Chevrolet
Chevrolet, colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors. Louis Chevrolet and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant 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 the GM presidency. After Durant's second ousting in 1919, Alfred Sloan, with his maxim "a car for every purse and purpose", would pick 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. Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide. In Oceania, Chevrolet is represented by GM subsidiary, having returned to the region in 2018 after a 50-year absence with the launching of the Camaro and Silverado pickup truck.
In 2005, Chevrolet was relaunched in Europe 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, Vauxhall of United Kingdom would be moved upmarket. However, GM reversed this move in late 2013, announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe, with the exception of the Camaro and Corvette in 2016. Chevrolet vehicles will continue to be marketed including Russia. After General Motors acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create GM Korea, the last usage of 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, Chevy or Chev is used at times as a synonym for General Motors or its products, one example being the GM LS1 engine known by the name or a variant thereof of its progenitor, the Chevrolet small-block engine. On November 3, 1911, Swiss race car driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company in Detroit with William C. Durant and investment partners William Little, former Buick owner James H. Whiting, Dr. Edwin R. Campbell and in 1912 R. S. McLaughlin CEO of General Motors in Canada. Durant was cast out from the management of General Motors in 1910, a company which he had founded in 1908. In 1904 he had taken over the Flint Wagon Works and Buick Motor Company of Michigan, he 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 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 43.00863°N 83.70991°W / 43.00863. Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six, was drawn up by Etienne Planche, following instructions from Louis; the first C prototype was ready months before Chevrolet was incorporated. However the first actual production wasn't until the 1913 model. So in essence there were no 1911 or 1912 production models, only the 1 pre-production model was made and fine tuned throughout the early part of 1912. In the fall of that year the new 1913 model was introduced at the New York auto show. Chevrolet first used the "bowtie emblem" logo in 1914 on The L Series Model, it may have been designed from wallpaper. 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 the Atlanta Constitution on November 12, 1911.
Others claim that the design was a stylized Swiss cross, in tribute to the homeland of Chevrolet's parents. Over time, Chevrolet would use several different iterations of the bowtie logo at the same time using blue for passenger cars, gold for trucks, an outline for cars that had performance packages. Chevrolet unified all vehicle models with the gold bowtie in 2004, for both brand cohesion as well as to differentiate itself from Ford and Dodge, 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 a controlling interest in General Motors. After the deal was completed in 1917, Durant became president of General Motors, Chevrolet was merged into GM as a separate division. In 1919, Chevrolet's factories were located at Michigan. Y. Norwood, Ohio, St. Louis, Oakland, California, Ft. Worth and Oshawa, Ontario General Motors of Canada Limited.
McLaughlin's were given GM Corporation stock for the proprietorship of their Company article September 23, 1933 Financial Post page
Kit car
A kit car is an automobile, available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer assembles into a functioning car. Many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor vehicles or purchased new from other vendors. Kits vary in completeness, consisting of as little as a book of plans, or as much as a complete set with all components to assemble into a operational vehicle such as those from Caterham. There is a sub-set of the kit car referred to as a "re-body", in which a commercially manufactured vehicle has a new body put on the running chassis. Most times, the existing drive gear and interior are retained; these kits require less technical knowledge from the builder, because the chassis and mechanical systems were designed and tested by a major automotive manufacturer, a re-body can lead to a much higher degree of safety and reliability. The definition of a kit car indicates that a manufacturer constructs multiple kits of the same vehicle, each of which it sells to a third party to build.
A kit car should not be confused with a hand built car or special car, modified or built from scratch by an individual for a specific purpose. Note, that rally specials have since World War 2 referred to manufacturers' specially series-produced cars. A component car, a self-assembly car in which 100% of the parts required to build the car are purchased from a single company. Component Cars are distinguished from kit cars as all parts are quality controlled and designed to fit together perfectly, they can be built in less time than a "kit car". See Knock-down kit, a term applied to a similar but larger commercial exercise. Kit cars have been around from the earliest days of the automobile. In 1896 the Englishman Thomas Hyler-White developed a design for a car that could be assembled at home and technical designs were published in a magazine called The English Mechanic. In the USA, the Lad's Car of 1912 could be bought for $160 assembled or $140 in kit form, it was not until the 1950s that the idea took off.
