comparable to that of the Continental Challenge's Street Tuner class. 2010 also saw the introduction of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) by the ACO, featuring events in America, Asia and Europe. This in turn led
7749-452: The Daewoo automotive brand was discontinued in its native South Korea and succeeded by Chevrolet. In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the prominence and name recognition of Chevrolet as one of General Motors' global marques, 'Chevrolet', 'Chevy' or 'Chev' is used at times as a synonym for General Motors or its products, one example being
7872-416: The Daytona oval and prohibitively expensive for smaller teams to run. Compared to the LMPs, DPs are severely limited in terms of approved technology; for instance, they are required to be constructed of steel tube frames with carbon-fibre skins, rather than being carbon-fibre monocoques, and must use production-based engines. In addition, contrary to their European counterparts who continuously alter and develop
7995-508: The French car industry switched from making large powerful cars to small utilitarian ones, French sports cars of the 1950s and early 1960s tended to be small-capacity and highly aerodynamic (often based on Panhard or Renault components), aimed at winning the "Index of Performance" at Le Mans and Reims and triumphing in handicap races. Between the late 1960s and late 1970s, Matra and Renault made significant and successful efforts to win at Le Mans. In Germany, domestic production based racing
8118-501: The GM presidency. After Durant's second ousting in 1919, Alfred Sloan , with his maxim "a car for every purse and purpose", picked the Chevrolet brand to become the volume leader in the General Motors family, selling mainstream vehicles to compete with Henry Ford 's Model T in 1919 and overtaking Ford as the best-selling car in the United States by 1929 with the Chevrolet International . Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide. In Oceania , Chevrolet
8241-484: The Impala was added to the lineup as Chevrolet began importing the American-built sedan to South Korea for the first time. In 2018, Gunsan plant was shut down on May 31 and VIDAMCO plant in Hanoi , Vietnam was sold by Vinfast in June. Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Orlando was discontinued on May 31. Also Chevrolet Captiva discontinued in July 2018. Their best-selling vehicle is Chevrolet Spark and Chevrolet Malibu . The American-built Chevrolet Colorado pickup
8364-440: The IndyCar Series' split from CART in 1996 put more emphasis on ovals regarding domestic open-wheel racing. Also contributing to the decline was the retirement of Mario Andretti from Formula One. It would be over a decade before another American driver would join Formula One, viz. Scott Speed , although Speed was ultimately unsuccessful and eventually joined NASCAR himself. The debut of the SpeedVision television network brought
8487-453: The Jaguar C and D types, the Mercedes 300SLR, Maserati 300S, Aston Martin DBR1 and assorted Ferraris including the first Testa Rossas. Top Grand Prix drivers also competed regularly in sports car racing. After major accidents at the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 1957 Mille Miglia the power of sports cars was curbed with a 3-litre engine capacity limit applied to them in the World Championship from 1958. From 1962 sports cars temporarily took
8610-435: The Middle East, Chevrolet-badged cars, trucks, SUVs, and crossovers are sourced from GM Korea (in South Korea) and GM in North America. Formerly, some models were sourced from GM Holden in Australia. The Middle Eastern market has a separate division called Chevrolet Special Vehicles , which (as of December 2007) sourced the high-performance 400 bhp (300 kW) CR8 sedan from Holden Special Vehicles . The Holden Commodore
8733-449: The Middle East. In Pakistan, Chevrolet introduced its cars in collaboration with a local automobile manufacturer called Nexus Automotive . The lineup from Chevrolet Pakistan included the Chevrolet Optra , Chevrolet Spark , Chevrolet Joy , Chevrolet Aveo , Chevrolet Cruze , and Chevrolet Colorado . Chevrolet has been in the Philippines for a long time, assembling the Chevrolet Bel-Air , Chevrolet Impala , Chevrolet Malibu and even
8856-527: The NASCAR-owned Grand Am series. The ALMS has now introduced "GTE-PRO" and "GTE-AM" for endurance races. In 2014, American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series were merged into United SportsCar Championship , with IMSA as its sanctioning body. Fox Sports 1 (successor of Speed Channel) was returned as main broadcaster of the unified series. Daytona Prototype was replaced in 2017 by Daytona Prototype International (DPi), which based on
