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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.

2016 Chevy Malibu exhaustively tested with four decades of data

Chevy is preparing to unveil its new Malibu sedan at the upcoming New York Auto Show next month. But when it does, it's not like it will have appeared overnight. The development of any new vehicle – especially one as widely produced by a major automaker as the Malibu – involves rigorous and relentlessly punishing tests. In the Malibu's case, that meant 1.5 million miles of driving from the scorching heat of Arizona in July to the frigid cold of northern Canada in January and everything in between. The Bowtie brand also says it incorporated four decades' worth of data taken from vehicles driving in locations around the world since 1972 in order to make the Malibu the best it could be. We'll have to wait to find out the results of all that exhaustive testing, but you can catch a sneak peek at the new sedan in the video above. Four Decades of Data Used to Test 2016 Chevrolet Malibu Recorded customer use drives durability testing for next-generation midsize sedan 2015-03-11 DETROIT – Data collected over decades from across the globe is helping ensure the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu can handle the world's worst roads even if the all-new midsize sedan never drives on them. Data collection boxes are placed in cars in real-world driving conditions around the world. Since 1972, these devices have accurately recorded the harshness and frequency of every jounce, bump and shudder inflicted on the car on roads in the U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia and developing markets. "Although most Malibu owners will never put their car through similar abuse, we test all new vehicles in extreme climates, inclement weather and on punishing road surfaces," said Dan Devine, Malibu validation engineer. "The 2016 Malibu is definitely up to these challenges." Tests like these ensured the current generation Malibu was dependable and durable, two qualities that in turn helped Malibu stand out from its rivals in important quality surveys, such as J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study and Vehicle Dependability Study. General Motors engineers analyze the data to calculate the precise amount of damage potholes and other hazards create over 150,000 miles. Then the conditions are replicated at GM's Milford Proving Ground in Michigan on three unique road courses, each riddled with simulated potholes of increasing severity. Engineers run preproduction cars through the course up to hundreds of times.

Should heavy-duty pickup trucks have window stickers with fuel mileage estimates?

If you were to stroll into your nearest Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Nissan, or Ram dealership, you'd find a bunch of pickup trucks. Most of those would have proper window stickers labeled with things like base prices, options prices, location of manufacture, and, crucially, fuel economy estimates. But you'd also run across a number of heavy-duty trucks with no such fuel mileage data from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA doesn't require automakers to publish the valuable miles-per-gallon measurement for vehicles with gross weight ratings that exceed 8,500 pounds. That makes it difficult for consumers to compare behemoths powered by turbocharged diesel engines – between one another, and between smaller, gasoline-fueled trucks. Consumer Reports doesn't think it should be this way, and it's spearheading an effort (PDF link) to get the government to require manufacturers to publish fuel economy estimates. In its own testing, CR found that heavy-duty pickups powered by Ford's Power Stroke, GM's Duramax, and FCA's Cummins diesel engines (which doesn't include the Ram's EcoDiesel) get worse fuel mileage than their lighter-duty gas-powered siblings. We're not so sure HD-truck buyers are unaware of this fact – big diesels don't really come into their own until big loads are placed in their beds or attached to their trailer hitches. Under heavy workloads, the diesel trucks will almost certainly return greater efficiency than a similar gas-powered truck. What's more, HD trucks with lumbering diesels in general make the driver feel more confident while towing due to greater torque at low engine RPM than gas trucks. They also offer greater max-weight limits. Still, we agree EPA fuel mileage estimates should be offered for heavy-duty pickups. And we think the comparisons provided by Consumer Reports might be interesting to potential buyers. Click here to see the results of CR's tests, and let us know what you think using the poll below. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty: First Drive View 22 Photos News Source: Consumer Reports Government/Legal Green Read This Chevrolet Ford GMC Nissan RAM Fuel Efficiency Truck Commercial Vehicles Diesel Vehicles poll gmc sierra hd chevy silverado hd