2011 Camaro Convertible to Pace Indy 500

January 20, at the Barrett-Jackson Classic Auto Auction in Scottsdale, AZ, Chevrolet and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that a special edition 2011 Camaro 2SS/RS Convertible will serve as the official pace car for the 2011 Indianapolis 500.

The 2011 Camaro 2SS/RS Convertible is the 22nd Chevrolet and the seventh Camaro chosen to pace “the greatest spectacle in racing.” Adding to the rich heritage is the fact that 2011 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, as well as Chevrolet's centennial year.

The three pace cars and the fifty matching festival cars will be equipped with the 400-horsepower (298 kW) V-8 engine and six-speed automatic transmission.  These special edition Camaro models will feature a Summit White exterior accented with orange stripes and door graphics. The interior is trimmed in orange leather, including front seat headrests embossed with the Indy 500 logo, along with white door panels and instrument panel trim. The instrument panel trims features extensions of the orange exterior stripes.  A picture of the pace car is attached below.

The color combination is similar to the design used on 1969 Camaro Indy pace car replicas – cars which have become among the most popular Camaro models in the collector world.

To commemorate this special designation, Chevrolet also announced this evening plans to auction the first of 50 Indianapolis Festival Committee Cars.  The auction for this first festival committee car takes place Saturday evening, January 22, 2011, during SPEED’s live coverage of the Barrett-Jackson event. The vehicle carries lot number 1284 and bids can be submitted at the auction in person or online.

Chevrolet will donate full proceeds of the auction to the David Foster Foundation, (http://www.davidfosterfoundation.org) a charity devoted to supporting families with children in need of life-saving organ transplants.

David Foster, the 15-time Grammy winning music producer and songwriter, founded the organization in his native Canada.

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Chevrolet returns to open-wheel, supplying Penske for 2012 IndyCar

It's official: Chevrolet has announced a return to open-wheel racing, and will supply V6 engines to Team Penske for the 2012 IndyCar Series. Longtime open-wheel fans will remember that the Bowtie brand supplied engines for Indy-style racing from 1986 to 1993, and then again from 2002 to 2005. The return was a rumor earlier this week, but General Motors made the announcement this morning and offered a glimpse at what's in store.

The new engine, which is being developed by General Motors and Ilmor engineering, will be a twin-turbocharged, direct-injection 2.4-liter V6 running on E85 fuel. Aluminum will be used for the block and cylinder heads, but other technical specs are not yet available.

Penske is the first team to fully commit to an entire Chevrolet-powered lineup for 2012. However, in accordance with the rules of the series, the engine will be available to any teams interested.

Phillips Chevrolet has Illinois’ Largest Chevy Inventory! We have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and are one of the Largest Chevy Dealers in the United States. Visit us at www.phillipschevy.com. View our specials! Follow Phillips Chevrolet on Facebook and Twitter to receive coupons, special offers and prizes!

Chevy to return to Indycar racing circuit in 2012

General Motors Co. and Chevrolet appear to be on their way to an open-wheel-racing return. The news first broke yesterday on a website that cited unnamed high-level GM sources who claimed that Chevy will rejoin the Izod IndyCar Series beginning in 2012.

No official confirmation had come as of today, but several well-placed individuals within the racing community said that an announcement was scheduled for Nov. 12. Chevy last participated in IndyCar in 2005 through an association with Cosworth.

GM had been a longtime supplier of engines to open-wheel racing but pulled out to save money. 

There is no word at this early stage on whom the company might partner with to build engines this time around, but one source close to the situation did not balk when presented with the idea that longtime race-engine constructor Ilmor could be involved. And although Cosworth is devoting resources to Formula One these days, it is also rapidly expanding and diversifying its business model, making it a potential candidate as well.

Whoever builds the engines, IndyCar is due to have a new technical package for the 2012 season, with turbocharged engines limited to no more than 2.4 liters and six cylinders. However, other than those basic architectural specs, no rules have been finalized or published regarding engine distribution, allocation or control among teams. But series CEO Randy Bernard has met with nearly every auto manufacturer that might participate, including GM during the summer.

Bernard told AW he didn't know about GM's impending announcement but said he expects at least one manufacturer to compete with longtime series supplier Honda in 2012.

“It's purely speculation right now,” he commented regarding the initial report. “We're still talking to a variety of engine manufacturers, and we've got a short time to [secure] them.”

The report named Target Chip Ganassi Racing as Chevy's partner in the IndyCar deal, but team owner Chip Ganassi told AW he knew nothing of the connection. “The whole thing is news to me,” he said. “I literally know nothing. It doesn't have anything to do with our [NASCAR] deal.”

Just days before the Chevy-IndyCar news arrived, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing recommitted to Chevy after considering an offer from Ford. However, another person close to the news backed up Ganassi and said that particular part of the story was pure fantasy and that GM does not yet know how many teams it will have or if it will enlist one of them to be an official “factory” operation. However, this person did say that he expected the General to supply multiple teams in a competitive environment beginning in 2012, and there's nothing at this stage that says Ganassi could not be one of them -- or Penske, Andretti or any other team on the 2012 IndyCar grid.

Phillips Chevrolet has Illinois’ Largest Chevy Inventory! We have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and are one of the Largest Chevy Dealers in the United States. Visit us at www.phillipschevy.com. View our specials! Follow Phillips Chevrolet on Facebook and Twitter to receive coupons, special offers and prizes!

Chevrolet to Offer Limited Number of Camaro Indy 500 Pace Car Replicas

Chevrolet will build and sell a replica of a Camaro Indianapolis 500 Pace Car for the first time since 1993. Chevy is setting out to build a collectible vehicle that will appeal to the die-hard Camaro and Indianapolis 500 fan and believes they have done just that with the 2010 Chevy Camaro Indianapolis 500 Pace Car Limited Edition. This will be the second year in a row that 2010 Camaro SS will pace the Indianapolis 500.

The model will be based off of the Camaro 2SS/RS production Model, painted Inferno Orange Metallic exterior and Inferno Orange interior. The vehicle will include: a 6 speed automatic transmission with remote start, 20” polished aluminum wheels, full body white pearl decal rally strips, Inferno Orange Heritage front grille, Inferno Orange V8 engine cover, Premium floor mats, front head rest with Indy 500 logo embroidered, Indy 500 logo on the doors, and Cloisonne on the front fender. The MSRP for this model is $41,950 plus destination, tax, title, license, and dealer fees.

There will only be 250 of these units produced. Fifty of these cars will be used at the track as festival cars by the race officials. They will be disposed of at the end of the race by the usual means previously used to dispose of past festival cars. The remaining 200 models will be new vehicles and allocated to the top Camaro Dealers based on 2009 Camaro Sales. Dealerships slated to receive this unit have already had this limited edition unit ordered. Once released from the Oshawa Plant, it will show in their “In-Transit” or “In-Stock” tabs of order workbench. There will be no free-flow-ordering available on this unit at this time.

Phillips Chevrolet is one of only two dealerships in Illinois that will receive a pace car.