8979-638: The SCCA's World Challenge, and failing to garner a television contract. A major factor in this is the fact that Trans Am's teams still use vehicles dating back to 1999. In most other series, teams tended to update their vehicles every few years or so (examples include the 2005 vs. 2010 Mustangs in the Continental Challenge and the two different generations of Mazda RX-8 in the Rolex Series). Other television changes include Speed Channel losing
9102-662: The Starcraft versions of the G-Van and Chevrolet TrailBlazer . Mitsui Bussan Automotive had been importing and distributing certain GM models since 1992, but will cease their GM import business in November 2011, as GM Japan wants to consolidate the distribution channels. The Chevrolet models that have been imported by Mitsui will no longer be sold once existing inventories are depleted. As of 2022, General Motors Japan imports and distributes
9225-591: The US sports car scene ( Nissan and Toyota in particular during the heyday of IMSA) and to the European scene, in particular Le Mans, where despite many years of trying by all the main Japanese marques the only victory to have been scored by a Japanese marque was by Mazda in 1991, until 2018 when Toyota scored a first and second-place finish. Toyota followed this with another 1-2 finish in 2019. Powerful prototypes (effectively pure-bred two-seater racing cars with no real link to production vehicles) started to appear as
9348-426: The US, imported Italian, German and British cars battled local hybrids, with initially very distinct East and West Coast scenes; these gradually converged and a number of classic races and important teams emerged including Camoradi , Briggs Cunningham and so on. The US scene tended to feature small MG and Porsche cars in the smaller classes, and imported Jaguar, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Allard and Ferrari cars in
9471-722: The United States as the cheapest six-cylinder car on sale. During the Great Depression the Chevrolet Master introduced a streamlined appearance, showing Art Deco influences and before and after the World War II era, the Chevrolet Deluxe and Chevrolet Fleetline found many buyers. Chevrolet had a great influence on the American automobile market during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1953 it produced
9594-476: The United States was a Chevrolet. During the 1960s and early 1970s, the standard Chevrolet, particularly the deluxe Chevrolet Impala series, became one of the United States' best-selling lines of automobiles in history. During that era, the mid-sized Chevrolet Chevelle which was used to introduce the Chevrolet Monte Carlo , and the economically priced Chevrolet Nova , which was the basis for
9717-749: The Year , and was listed in Time magazine's Best 25 Inventions of the Year of 2016. On February 14, 2021, Chevrolet unveiled the 2022 Bolt EUV and redesigned Bolt EV . As of 2010 Chevrolet had operations in over 140 countries, and global sales in 2011 set a record with 4.76 million vehicles sold worldwide. Mexico has a mix of Chevrolet models from different GM brands and platforms branded as Chevrolet. The models come from Chevrolet USA, GM Korea, Mexico and other origins. Examples of Opel-sourced vehicles are Vectra, Astra, Corsa, Meriva, Zafira and Captiva (Opel Antara). Mexico also has some cars of its own, such as
9840-405: The cars were technically similar to Group Cs but used a sliding scale of weights and engine capacities to try to limit performance. Both Group C and GTP had secondary categories, respectively Group C2 and Camel Lights, for less powerful cars, targeting entries by small specialist constructors or serious amateur teams. The FIA attempted to make Group C into a virtual "two seater Grand Prix" format in
9963-505: The class implies, the exterior of the car closely resembles that of the production version, while the internal fittings may differ greatly. GT2 cars are very similar to the FIA GT2 classification, and are considered 'pure' GT cars; that is production exotic cars with relatively few internal modifications for racing. The Porsche 911 is currently the most popular car in the GT2 class. 2009 will be
10086-588: The country via grey-market and sold to retailers. Chevrolet's current Philippine operations are under the control of The Covenant Car Company Inc. The company was officially incorporated on July 1, 2009 and assumed business operations on October 1, 2009. There are at least 24 dealerships around the country as of 2020. Its current lineup include the Chevrolet Spark , Chevrolet Sail , Chevrolet Cruze , Chevrolet Malibu , Chevrolet Colorado , Chevrolet Trax , Chevrolet Trailblazer , Chevrolet Suburban , and
