It was a pressure cooker and a nail-biting day for Chevrolet as Race 1 started in Brazil! Even though I wasn’t there, I can feel the rush of adrenaline climbing up to my brain! Whew, the race was thrilling!

It is very important to maintain everyone’s cooling parts because the tension sure has been firing up! And it sure does continue to sizzle as I speak right now.

The Race 1 and 2 of the 2007 World Touring Car Championship took place in Curitiba, Brazil last month. Chevrolet fans, and that includes me, are very proud that the team has earned points so it is high time that we give all the credits to our man, Rob Huff! A round of applause please… that’s it!

Rob Huff helped the Chevrolet team to be included at the charts marking a significant spot on the racing championship. Huff finished 5th while on the other hand, Nicola Larini and Alain Menu have faced the unlucky scenario - both were included at Race 1’s incident. And eventually on the second race, Bob also suffered from bad luck. Huff is seventh with four points in the driver’s championship and Chevrolet is third in the manufacturer’s standings with nine points.

Rob Huff (5th/DNF) shared: “The first race went fine, except for some serious under-steer going into Turn 6, as well as accelerating out of that turn. So I had to solve that by lifting, turning in, smoothly going through the corner and then accelerating out again later than normal. For race two we changed the camber, which improved things. In race two, I had a brilliant start, running in third up to Turn 1, but then the car got away from me under braking as the pedal unexpectedly went long. I got hit by another car and that was it.”

Nicola Larini (DNF/10th) was also there to explain: “In the first race I had a good start until Yvan Muller pushed me off in Turn 1, extensively damaging my car. In race two, I had another good start, moving up from the back of the grid to tenth in the first corner. Unfortunately I got sandwiched there which damaged the splitter and destroyed the balance of the car. A couple of laps later the splitter fell off which restored the balance. After that I had a good race and making it to the finish is the just reward for the hard work the boys put in to repair the car.”

Alain Menu (DNF/DNF) on the race commented: “I was the innocent victim of Turn 1 when Nicola’s car was pushed into mine, ending my race there and then as well. In the second race I immediately felt that the steering was not the way it should be, while under braking it felt like one of the shocks was broken. After a few laps I came in again as it would have been too dangerous to continue like that.”

Eric Nève although did speak up saying: “We showed that the performance is there, but unfortunately it quite showed, neither in qualifying nor in the races. We will keep on working in this direction and make sure we will be right there at the next race in Zandvoort in seven weeks’ time, which one could consider as the real start of the season, as from then on we will be racing every other weekend.”

Mark Busfield for the team tells: “A positive thing this weekend is that team did a great job in rebuilding two badly damaged cars from race one using every minute of the extra time we now have between the two races to accommodate the TV schedule. This allowed us to start race two with both Alain’s and Nicola’s cars and Nicola to finish tenth whereas under last year’s timing his car would never have been repaired in time. In all this is the testament of the improvements we made over winter to increase serviceability and reduce time needed make repairs.”

The Chevrolet Blazer (not the Trailblazer, for clarification) claims the IIHS’ most deadly vehicle with a noted 232 deaths per one million vehicles. It was followed by the Acura RSX with recorded 202 deaths per million car and the Nissan 350Z with a noted with 193.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) announced that the Chevrolet Blazer is still the raging deadliest vehicle on the road. This is according to the records that tell the enormous numbers of deaths cause by the one million Chevrolet Blazers released between the years 2001 and 2004. The two-door vehicle was noted to be deadly based on the 2002 - 2005 statistics.

The General Motors Corporation’s defense spokesman Alan Adler said on a press release from the Associated Press, "The study doesn’t really take into account driver behavior or how the vehicles are used so it’s difficult to really draw much significance." If you can recall, the spokesman have delivered a speech in 2005 and the speech he delivered was somewhat the same. The car was declared deadly in even back in 2005.

I guess they should focus more on the quality of their Chevy parts specially the brake parts.