Car production had increased and with rust proofing in its infancy many older vehicles were being sent to breaker yards as their bodywork was beyond economic repair. An industry grew up supplying new bodies and chassis to take the components from these cars and convert them into new vehicles into sports cars. Fiber reinforced plastic was coming into general use and made limited-scale production of automobile body components much more economical. In the UK up to the mid-1970s, kit cars were sometimes normal production vehicles that were assembled as this avoided the imposition of purchase tax as the kits were assessed as components and not vehicles. During the 1970s many kits had bodies styled as sports cars that were designed to bolt directly to VW Beetle chassis; this was popular as the old body could be separated from the chassis leaving all mechanical components attached to the chassis and a GRP-body from the kit supplier shop fitted. This made the Beetle one of the most popular "donor" vehicles of all time.
Examples of this conversion include the Bradley GT, Sebring which were made by the thousands and many are still around today. Volkswagen based dune buggies appeared in large numbers in the 1960s and 1970s based on a shortened floor pan. Current kit cars are replicas of well-known and expensive classics and are designed so that anyone with a measure of technical skill can build them at home to a standard where they can be driven on the public roads; these replicas are in general appearance like the original, but their bodies are made of fiberglass mats soaked in polyester resin instead of the original sheet metal. Replicas of the AC Cobra and the Lotus 7 are popular examples, the right to manufacture the Lotus 7 now being owned by Caterham Cars who bought the rights to the car from Lotus founder Colin Chapman in 1973. Caterham Cars are a "Component Car" and are a continued development of Chapman's design, whereas all other Lotus 7 style cars are replicas, are "Kit Cars" costing less and not having the residual values of the Caterham.
These Replica kit cars enable enthusiasts to possess a vehicle similar in appearance to a vehicle which because of scarcity they may not be able to afford, at the same time take advantage of modern technology. The Sterling Nova Kit produced in the UK was the most popular VW based Kits being produced worldwide and licensed under several different names with an estimated 10000 sold. Many people react sceptically when they first hear about kit cars as it appears to them to be technically impossible to assemble a car at home and license it for public roads, they may be worried that such a car would not subsequently pass the mandatory quality control, required in most countries. For example, to obtain permission to use a kit car in Germany, every such vehicle with a speed over 6 km/h without a general operating license or an EC type permission has to undergo, as per the § 21 of Road traffic licensing regulations, a technical inspection by an recognized expert of a Technical Inspection Authority.
In the United Kingdom it is necessary to meet the requirements of the IVA regulations. In the United States SEMA has gone state by state to set up legal w
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an American car manufactured by Ford. It was based on the platform of the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car; the original 1962 Ford Mustang I two-seater concept car had evolved into the 1963 Mustang II four-seater concept car which Ford used to pretest how the public would take interest in the first production Mustang. The 1963 Mustang II concept car was designed with a variation of the production model's front and rear ends with a roof, 2.7 inches shorter. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, thus dubbed as a "1964½" by Mustang fans, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A; the Mustang has undergone several transformations to its current sixth generation. The Mustang created the "pony car" class of American muscle cars, affordable sporty coupes with long hoods and short rear decks, gave rise to competitors such as the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, AMC Javelin, Chrysler's revamped Plymouth Barracuda, the second generation Dodge Challenger.
The Mustang is credited for inspiring the designs of coupés such as the Toyota Celica and Ford Capri, which were imported to the United States. As of August 2018, over 10 million Mustangs have been produced in the U. S; the Ford Mustang began production five months before the normal start of the 1965 production year. The early production versions are referred to as "1964½ models" but all Mustangs were advertised, VIN coded and titled by Ford as 1965 models, though minor design updates in August 1964 at the "formal" start of the 1965 production year contribute to tracking 1964½ production data separately from 1965 data. With production beginning in Dearborn, Michigan, on March 9, 1964. Executive stylist John Najjar, a fan of the World War II P-51 Mustang fighter plane, is credited by Ford to have suggested the name. Najjar co-designed the first prototype of the Ford Mustang known as Ford Mustang I in 1961, working jointly with fellow Ford stylist Philip T. Clark; the Mustang I made its formal debut at the United States Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, New York, on October 7, 1962, where test driver and contemporary Formula One race driver Dan Gurney lapped the track in a demonstration using the second "race" prototype.