10209-537: The demise of Group C (where Japan and Germany both had successful series of their own) Japan has largely gone its own way in sports car racing; the Super GT series is for very highly modified production-based cars; although prototypes are slowly returning to Japanese racing in the Japan Le Mans Challenge many of these 'prototypes' are little more than rebodied Formula 3 cars (although there has been
10332-555: The early 1990s, with engine rules in common with F1, short race distances, and a schedule dovetailing with that of the F1 rounds. This drove up costs and drove away entrants and crowds, and by 1993 prototype racing was dead in Europe, with the Peugeot , Jaguar, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz teams all having withdrawn. In an attempt to provide a top-class endurance racing series to replace the WSPC,
10455-474: The factory. The engine design has also been used over the years in GM products built and sold under the Pontiac , Oldsmobile , Buick , Hummer , Opel ( Germany ), and Holden ( Australia ) nameplates. In 2000, Chevrolet brought back the iconic Impala , although unlike its predecessors, this car was a mid-sized front-wheel drive four door sedan. It was produced until 2020, and the last generation (2014-2020)
10578-617: The first twenty months, with increased production expected. The Chevrolet Cobalt compact sedan will be the first Chevrolet-branded vehicle to be assembled at the plant, with plans to expand to many other models in the coming years. Chevrolet entered the Malaysian market in 2003, replacing Opel . Between 2003 and 2009, a joint-venture between GM and DRB-HICOM called Hicomobil, marketed the Chevrolet Aveo , Chevrolet Optra , Chevrolet Nabira and Chevrolet Lumina . The joint venture
10701-399: The former touring car class), and Touring Car (a "showroom stock" class similar to Grand Am's Continental Challenge). The Trans Am series returned in 2009, but has yet to establish a television contract. The 2010s have seen a major overhaul of sports car racing in the United States. The Pirelli World Challenge reformatted in 2010 to have a showroom stock touring car group comparable to that of
10824-438: The four ACO homologated LMP2 chassis made by Dallara , Onroak (Ligier) , Oreca , and Riley - Multimatic , with brand bodywork and homologated engines. Manufacturers are asked to partner with a privateer team, and each car will sport manufacturer bodywork, corresponding to their brand-identity. These rules are made to both control costs and attract manufacturers to the series. In 2018, SRO Motorsports Group has taken over
10947-514: The genre, the category came to be known as Gran Turismo (particularly in the 1950s), as long distances had to be travelled, rather than running around on short circuits only. Reliability and some basic comfort were necessary in order to endure the task. After the Second World War , sports car racing emerged as a distinct form of racing with its own classic races, and, from 1953, its own FIA sanctioned World Sportscar Championship . In
11070-438: The gold bowtie in 2004, for both brand cohesion as well as to differentiate itself from Ford (with its blue oval logo) and Dodge (who has often used red for its imaging), its two primary domestic rivals. Louis Chevrolet had differences with Durant over design and in 1914 sold Durant his share in the company. By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough with successful sales of the cheaper Series 490 to allow Durant to repurchase
11193-530: The larger classes. A breed of powerful hybrids appeared in the 50s and 60s and raced on both sides of the Atlantic, featuring European chassis and large American engines – from the early Allard cars via hybrids such as Lotus 19s fitted with large engines through to the AC Cobra . The combination of mostly British chassis and American V8 engines gave rise to the popular and spectacular Can-Am series in
11316-450: The last run of the GT1 class as a result of budgeting issues. GT1 teams are currently enlisting to run their cars in the GT2 class next year. The American Le Mans Series also runs a "GT-Challenge" class, which currently only uses Porsche 911 GT3 Cups but will open to other cars next year. This category is designed for privateer and rookie teams as an easier way to enter the series. For 2011,
