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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.

Robert De Niro cast as Enzo Ferrari in new film

In one of Robert De Niro's early defining roles, he portrays a young Vito Corleone as a man climbing up the ranks of the New York underworld in flashbacks during The Godfather: Part II. Soon, we might see De Niro stepping into the shoes of a godfather from the Italian sports car industry in a biopic about Enzo Ferrari. According to The Guardian, De Niro recently told an Italian newspaper that the film would go into production soon and would shoot in Italy. This project apparently holds a high priority for him, and in addition to starring, De Niro's company is co-producing. It could be a while before we see the film in theaters because the script is still being written. We're also told that Clint Eastwood might sit in the director's chair, if he likes the story. Ferrari had a life every bit as fascinating as many fictional characters with stints as a racecar driver, an engineer and of course a canny businessman. He also held a long passion for motorsports, which could make for some very exciting scenes. According to The Guardian, the film would focus on Ferrari's life from around the founding of his sportscar company in the mid '40s through to his death in the late '80s. With characters like Jake Lamotta in Raging Bull and Sam Rothstein in Casino under his belt, De Niro certainly has shown the chops to portray a larger-than-life figure like Ferrari. Hopefully, he has retained the clout to get the film finished, though. Similar motorsports biographies haven't made it to the screen, such as the supposed Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise flick Go Like Hell or the Mad Men-inspired TV show about sports car racing in the '50s and '60s. Related Video:

Ferrari recalling 814 models from 2015 for airbag problem

Recalls from small-volume, high-end automakers like Ferrari are fairly rare, but the Prancing Horse issued a safety campaign to repair 814 vehicles in the United States due to a potential problem with the driver's side airbag module. The issue covers the 2015 editions of the 458 Italia, 458 Spider, 458 Speciale, 458 Speciale A, California T, FF, F12 Berlinetta, and LaFerrari. The affected examples have build dates from Dec. 19, 2014, to April 29, 2015, but this isn't every MY2015 vehicle in the country. According to the announcement by the National Highway Safety Administration (here as a PDF), these Italian supercars might have a "relevant combination of insufficient gluing of the leather on the driver's side airbag cover and the possible rotated installation of the driver's airbag cushion in the airbag module." In the event of a deployment, the safety devices might come out turned from where they are supposed to be. This issue could cause an increased risk of injury in a collision. In the NHTSA documents, Ferrari reports that it believes the chances of these rotated deployments are low. For drivers' safety, dealers will still replace the affected airbag module with a new one. Owners will start having their supercars fixed around July 30. RECALL Subject : Improperly Assembled Drivers Air Bag Report Receipt Date: JUL 07, 2015 NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V433000 Component(s): AIR BAGS Potential Number of Units Affected: 814 All Products Associated with this Recall Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) FERRARI 458 2015 FERRARI CALIFORNIA T 2015 FERRARI F12 BERLINETTA 2015 FERRARI FF 2015 FERRARI LAFERRARI 2015 Details Manufacturer: Ferrari North America, Inc. SUMMARY: Ferrari North America, Inc. (FNA) is recalling certain model year 2015 Ferrari 458 Italia, 458 Spider, 458 Speciale, 458 Speciale A, California T, FF, F12 Berlinetta, and LaFerrari vehicles manufactured December 19, 2014, to April 29, 2015. The affected vehicles may be equipped with a driver side air bag module that was improperly assembled. This can cause the air bag to deploy in a rotated orientation. CONSEQUENCE: In the event of a crash, the deployment of the driver's air bag in a rotated orientation increases the risk of injury. REMEDY: FNA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front Driver's Side Air Bag Module, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on July 30, 2015. Owners may contact Ferrari customer service at 1-866-551-2828. Ferrari's number for this recall is 57.