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Giocattolo
Giocattolo Motori Pty Ltd was a short-lived Australian car company, founded in 1986 by sports car enthusiast Paul Halstead and Formula One designer Barry Lock. The company's name comes from the Italian word for "toy". The Giocattolo was originally based on a heavily modified Alfa Romeo Sprint body shell with a mid-mounted Alfa V6 engine. By the fourth prototype, the V6 engine had proved to be too difficult and expensive to import and install in the car, so the company replaced the projected V6 by a Holden V8 engine built by Holden Special Vehicles. As well as being cheaper, these engines had more power than the Alfa engines they had originally intended to use; the reported top speed of the V8-powered Giocattolo was . Power was . It is unknown what happened to the factory Sprint engines and gearboxes that were taken from the cars. Including the Alfa-powered third prototype (which was rebuilt and re-fitted with the Holden V8 after an accident with a police car almost destroyed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfa Romeo Sprint
The Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint (later only Alfa Romeo Sprint) is a boxer-engined coupé produced by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1976 to 1989, and based on the Alfa Romeo Alfasud. 116,552 units of the Alfasud Sprint and Sprint were built in total. The Sprint was sold in Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. History 1976–83: Alfasud Sprint The Alfasud Sprint was presented to the press in September 1976 in Baia Domizia (Caserta), and shown at the Turin Motor Show in November. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro like the Alfasud, whose mechanicals it was based on, it had a lower, more angular design, featuring a hatchback (although no folding rear seats). The Alfasud Sprint was assembled together with the Alfasud in the Pomigliano d'Arco plant, located in southern Italy—hence the original "Sud" moniker, which means south in Italian. Under the Alfasud Sprint's bonnet there was a new version of the Alfasud's 1186 cc four-cylinder boxer engine, stroked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaditcha
Kaditcha was an automobile manufacturer in Australia. The company, formed by Queensland engineer Barry Lock, made open wheel and sports car racing cars, including cars for Formula 5000, Formula Pacific and Australian Formula 2. Sports cars The peak of Kaditcha's form was in the mid-1980s when Kaditcha sports cars dominated the Australian Sports Car Championship. Chris Clearihan won the 1982 Championship in a 5.0L Chevrolet powered version, with Kaditcha's finishing that year in 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Clearihan finished 3rd in the 1983 Championship, which was won by Peter Hopwood driving a later model Kaditcha-Chevrolet that Lock built using a Lola T400 Formula 5000 as its base. Hopwood moved to the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1984 with Clearihan taking over the 1983 title winning car and finished second in the 1984 Championship. Kadticha's most famous race car is one that no longer bears its name. The Romano WE84 raced by Bap Romano began its racing life in 1983 as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sports Car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by many manufacturers around the world. Definition Definitions of sports cars often relate to how the car design is optimised for dynamic performance, without any specific minimum requirements; both a Triumph Spitfire and Ferrari 488 Pista can be considered sports cars, despite vastly different levels of performance. Broader definitions of sports cars include cars "in which performance takes precedence over carrying capacity", or that emphasise the "thrill of driving" or are marketed "using the excitement of speed and the glamour of the (race)track" However, other people have more specific definitions, such as "must be a two-seater or a 2+2 seater" or a car with two seats only. In the United Kingdom, early recorded usage of the "sports car" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Car Manufacturers Of Australia
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the car, when German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available during the 20th century. One of the first cars affordable by the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. The car is considered an essential part of the developed economy. Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex. These i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beyond 2000
''Beyond Tomorrow'' is an Australian television series produced by Beyond Television Productions. It began airing in 1981 as ''Towards 2000'', then in 1985 was renamed ''Beyond 2000'', a name the show kept until its cancellation in 1999. It then started airing again in 2005 with the name ''Beyond Tomorrow''. ''Towards 2000'' and ''Beyond 2000'' ''Towards 2000'' debuted on the ABC in 1981 as a half-hour show dedicated to showcasing developments and inventions in science and technology. Original presenters were Jeffrey Watson, Sonia Humphrey and David Flatman. There were four series of the program (1981, 82, 83 and 84) and it was a popular and high rating success on the national broadcaster. After production finished on the 4th series, the ABC decided not to continue with ''Towards 2000'', and instead started up a new science program, named Quantum, under the newly appointed Dick Gilling from BBCTV. The ''Towards 2000'' reporters then spoke with Ted Thomas, General Manager of ATN ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Creek Raceway