His lap times were only off the pace of the F1 race cars. An alternative view was that Robert J. Eggert, Ford Division market research manager, first suggested the Mustang name. Eggert, a breeder of quarterhorses, received a birthday present from his wife of the book, The Mustangs by J. Frank Dobie in 1960; the book's title gave him the idea of adding the "Mustang" name for Ford's new concept car. The designer preferred Cougar or Torino, while Henry Ford II wanted T-bird II; as the person responsible for Ford's research on potential names, Eggert added "Mustang" to the list to be tested by focus groups. The name could not be used in Germany, because it was owned by Krupp, which had manufactured trucks between 1951 and 1964 with the name Mustang. Ford refused to buy the name for about US$10,000 from Krupp at the time. Kreidler, a manufacturer of mopeds used the name, so Mustang was sold in Germany as the "T-5" until December 1978. Mustangs grew larger and heavier with each model year until, in response to the 1971–1973 models, Ford returned the car to its original size and concept for 1974.
It designs. Although some other pony cars have seen a revival, the Mustang is the only original model to remain in uninterrupted production over five decades of development and revision. Lee Iacocca's assistant general manager and chief engineer, Donald N. Frey was the head engineer for the T-5 project—supervising the overall development of the car in a record 18 months—while Iacocca himself championed the project as Ford Division general manager; the T-5 prototype was a mid-mounted engine roadster. This vehicle employed the German Ford Taunus V4 engine, it was claimed that the decision to abandon the two-seat design was in part due to the increase in sales the Thunderbird had seen when enlarged from a two-seater to a 2+2 in 1958. Thus, a four-seat car with full space for the front bucket seats, as planned, a rear bench seat with less space than was common at the time, were standard. A "Fastback 2+2", first manufactured on August 17, 1964, enclosed the trunk space under a sweeping exterior line similar to the second series Corvette Sting Ray and European sports cars such as the Jaguar E-Type coupe.
Favorable publicity articles appeared in 2,600 newspapers the next morning, the day the car was "officially" revealed. To achieve an advertised list price of US$2,368, the Mustang was based on familiar yet simple components, many of which were in production for other Ford models. Many of the interior, chassis and drivetrain components were derived from those used on Ford's Falcon and Fairlane; this use of common components shortened the learning curve for assembly and repair workers, while at the same time allowing dealers to pick up the Mustang without having to invest in additional spare parts inventory to support the new car line. Original sales forecasts projected less than 100,000 units for the first year; this mark was surpassed in three months from rollout. Another 318,000 would be sold during the model year, in its first eighteen months, more than one million
Enzo Ferrari (automobile)
The Enzo Ferrari is a 12 cylinder mid-engine sports car named after the company's founder, Enzo Ferrari. It was developed in 2002 using Formula One technology, such as a carbon-fibre body, F1-style electrohydraulic shift transmission, carbon fibre-reinforced silicon carbide ceramic composite disc brakes. Used are technologies not allowed in F1 such as active aerodynamics and traction control; the Enzo Ferrari generates substantial amounts of downforce, achieved by the front underbody flaps, the small adjustable rear spoiler and the rear diffuser working in conjunction, 3,363 N is generated at 200 km/h 7,602 N is attained at 299 km/h before decreasing to 5,738 N at top speed. The Enzo's F140 B V12 engine was the first of a new generation for Ferrari, it is based on the design of the V8 engine found in the Maserati Quattroporte, using the same basic design and 104 mm bore spacing. This design replaced the former architectures seen in V12 and V8 engines used in most other contemporary Ferrari models.
The 2005 F430 is the second Ferrari automobile to get a version of this new powerplant. The Enzo was designed by Ken Okuyama, the Pininfarina head of design, announced at the 2002 Paris Motor Show with a claimed limited production run of 399 units and a price of US$659,330; the company sent invitations to existing customers those who had bought the F40 and F50. All 399 cars were sold in this way. Production began in 2003. In 2004, the 400th production car was built and donated to the Vatican for charity, sold at a Sotheby's auction for US$1.1 million. Three development mules were built: M1, M2, M3; each mule utilised the body work of a 348, a model, succeeded by two generations of mid-engined V8 sports cars—the F355 and the 360 Modena—by the time the mules were built. The third mule was offered for auction alongside the 400th Enzo in June 2005, selling for €195,500; the engine the Enzo is longitudinally-mounted and the car has a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout with a 43.9/56.1 front/rear weight distribution.
