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Chevrolet WTCC Ultima Concept

Hidden beneath the WTCC Ultra's wild touring car looks is Chevrolet's 2008 Ford Focus rival. GM's headline concept car at today’s Paris motor show (Thursday 28), the Ultra previews Chevrolet's future design direction, as well as the Lacetti replacement. Although the muscular bodykit, ultra-wide track, funky graphics and slitty rear window will all be toned down for production, 'you won’t miss the connection when the production car arrives,' a GM insider told CAR Online. Although the race spec interior features a roll cage and paddleshift transmission, the concept runs a most un-touring car like 2.0-litre diesel engine.

The aggressive nose, far removed from today's range of rebadged Daewoos, shows the future direction for European Chevys. An exaggerated Chevy bow tie-badge dominates the front end, sandwiched between two aggressive grilles. Expect the funky headlamp shape to figure on the finished car, because that sculpted bonnet has been built up to meet European pedestrian protection regs – a sure sign that the front end is destined for production. The profile view is extremely sporty, with its sleek glasshouse and dynamic lines sweeping up to the rear of the car. The Ultra is a five-door, although the rear doors aren't obvious because the handle is hidden in the window section, Alfa 147-style. The General's Australian design outpost at Holden styled the car, under the guidance of GM Asia-Pacific design boss David Lyon. He wants to transform the image of Chevrolet in Europe, getting rid of slab-sided cars like today's Lacetti hatch. 'We are working with the engineers to ensure features like much bigger wheels and a wider track,' says Lyon. 'We want to push the car’s architecture and stance to be more expressive.

The concept car measures 4.3m-long, bang on the size of a European hatchback. The production car will be underpinned by a new GM global architecture, which will replace today’s Delta plaftorm that underpins the latest Astra. Four-cylinder engines will be mounted across the nose, with drive sent to the front wheels.'It doesn’t need to have a big block engine under the hood, it just needs to look like it does,' says designer Lyon. He's true to his word. The WTCC Ultra runs the 2.0-litre common-rail diesel engine that will be offered in the current Lacetti in spring 2007, although a higher pressure turbo boosts output to 190bhp.


Lyon decided on a racing concept car because it taps into the most exciting Chevrolet in Europe (bar the Corvette): the victorious Lacetti World Touring Car. And the Ultra WTCC's cabin is as true to its racing theme as the uncompromising exterior. Unpolished metal, carbonfibre inserts and dark leather inspired by Batman's suit dominate the cockpit. The adjustable pedal box, steering wheel and sequential gear lever all encircle the driver, to enable him to fully concentrate on ruling the track.

CHEVROLET CONCLUDES WINTER TEST PROGRAMME IN FRANCE
First Privateer Lacetti Runs In Magny Cours
MAGNY COURS, 10 March 2006 — The Chevrolet WTCC team finished its winter test programme in Magny Cours, France today. The team had disembarked in France for four days of development tests with all three drivers and cars present. Despite being limited in their track time due to the bad weather, the team still managed to solve a number of smaller earlier issues, making the drivers feel cautiously optimistic for the big FIA test at Monza, later this month.
“Fortunately we had booked four days of track time, just to be sure to have some dry time, as the weather hadn't been on our side at the earlier tests in Brands Hatch and Albacete,” Team Manager, Mark Busfield said. “We were the only one of the factory teams present with a car for each driver, which obviously helps the drivers in getting the best possible understanding of the 2006-spec Lacetti. Each drove his own car, as well as the others' cars, all three of them set-up in varying specs. Two cars were set up with different suspension settings and weight distribution, which is a new given for us considering we are running a left-hand drive car this year. All three drivers swapped between both cars to get back-to-back impression. Unfortunately we didn't get round to all of our planned suspension work, as we would have needed four hours of dry track time to do so, but we know which direction to go and we will get to that in Monza. We obviously now have a good wet weather set-up on the cars, and we validated the reliability and endurance of some revised 2006-spec components as well. The team now returns to base to make any necessary changes for the Monza test.”
“We tried out some new ideas and sorted out some older issues,” Rob Huff said. “The Yokohama tyres will be the main variable for us to get used to. We still have to learn the way they work, when they kick in and when they drop off. But so far we can say that it has been a promising start to hopefully a good year.”
“This was our last major test before we go to Monza,” Chevrolet Europe's Motorsport Manager, Eric Nève said. “Lap time wise we seem to be there, compared to the other teams running at the same venues, but obviously we haven't been helped by the weather.”
Swiss outfit Team Maurer Motorsport was also present at Magny Cours for their maiden run with the first privateer Chevrolet Lacetti WTC. The team had asked reigning German touring car champion, Mathias Schläppi and reigning Belgian touring car champion, Vincent Radermecker top put the car through its paces for the first time on Thursday.
“We are obviously flattered by the fact that the championship winning team has chosen Chevrolet to defend their title and I hope they will be able to successfully do so,” Nève said.
“For us it was a logical step,” team owner, Beat Maurer said. “We were looking for a manufacturer with a long term vision to help us defend our title, and Chevrolet was the right choice for us. It is still early days yet, but so far the collaboration between the factory team and our team is working fine, and the interaction here at the track has been great. As things stand now, we are looking at participating in the WTCC rounds of Magny Cours and Valencia. We had hoped to enter a car in the Oschersleben round, but unfortunately there is a round of the German Championship at the same track on the same weekend, which makes it impossible to convert the car from German-spec tyres and fuel to WTCC-spec tyres and fuel in between races.”

posted by zanetadickson @ 7:12 PM