However, in contrary to that of the Blazer’s statistics, the Chevrolet Astra is hailed to have the lowest numbers of deaths going to a seven deaths per million. Just in case you want to know, the Toyota 4Runner and the BMW 7 Series were also noted to have the least numbers of deaths on their car models.

The Ron Fellows Edition Corvette was introduced in honor of the great contributions to Corvette’s racing program by the Canadian racer Ron Fellows. And for everyone’s information, there is a limited number of such a vehicle in the UK. They planned to produce only 399 units and for Europe, only 33 of these will be released.

This exclusive model comes along with Ron Fellows’ autograph as distinguished from its design. This is the first time ever in Corvette’s history for 54 years that a signature appears on a Corvette brand. Now that’s why it is exclusive! Even more defined by its Artic White paintjob with an accent of racing-style fender stripe, dazzling 10-spoke aluminum wheels and a full-width racing type spoiler.

The Corvette Ron Fellows edition was based on the Z06 which brags the rear-mounted six-speed transaxle to give the finest weight distribution combined with the monster V-8 LS7 engine with a mighty 512 horsepower or 377kW at 6300 rpm. It runs from 0 to a high of 62 mph in just 3.9 seconds in first gear and its raging top speed is 199 miles per hour.

The Ron Fellows Edition Corvette also brags its gorgeous interior and exterior car parts. The model is only offered in its exclusive Arctic White color. The front fender graphics are suggestive of the distinguishing feature of the Corvette GT1 race car, which attribute double Monterey Red Metallic stripes that comes along with Machine Silver borders and Ron Fellows’ priceless autograph in a complementing Victory Red shade.

In recognition of Fellows’ Canadian heritage, a red maple leaf logo motif is incorporated with the graphics. Some of the exterior parts include an extraordinary windscreen header band.

“Ron Fellows is part of Corvette’s racing heritage and he has been instrumental in the remarkable success of the Corvette Racing team in the American Le Mans Series, the special signature-series Z06 model that bears his name will forever link him to one of the greatest eras in factory racing, which has produced six consecutive ALMS GT1 manufacturers’ championships, and counting,” said Ed Peper, the Chevrolet general manager.

Ron Fellows is considered as the main factor in the team’s 51 victories ever since it was established in 1999. Fellows gained Corvette Racing’s first ever victory in 2000 and eventually the three-time American Le Mans Series GT1 champion. He was a 24 Hours of Le Mans class top performer and generally the top winner in the Rolex 24 Corvette Racing at Daytona. In 2005 and 2006, his hard work supported team-mates Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin in winning a series of ALMS titles.

The Ron Fellows Edition Corvette also features special interior gears such as a console, door trims, red seats and a cool instrument panel. Only lucky Europeans have the possibility to own one of the 33 units to be released. A fair £69,185 tags the Fellows Edition price. Now that’s what good investment is all about, so get one of this and ride the Ron Fellows Edition Corvette for a different experience!

GM finally put an end to the rumors that they will be unplugging the Chevrolet Volt. GM said in an announcement that the "next iteration" of its electric cars will be revealed at the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show which would be opening its curtains this April 22 up until the 28th.

GM’s China Group president and managing director, Kevin E. Wale, said during an interview, "That GM would choose Shanghai as the location to introduce the next iteration of the Volt is a reflection of how GM is contributing to the industry’s long-term sustainable development by sharing its latest achievements and technologies with its friends and partners in China.”

The American auto maker did not mention much about its specs and the latest pricings of the new Volt, however, I guess they will put more Chevy parts on the new Volt. Bob Lutz, the GM Vice Chairman, said that they will not reveal any specs because the Chevy Volt is “no publicity stunt”.

Last March 24, Lutz wrote, "we are 100 percent committed to making this happen."

GM did not also mention when this new car will be on production. This is maybe because they want the followers to be more excited about its revelation at the auto show. Well, if the new Volt gets even bigger and better fuel parts, I guess we really have to watch out for it.