This Is What the Future Looks Like

Last week we showed you the original Chaparral 2E and the tease of what Chevrolet was going to unveil at the L.A. Auto Show this week.

Here it is, the Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Tursimo (VGT) concept that was developed for PlayStation 3’s Gran Turismo 6 game, the physical version, not the digital:

(Steve Fecht for Chevrolet)

Explained Frank Saucedo, who was in charge of the team that developed the car in GM’s Advanced Design Studio in L.A., “It was created in a no-rules atmosphere to challenge designers and test engineers to deliver the most exhilarating sensations. This is a fantasy car by design.”

No doubt.

Although it doesn’t have a visible wing like the positions the driver in a prone position, face down, arms and legs splayed toward the wheels, such that Saucedo said, “Think of it as adapting a wing suit to a racing car, where the driver’s movements control certain aspects of the aero package. In many ways, the Chaparral 2X VGT is like racing wing suit, with a protective fuselage for ‘flying’ very low to the ground.”

While the composite chassis may look exotic, it is almost run-of-the-mill vis-à-vis the proposed propulsion system:

There is a 671-kW mid-mounted laser powered by a pack of lithium-ion batteries and an air-powered generator. The laser pulses, the light focus in a shroud, and the result are shock waves that generate thrust. Thrust on the order of 900 hp.

So in the world of the game the Chaparral 2X VGT has a top speed of 240 mph and can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 1.5 seconds.

One of the issues that the auto industry faces is getting young(er) people interested in cars at a time when many of them simply see automobiles as something that can get you from point A to point B in an appliance-like manner.

Clearly, the Chaparral 2X VGT is an appliance in the context only of an alternative universe.

Clay Dean, GM executive director of Advanced Design: “This concept is an audacious and ambitious vision – and one that demonstrates to a new audience how Chevy’s engineering and design teams challenge norms and explore the technologies of tomorrow.” (Steve Fecht for Chevrolet)