The powerplant is Ferrari's F140B aspirated 65° V12 engine with DOHC 4 valves per cylinder, variable valve timing and Bosch Motronic ME7 fuel injection with a displacement of 5,998.80 cc generating a power output of 660 PS at 7,800 rpm and 657 N⋅m of torque at 5,500 rpm. The redline limit is 8,200 rpm; the Enzo has a semi-automatic transmission using paddles to control an automated shifting and clutch mechanism, with LED lights on the steering wheel telling the driver when to change gears. The gearbox has a shift time of just 150 milliseconds; the transmission was a first generation "clutchless" design from the late 1990s, there have been complaints about its abrupt shifting. The Enzo has four-wheel independent suspension with push-rod actuated shock absorbers which can be adjusted from the cabin, complemented with anti-roll bars at the front and rear; the Enzo has 15-inch Brembo disc brakes. The wheels are fitted with Bridgestone Potenza Scuderia RE050A tires; the Enzo can reach 161 km/h in 6.6 seconds.
The ¼ mile time is about 11 seconds, on skidpad it has reached 1.05 g and the top speed has been recorded to be as high as 355 km/h. It is rated at 7 miles per US gallon in the city, 12 miles per US gallon on the highway and 8 miles per US gallon combined. Despite the Enzo's performance and price, the 430 Scuderia is capable of lapping the Ferrari test track just 0.1 seconds slower than the Enzo. The Porsche Carrera GT was 1.12 seconds faster in direct comparison on the only 0.98 miles long Autodromo del Levante near Bari. Evo magazine ran a 7:25.21 lap time. The Enzo in the test had a broken electronic damper, they tested it at Bedford Autodrome West circuit where it recorded a 1:21.3 laptime, 1.1 seconds slower than the Porsche Carrera GT, but faster than the Litchfield Type-25. In 2004, American magazine Sports Car International named the Enzo Ferrari number three on their list of Top Sports Cars of the 2000s. American magazine Motor Trend Classic named the Enzo as number four in their list of the ten "Greatest Ferraris of all time".
However, the Enzo Ferrari was described as one of the "Fifty Ugliest Cars of the Past 50 Years", as Bloomberg Businessweek cited its superfluous curves and angles as too flashy the V-shaped hood, scooped-out doors, bulbous windshield. Before being unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, the show car was flown from Italy to the U. S. to be filmed in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. It was driven on a beach by actress Demi Moore. After filming was complete, the Enzo was flown to France to be at the Motor Show; the Enzo Ferrari is briefly featured in the 2007 American film Redline. The Enzo Ferrari is featured in the cover art for the WWE wrestling stable Evolution. Ferrari decided to use some of the technology developed for the Enzo in a small-scale program to get more feedback from certain customers for use in future car design as well as their racing program; the core of this program is the Ferrari FXX. It was loosely based on the Enzo's design with a tuned 6.3-litre version of the Enzo's engine generating a power output of 800 PS.
The gearbox is specially developed
Sports Car Club of America
The Sports Car Club of America is an American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers; the SCCA traces its roots to the Automobile Racing Club of America. ARCA was founded in 1933 by brothers Miles and Sam Collier, dissolved in 1941 at the outbreak of World War II; the SCCA was formed in 1944 as an enthusiast group. The SCCA began sanctioning road racing in 1948 with the inaugural Watkins Glen Grand Prix. Cameron Argetsinger, an SCCA member and local enthusiast who would become Director of Pro Racing and Executive Director of the SCCA, helped organize the event for the SCCA. In 1951, the SCCA National Sports Car Championship was formed from existing marquee events around the nation, including Watkins Glen, Pebble Beach, Elkhart Lake. Many early SCCA events were held on disused air force bases, organized with the help of Air Force General Curtis LeMay, a renowned enthusiast of sports car racing.