Sydney Motorsport Park (known until May 2012 as Eastern Creek International Raceway) is a motorsport circuit located on Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek (40-kilometres west of the Sydney CBD), New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the Western Sydney International Dragway. It was built and is owned by the New South Wales Government and is operated by the Australian Racing Drivers Club. The circuit is one of only two permanent tracks in Australia with an FIA Grade 2 license and is licensed for both cars and motorcycles. History The development of circuit was approved in 1989 and construction began soon after. However, construction was delayed by poor weather and debates over land ownership. A test race open to Superbikes was held in July 1990 and the circuit was officially opened by then-New South Wales Minister for Sport Bob Rowland-Smith on 10 November 1990 with the running of the Nissan Sydney 500 endurance race for Group A touring cars. In 1991, the consortium formed to fund t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holden Special Vehicles
Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) was the officially designated performance vehicle division for Holden. Established in 1987 and based in Clayton, Victoria, the privately owned company modified Holden models such as the standard wheelbase Commodore, long wheelbase Caprice and Statesman, and commercial Ute for domestic and export sale. HSV also modified other non-Holden cars within the General Motors lineup in low volumes. Vehicles produced by Holden Special Vehicles have generally been marketed under the HSV brand name. However, in the early years, some retailed under the Holden brand in Australia whereas most cars for export (other than in New Zealand and Singapore) retailed under different names (namely, Vauxhall and Chevrolet Special Vehicles). History Holden and Tom Walkinshaw Racing – an operation owned by Scottish racing-car driver and entrepreneur Tom Walkinshaw – established Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) as a joint venture in 1987. HSV effectively replaced the Holden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mid-engine Design
In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle. History The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of automobiles. A 1901 Autocar was the first gasoline-powered automobile to use a drive shaft and placed the engine under the seat. This pioneering vehicle is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Benefits Mounting the engine in the middle instead of the front of the vehicle puts more weight over the rear tires, so they have more traction and provide more assistance to the front tires in braking the vehicle, with less chance of rear-wheel lockup and less chance of a skid or spin out. If the mid-engine vehicle is also rear-drive the added weight on the rear tires can also improve acceleration on slippery surfaces, providing much of the benefit of all-wheel-drive without the added weight and expense of all-wheel-drive com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Language
Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 million people (2022), Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland (Ticino and the Grisons), San Marino, and Vatican City. It has an official minority status in western Istria (Croatia and Slovenia). Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia.Ethnologue report for language code:ita (Italy) – Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version Itali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, which became the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1981, has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950. The word ''formula'' in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as ''Grands Prix'', which take place worldwide on both purpose-built circuits and closed public roads. A points system is used at Grands Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for drivers, the other for constructors. Each driver must hold a valid Super Licence, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA. The races must run on tracks graded "1" (formerly "A"), the highest grade-rating issued ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past participle of ''couper'', "cut". __TOC__ Etymology and pronunciation () is based on the past participle of the French verb ("to cut") and thus indicates a car which has been "cut" or made shorter than standard. It was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. These or ("clipped carriages") were eventually clipped to .. There are two common pronunciations in English: * () – the anglicized version of the French pronunciation of ''coupé''. * () – as a spelling pronunciation when the word is written without an accent. This is the usual pronunciation and spelling in the United States, with the pronunciation entering American vernacular no later than 1936 and featuring in the Beach Boys' hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Halstead
Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Christian missionary and writer *Pope Paul (other), multiple Popes of the Roman Catholic Church *Saint Paul (other), multiple other people and locations named "Saint Paul" Roman and Byzantine empire *Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229 BC – 160 BC), Roman general *Julius Paulus Prudentissimus (), Roman jurist *Paulus Catena (died 362), Roman notary *Paulus Alexandrinus (4th century), Hellenistic astrologer *Paul of Aegina or Paulus Aegineta (625–690), Greek surgeon Royals *Paul I of Russia (1754–1801), Tsar of Russia *Paul of Greece (1901–1964), King of Greece Other people *Paul the Deacon or Paulus Diaconus (c. 720 – c. 799), Italian Benedictine monk *Paul (father of Maurice), the father of Maurice, Byzan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
