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New Delhi, January 11, 2005: The very
first Chevrolet Lacetti World Touring Car has
been shaken down at the MIRA Proving Grounds in
Nuneaton, Great Britain. British driver, Rob Huff,
put the first miles on the clock for what is Chevrolet’s
first ever factory racing effort in Europe last
Wednesday.
The shake down went very well and without any
major problems, other than the usual and very
normal teething problems that come with every
brand new racing project. “Today’s test has
gone very well, it’s always a good sign when
a car works straight out of the box,” said RML
Chief Executive, Ray Mallock. “We have completed
a fair amount of running today and have encountered
no problems. Rob has been able to run at a good
speed and push the car quite hard. The reports
have been favourable on the engine and brakes
and generally the whole package. We have managed
to build on the limited data we had so it has
been a very productive day and we can now continue
with our planned test and development programme.”
Driver Rob Huff said: “It’s
been a very positive start for us today; the car
feels good and is nicely balanced. We carried
out various system checks and everything is running
well. The cold weather has meant it took some
time to get some temperature in the tyres but
despite that we have been picking up the pace
gradually and are all very happy with the way
things have worked. It’s certainly put a smile
on my face to get behind the wheel!”
Motorsports Manager for Chevrolet
Europe, Eric Nève, was equally pleased: “After
months of preparation Chevrolet’s World Touring
Car Championship effort has now become a tangible
reality. Six months ago this car only existed
in the back of people’s minds, but now it’s
a state of the art race car, built and run by
one of the finest teams in the motorsports business
and to be driven by what we feel is an excellent
line-up of drivers.”
On return from Mira the car will
receive a complete mechanical check before undergoing
various workshop tests including torsion, camber
& toe stiffness tests to validate the computer
calculations. This process will take approximately
ten days. This will be followed by testing various
set-up options including spring, anti-roll bar
and damper rates as well as simpler checks such
as confirming fuel tank capacity. These workshop
tests will then be followed by four post rig damper
testing in preparation for the second track test
on 21 January.
The first group test for
the new World Touring Car Championship is scheduled
for 22 and 23 March at the Monza racetrack in
Italy. The championship will kick off at the same
track on April 10th, to finish after twenty races
in the People’s Republic of China on 20 November.
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