LeMay loaned out facilities of Strategic Air Command bases for the SCCA's use. By 1962, the SCCA was tasked with managing the U. S. World Sportscar Championship rounds at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen; the club was involved in the Formula 1 U. S. Grand Prix. SCCA Executive Director John Bishop helped to create the United States Road Racing Championship series for Group 7 sports cars to recover races, taken by rival USAC Road Racing Championship. Bishop was instrumental in founding the SCCA Trans-Am Series and the SCCA/CASC Can-Am series. In 1969, tension and infighting over Pro Racing's autonomy caused Bishop to resign and help form the International Motor Sports Association; the SCCA began sanctioning professional racing. In 1963, the United States Road Racing Championship was formed. In 1966 the Canadian-American Challenge Cup was created for Group 7 open-top sportscars; the Trans-Am Series for pony cars began in 1966. Today, Trans-Am uses GT-1 class regulations. A professional series for open-wheel racing cars was introduced in 1967 as the SCCA Grand Prix Championship.
This series was held under various names through to the 1976 SCCA/USAC Formula 5000 Championship. Current SCCA-sanctioned series include Trans Am, the Pirelli World Challenge for GT and touring cars, the Global MX-5 Cup, F2000 Championship Series, F1600 Championship Series and the Atlantic Championship Series. SCCA Pro Racing has sanctioned professional series for some amateur classes such as Spec Racer Ford Pro and Formula Enterprises Pro. SCCA Pro Racing sanctioned the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup during its time; the Club Racing program is a road racing division where drivers race on either dedicated race tracks or on temporary street circuits. Competitors require a national racing license. Both modified production cars and designed-from-scratch "formula" and "sports racer" cars can be used in Club Racing. Most of the participants in the Club Racing program are unpaid amateurs, but some go on to professional racing careers; the club is the source for race workers in all specialties. The annual national championship for Club Racing is called the SCCA National Championship Runoffs and has been held at Riverside International Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Heartland Park Topeka, Road America, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In 2018, the Runoffs will go back west to Sonoma Raceway. In 2019, the race will be held at Virginia International Raceway a track where the race has never been held, it was announced on June 15, 2018 that the Runoffs would go back to Road America in the year 2020. The current SCCA record holder is Jerry Hansen, with twenty-seven national championships; the eight classes of the formula group are Formula Atlantic, Formula 1000, Formula SCCA, Formula Continental, Formula Mazda, Formula F, Formula 500 and Formula Vee The autocross program is branded as "Solo". Up to four cars at a time run on a course laid out with traffic cones on a large paved surface, such as a parking lot or airport runway, without interfering with one another. Competitions are held at the regional and national levels; each division crowns a divisional champion in each class, determined at a single event. A national champion in each class is determined at the national championship held in September. In 2009, Solo Nationals moved to the Lincoln Airpark in Nebraska.
Individual national-level events called "Championship Tours" and "Match Tours" are held throughout the racing season. The SCCA holds national-level events in an alternate format called "ProSolo". In ProSolo, two cars compete at the same time on mirror-image courses with drag racing-style starts, complete with reaction and 60-foot times. Class winners and other qualifiers compete in a handicapped elimination round called the "Challenge". Points are awarded in both class and Challenge competition, an annual champion is crowned each September at
Porsche Carrera GT
For other Porsche models carrying Carrera name, see Porsche Carrera The Porsche Carrera GT is a mid-engine sports car, manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche between 2004–2007. Sports Car International named the Carrera GT number one on its list of Top Sports Cars of the 2000s, number eight on Top Sports Cars of All Time list. For its advanced technology and development of its chassis, Popular Science magazine granted the "Best of What's New" award in 2003; the development of the Carrera GT can be traced back to the 911 LMP1-98 racing cars. Due in part to the FIA and ACO rule changes in 1998, both designs had ended. Porsche at the time had planned on a new Le Mans prototype for 1999; the car was intended to use a turbocharged flat-6, but was redesigned to use a new V10 engine, pushing the project back to planned completion in 2000. The V10 was a unit secretly built by Porsche for the Footwork Formula One team in 1992, but shelved; the engine was resurrected for the Le Mans prototype and increased in size to 5.7 L.