11439-482: The management of Pirelli World Challenge , with USAC as its sanctioning body since 2017. Beginning in 2019, NBC Sports will be replacing Fox Sports as main broadcaster of WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with six-year broadcasting rights. There are many kinds of sports cars that compete, but they can be broadly broken down into two main categories: Sports prototypes and Grand Touring (GT) cars. These two categories (or "classes") are often mixed together in
11562-485: The manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941), Arthur Chevrolet (1884–1946) and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant (1861–1947) started the company on November 3, 1911 as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2, 1918, and propelled himself back to
11685-798: The most active prototype category with serious involvement from Porsche and Acura and whereas P2 in Europe tends to involve races of attrition, in the US series the P2s, particularly the Porsche RS Spyder are often quicker round a lap than P1s, with the Porsche having scored many overall victories against the Audis in P1. Prototype rules for 2010 and beyond will encourage production-based engines (GT1 engines in LMP1, GT2 engines in LMP2) and rules to equalise
11808-675: The office was relocated to the General Motors Building at Cadillac Place in Detroit. In January 1921 a General Motors management survey recommended that the Chevrolet Division be cancelled, but Alfred P. Sloan Jr . recommended that the division be saved and William S. Knudsen , a former Ford employee who oversaw production of the Model T, was made Vice President of Operations and performance improved In May 1925
11931-504: The performance of petrol and diesel LMP1s are also being addressed. Daytona Prototypes are a product of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series , and offer a different interpretation of the prototype theme. DPs, as they are often called, are closed-cockpit, purpose-built racing machines which are less expensive and (deliberately) somewhat slower than Le Mans Prototypes, which were becoming dangerously quick on
12054-649: The plant in March 2024. A separate dealer in Almaty , authorized by GM, imports and sells the Tahoe and Traverse. Uzbekistan-based UzAuto Motors and Kyrgyz supplier DT Technikis are opening an assembly plant near Bishkek in the summer of 2024. Components will initially be imported from Uzbekistan, with plans to build components independently in the coming years. The plant will assemble Chevrolet and Isuzu vehicles. The Chevrolet brand has been licensed from GM. The plant will assemble 10,000 cars from semi-knocked-down kits within
12177-466: The premier form of "sports car" racing from 1976, with prototypes going into a general decline apart from Porsche 936 domination at Le Mans and a lower-key series of races for smaller two-litre Group 6 prototypes. A peculiarly American form of sports car racing was the Can-Am series, in which virtually unlimited sports prototypes competed in relatively short races. This series ran from 1966 to 1974 and
12300-737: The proprietorship of their Company article September 23, 1933 Financial Post page 9. In the 1918 model year, Chevrolet introduced the Series D , a V8 -powered model in four-passenger roadster and five-passenger tourer models. Sales were poor and it was dropped in 1919. Beginning also in 1919, GMC commercial grade trucks were rebranded as Chevrolet, and using the same chassis of Chevrolet passenger cars and building light-duty trucks, sharing an almost identical appearance with GMC products. Until 1921, Chevrolet Corporate headquarters were located at 57th and Broadway in New York City until April when
12423-437: The regulations they are built to, as quick as or quicker than their single-seat counterparts. Although not widely known, sports-prototypes (along with Formula 1 cars) are responsible for introducing the most numbers of new technologies and ideas to motorsport, including rear-wings, ground effect 'venturi' tunnels, fan-assisted aerodynamics and dual-shift gearboxes. Some of these technologies eventually filter down to road cars. In
12546-471: The rights to almost every series. The World Challenge was transferred to Versus, while the ALMS was transferred to an ESPN/ABC partnership. ALMS races are shown live online with a telecast the following day (although Speed still has the rights to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is still televised live). For 2012, some races will be televised live. Speed, having a partnership with NASCAR, still has exclusive rights to
12669-581: The second seat. During the later 1930s, French constructors, unable to keep up with the progress of the Mercedes-Benz and Auto-Union cars in GP racing, withdrew into primarily domestic competition with large-capacity sports cars – marques such as Delahaye , Talbot and the later Bugattis were locally prominent. Similarly, through the 1920s and 1930s the road-going sports/GT car started to emerge as distinct from fast tourers (Le Mans had originally been
