Home » January 2013
Del Piero moves into Le Mans racing



Football legend Alessandro Del Piero is teaming up with actor Patrick Dempsey in a bid to shoot for glory at Le Mans. The World Cup winner, a motorsport fanatic, has formed Dempsey/Del Piero Racing with the Grey’s Anatomy hunk.

The team has applied for an entry to compete in the 24-hour classic in France in June. And they will field two cars in the US-based American Le Mans Series.

Dempsey, an accomplished amateur racer, will drive at Le Mans if the squad’s entry is accepted, along with veteran US racers Joe Foster and Michael Avenatti.

Del Piero, who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 and countless trophies in a 19-year spell with Juventus, is not expected to get behind the wheel. He said: “I have had a passion for motorsport since I was a young boy growing up in Italy.

Del Piero, 38, is now the star player of Sydney FC in Australia’s A-League.

The racing team expects to announce further details about its cars, livery and driver line-up in the coming weeks.

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Aston Martin reveals Rapide S


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Chevrolet Corvette Stingray revealed


Chevrolet has drawn on the past for its most futuristic car ever, with the all-new Corvette Stingray named after the iconic 1963 original.

The seventh version of the best-selling American sports car was formally unveiled at a glitzy event in Detroit prior to this year’s Detroit Motor Show.

In standard trim, the Stingray gets a 444bhp 6.2-litre V8 delivering 610 Nm of torque, and does 0-60mph in under four seconds.

For the more-is-better file, the C7 brings a novel entry: a 7-speed Tremec manual transmission. Yes, the shift pattern may resemble a Pac-Man maze, but when the driver finds a gear, it may induce delusions of grandeur, thanks to Active Rev Matching – an electronic flattery system that blips the throttle on downshifts to make a driver look, or at least sound, like Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel at the Singapore Grand Prix. Or you can choose a 6-speed automatic (sigh).
 
Underneath, an aluminium frame similar to the one seen on the outgoing Z06 and ZR1 high-performance models is 57% stiffer than the old car’s steel frame and weighs 99 pounds less.

Carbon fibre in the hood, roof and underbody panels, along with lighter-density sheet-molded compound – SMC is engineer-speak for “plastic” – trims 37 pounds in body weight.

Chevy also adds that the 2014 Corvette will be in showrooms “in the third quarter”, at a price to be announced closer to its sale date. Surely the convertible and high-performance editions will follow shortly thereafter.

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