The project was canceled after two days of testing for the first car, in mid-1999 due to Porsche's wish to build the Cayenne SUV with involvement from Volkswagen and Audi, thus requiring engineering expertise to be pulled from the motorsports division. It was speculated that VW-Audi chairman Ferdinand Piëch wanted Audi's new Le Mans Prototype, the Audi R8 not to face competition from Porsche in 2004. Porsche did keep part of the project alive by using the 5.5 L V10 from the prototype in a concept car shown at the 2000 Paris Motor Show in an attempt to draw attention to their display. Surprising interest in the vehicle and an influx of revenue provided from the Cayenne helped Porsche decide to produce the car, development started on a road-legal version that would be produced in small numbers at Porsche's new manufacturing facility in Leipzig. Porsche started a production run of Carrera GTs in 2004, shipping the units with an MSRP of US$448,000; the first Carrera GT went on sale in the United States on January 31, 2004.
A production run of 1,500 cars was planned. However, Porsche announced in August 2005 that it would not continue production of the Carrera GT through to 2006, citing discontinuation was due to changing airbag regulations in the United States. By the end of production on May 6, 2006, more than 1,270 GTs had been sold, with a total of 644 units sold in the United States and 31 units sold in Canada. In the United Kingdom, 49 units were sold; the Carrera GT is powered by a 5.7 L V10 engine producing 450 kW, whereas the original concept car featured a 5.5 litre version rated at 416 kW, 330 km/h was announced as top speed. A road test in June 2004 by Car and Driver showed that the car can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds, 0-100 mph in 6.8 seconds and 0-130 mph in 10.8 seconds. The Carrera GT was offered with a basic five-colour paint scheme which includes Guards Red, Fayence Yellow, Basalt Black, GT Silver metallic and Seal Grey. Custom colours were available from the factory. A traditional six-speed manual transmission is the only available transmission.
The Carrera GT has large side inlets and air dams that help cool the large V10 engine framed by the carbon fibre rear bonnet. Fitted with Porsche's latest Carbon fibre-reinforced Silicon Carbide ceramic composite brake system, the 15-inch SGL Carbon disc brakes make an impressive appearance underneath the 19 inch front and 20 inch rear 5-spoke alloy wheels. Similar to other Porsche models, such as the 911, the GT includes an electronically operated rear wing which deploys at speeds above 70 mph; the interior is trimmed in soft leather. Bose audio system and a navigation system were standard. In typical Porsche fashion, the ignition is to the left of the steering wheel; this placement dates back to the early days of Le Mans racing when drivers were required to make a running start, hop into their cars, start them and begin the race. The placement of the ignition enabled the driver to start the car with the left hand and put it in gear with the right; the car had a beech wood gearknob, which pays homage to the wooden gearknob used in the Porsche 917 Le Mans race car.
In its second year of production, a carbon fibre knob was made available. EngineDrivetrain: Longitudinally-mounted, rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout Engine type: 68° V10, aluminium block and heads Code: 980/01 Valvetrain: DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder, variable valve timing on intake camshafts, sodium-cooled exhaust valves Bore x stroke: 98 mm × 76 mm, Nikasil coated bores, forged titanium connecting rods, forged pistons Displacement: 5,733 cc Compression ratio: 12.0:1 Rated power: 450 kW at 8,000 rpm Max. Torque: 590 N⋅m at 5,750 rpm Specific output: 78.493 kW/L Weight to power ratio: 3.23 kg/kW Redline: 8,400 rpm Transmission Clutch: Two plate ceramic dry clutch Gearbox type: 6-speed manual transmission BodyTank capacity: 92-litres Cargo volume: 76 L Max. Payload: 180 kg Ground clearance: 3.4 in Dimensions: Length: 4,613 mm Width: 1,921 mm Height: 1,166 mm Mass: 1,455 kg Track width: 1,612–1,587 mm Wheelbase: 2,730 mm Drag Coefficient: 0.39 Fuel consumption for 2004 model EPA EPA Rated city, highway: 9 mpg‑US /15 mpg‑US Range: 241 miles Tank in gal: 24.3 US gal NEFZ:Consumption: 28.3 / 11.7 / 17.8 L/100 km CO2 emission: 429 g/km Emission level: EURO 4 Estimated range: 51
$7.5 Million USD (2007)[1]