12792-580: The staggering total of 628 (sic) models of passenger cars being produced in China by February 2019. Until 2003, GM India—originally a joint venture with Hindustan Motors , sold the Opel Corsa , Opel Astra and the Opel Vectra . Launched by GM's India operations, Chevrolet officially began business in India on June 6, 2003. The Corsa and Astra were built at a plant in Halol , Gujarat. Chevrolet sold
12915-412: The technical advancements Chevrolet benefited from was the implementation of an overhead valve engine from the very beginning, as the company was developed by the former owner of Buick , which had patented the overhead valve and cross-flow cylinder design as being more efficient than the conventional use of the flathead engine . Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six ,
13038-592: The third-generation model Chevrolet Cavalier as the Toyota Cavalier in Japan in exchange for the Geo/Chevrolet Prism in an effort to avoid additional restrictions on their exports to the US. The OHV Chevrolet Stovebolt engine was used and reverse-engineered by Toyota when they created the Toyota Type A engine when GM had a factory manufacturing GM cars in Japan at Osaka Assembly during
13161-453: The world stage. Road races such as the Mille Miglia included everything from stock touring cars to World Championship contenders. The Mille Miglia was the largest sporting event in Italy until a fatal accident caused its demise in 1957. The Targa Florio , another tough road race, remained part of the world championship until the 1970s and remained as a local race for many years afterwards. As
13284-511: The world, although current versions share few if any parts interchangeable with the original. Descendants of the basic small-block OHV V8 design platform in production today have been much modified with advances such as aluminium block and heads, electronic engine management, and sequential port fuel injection. Depending on the vehicle type, Chevrolet V8s are built in displacements from 4.3 to 9.4 litres with outputs ranging from 111 horsepower (83 kW) to 994 horsepower (741 kW) as installed at
13407-556: Was added. Initially, this format was only to be used in endurance races, but was eventually applied to all races. For 2012, only a handful of LMPs are being entered, with almost all of them being powered by Japanese manufacturers ( Nissan , Honda , etc.). The British manufacturer Morgan has entered a Judd -powered LMP. Aston Martin Racing , who for several years had entered an LMP, has returned to GT for 2012. The reformatted Trans-Am Series remained stagnant, being heavily overshadowed by
13530-609: Was an expansion of the USRRC that conformed to FIA Group 7 rules. The original Can-Am fell victim to rising costs and the energy crisis . The ACO, organisers of the Le Mans 24 Hours, attempted to come up with a formula that would encourage more prototypes back to the race but would also be relatively economical – their Grand Touring Prototype rules in the late 1970s, based on fuel consumption rules, gave rise to two different varieties of sports car racing that were widely held to be
13653-823: Was badged as the Chevrolet Lumina in the Middle East, as well as South Africa. The longer wheelbase Holden Caprice was sold as the Chevrolet Caprice in the Middle East. The Middle East fleet (particularly Saudi Arabia) includes the likes of the Groove, Captiva, Blazer, Tahoe, and Traverse in the SUV/crossover category, and the Silverado in the truck category. Previously, the Cruze, Malibu, Sonic, and Avalanche, among other models, were offered in
13776-524: Was dismissed from his senior management position at General Motors in 1910, a company that he had founded in 1908. In 1904 he had taken over the Flint Wagon Works and Buick Motor Company of Flint, Michigan. He also incorporated the Mason and Little companies. As head of Buick , Durant had hired Louis Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races. Durant planned to use Chevrolet's reputation as
13899-415: Was drawn up by Etienne Planche, following instructions from Louis. The first C prototype was ready months before Chevrolet was actually incorporated. However, the first actual production was not until the 1913 model. So in essence there were no 1911 or 1912 production models, only one pre-production model was made and fine tuned throughout the early part of 1912. Then in the fall of that year the new 1913 model
