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Weekly Recap: Racing legend Jim Hall explains Chevy's futuristic Chaparral concept

"I said our cars are built to be winners." – Jim Hall Racing legend Jim Hall never thought he'd be a video game consultant, but when Chevrolet asked for his advice to create a futuristic Chaparral for the Vision Gran Turismo series, he was eager to help. He reviewed early sketches and suggested some changes that made it onto the concept, including the addition of a camera that's mounted onto a mast over the cabin to aid the driver. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was revealed this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show and will be part of a downloadable update for PlayStation 3's Gran Turismo 6 in December. Theoretically, at least, it uses a laser-beam propulsion system and an air-powered generator to produce 900 horsepower in the video game. It's capable of sprinting to 60 miles per hour in 1.5 seconds en route to a top speed of 240 mph. Those gaudy performance specs – even in the virtual world – came at Hall's urging. "I said our cars are built to be winners," Hall told Autoblog on the floor of the Los Angeles show. The 79-year-old drove Lotus racecars in Formula One before launching the successful Chaparral Cars in the 1960s. Like his innovative Can-Am racers, the Vision Gran Turismo project has an eye toward the future. It also introduces the iconic Chaparral name to a new generation of fans, and hopefully, Hall says, gets them excited about engineering and design. "It emulates what we did in the '60s," he said. And what they did back then still resonates. Chaparral Racing and Chevy partnered more than 45 years ago for development work on the composite monocoque chassis, lightweight alloy powertrains, automatic gearboxes and active aerodynamics. "He [Hall] walked right back into this and was able to apply thinkings and learnings," said Clay Dean, General Motors executive director of advanced design. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was created at GM's North Hollywood advanced design studio, and it will be on display at the show through November. Other News and Views Sebastian Vettel joins Ferrari team in 2015 Ferrari confirmed that four-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel will join the Scuderia for the 2015 season, jettisoning Ferrari's current ace, two-time champ Fernando Alonso. Vettel has been F1's most successful driver since Michael Schumacher, though he's struggled to match his previous accomplishments in 2014.

Mother's Day Suggestion No. 2,506

With Mother's Day coming up, we're always looking for new gift ideas to celebrate the occasion, but hot laps around a track might not be the best suggestion for Darius Khashabi. In a video posted on YouTube, Khashabi straps his mom into the passenger seat of his C6 Corvette Z06 for some laps around Sonoma Raceway (formerly Infineon Raceway) at "60 percent" with comical results.
Now this isn't the first time Mama Khashabi has gotten seat time in her son's car around a track, as his YouTube page shows him pulling a similar stunt - with similar results - around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last year. Scroll down for the video, but know that the action really gets going at around the 1:40 mark.

Amelia Island 2013: Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray from concepts to split windows

While this year marks 60 years of the Chevrolet Corvette, the 2013 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance focused on one of the coupe's most sought after models, the 1963 Sting Ray. General Motors design boss Ed Welburn was on hand to show off the all-new C7 Corvette, but even the hard-edged styling of the 2014 Stingray couldn't take away from the beautiful 1963 models sitting out on the field.
In addition to the original Sting Ray and the 1959 Sting Ray Concept, some of the other classic 'Vettes included "Big Tank" racecars, an interesting cutaway coupe, a right-hand-drive Z06 and the attention-grabbing 1963 Corvette Rondine by Pininfarina. Another impressive Corvette was the 1964 Corvette XP-819 rear-engine prototype. Owner Mike Yager had the car finished as a driving chassis for this year's show, but promises the car will be back to its original glory in time for next year's event.