14022-507: Was ended and Naza was taking over Chevrolet's dealership as Naza Quest Sdn Bhd in 2010. The lineup of Chevrolet cars available were Chevrolet Sonic , Chevrolet Cruze , Chevrolet Malibu , Chevrolet Captiva , Chevrolet Orlando and Chevrolet Colorado . In 2018, Naza Quest Sdn Bhd ceased to distribute new Chevrolet vehicles in Malaysia, but continues to provide warranty support and aftersales service for existing Chevrolet customers. In
14145-587: Was gone and the Chevette was about to be discontinued. Lacking a line of competitive small cars, Chevrolet imported several Japanese models and re-badged them as Chevrolets. The Suzuki-sourced Chevrolet Sprint and the Isuzu-supplied Chevrolet Spectrum were a better match to compete against the popular Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic . The Chevrolet Citation was the division's first compact sized front-wheel-drive car along with
14268-540: Was introduced at the New York auto show . Chevrolet first used the "bowtie emblem" logo in 1914 on the H series models (Royal Mail and Baby Grand) and The L Series Model (Light Six). It may have been designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel room. More recent research by historian Ken Kaufmann presents a case that the logo is based on a logo of the "Coalettes" coal company. An example of this logo as it appeared in an advertisement for Coalettes appeared in
14391-551: Was introduced in 2010. Many global-market Chevrolet vehicles are designed and manufactured by GM Korea of South Korea, but they had been sold under the Daewoo Motors brand in South Korea until February 2011. The Daewoo brand was fully replaced by Chevrolet in March 2011. All Daewoo products relaunched under the Chevrolet brand, with the release of the Chevrolet Camaro , Chevrolet Orlando and Chevrolet Aveo . In 2015,
14514-526: Was largely dominated by BMW , Porsche and Mercedes-Benz , although sports car/GT racing gradually became eclipsed by touring cars and the initially sports car based Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft gradually evolved into the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft . Porsche started to evolve a line of sports prototypes from the late 1950s; noted for their toughness and reliability they started to win in races of attrition such as
14637-591: Was larger and classified as a full-size passenger car. In 2005, General Motors re-launched the Chevrolet marque in Europe , using rebadged versions of the Daewoo cars produced by GM Korea . The Chevrolet division largely recovered from the economic downturn of 2007–2010 through launching new vehicles and improving existing lines. GM began developing more fuel efficient cars and trucks to compete with foreign automakers . In late 2010 General Motors began production of
14760-467: Was not born until the first 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1923 , and while as a joint-creator of that race he may have been prejudiced in his opinion, it is certainly true that sports-car racing as it was known after 1919 did not exist before the First World War." In the 1920s, the cars used in endurance racing and Grand Prix were still basically identical, with fenders and two seats, to carry
14883-429: Was relaunched in Europe , primarily selling vehicles built by GM Daewoo of South Korea with the tagline "Daewoo has grown up enough to become Chevrolet", a move rooted in General Motors' attempt to build a global brand around Chevrolet. With the reintroduction of Chevrolet to Europe, GM intended Chevrolet to be a mainstream value brand, while GM's traditional European standard-bearers, Opel of Germany and Vauxhall of
15006-533: Was represented by Holden Special Vehicles , having returned to the region in 2018 after a 50-year absence with the launching of the Camaro and Silverado pickup truck (HSV was partially and formerly owned by GM subsidiary Holden , which GM retired in 2021). In 2021, General Motors Specialty Vehicles took over the distribution and sales of Chevrolet vehicles in Oceania, starting with the Silverado. In 2005, Chevrolet
15129-657: Was seen in Formula 1. Homologation saw many out-and-out racing cars produced in sufficient quantities to see them classed as production vehicles; the FIA responded by placing more restrictions on even the allegedly production-based cars and placed draconian limits on the power available to prototypes – these prototypes of the late 1960s/early 1970s were comfortably quicker than contemporary Grand Prix machinery and for 1972 they were constrained to run much smaller engines to F1 rules, often de-tuned for endurance. Group 4 Grand Touring Cars and Group 5 Special Production Cars became
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