This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (February 2011)

Champ Car

250px
Category	Single seaters
Country or region	International
Inaugural season	1979 (as CART) 2004 (as Champ Car)
Folded	2008
Engine suppliers	Cosworth
Last Drivers' champion	Sébastien Bourdais (2007)
Last Constructors' champion	Panoz (2007)

Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race. Such racing has also been sanctioned by the American Automobile Association, the United States Auto Club (USAC), the Sports Car Club of America, the Championship Racing League, and the Indy Racing League (IRL).

In its most popular usage, "Champ Car" was the last name given to a governing body formerly known as Championship Auto Racing Teams, or CART, founded in 1979 by team owners who disagreed with the USAC. At the height of the popularity of the series in 1992, it was known as the PPG Indy Car World Series until the split with the Indy Racing League in 1996. Thereafter, it was known as the CART FedEx Championship Series until 2003, when it was known as Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered By Ford. CART went bankrupt at the end of the 2003 season. A trio of CART team owners purchased the assets of the sanctioning body and renamed it as Champ Car Open Wheel Racing Series, later renaming it to Champ Car World Series (CCWS) LLC. Continuing financial difficulties caused CCWS to file for bankruptcy before its planned 2008 season; its assets were merged into the IRL's IndyCar Series, reuniting both series of American championship open-wheel racing.

History[link]

Nigel Mansell racing in CART in 1993

In 1905 the American Automobile Association (AAA) established the national driving championship and became the first sanctioning body for auto racing in the U. S. A.; the AAA ceased sanctioning auto racing in the general outrage over motor racing safety that followed the 1955 Le Mans disaster. In response, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony Hulman formed the United States Auto Club (USAC) to take over the sanctioning of what it called "championship" auto racing. USAC controlled the championship until 1978, when a split between USAC and some of its car owners prompted the formation of the rival CART series.

Formation of CART[link]

The split from USAC was spurred by a group of activist car owners who had grown disenchanted with what they saw as an inept sanctioning body. Complaining of poor promotion and small purses, this group coalesced around Dan Gurney who, in early 1978, wrote what came to be known as the "Gurney White Paper", the blueprint for an organization called Championship Auto Racing Teams.^[1] Gurney took his inspiration from the improvements Bernie Ecclestone had forced on Formula One (F1) with his creation of the Formula One Constructors Association. The White Paper called for the owners to form CART as an advocacy group to promote USAC's national championship, doing the job where the sanctioning body would not. The group would also work to negotiate television rights and race purses, and ideally hold seats on USAC's governing body.

Gurney, joined by other leading team owners such Carl Hogan, Roger Penske, and U.E. "Pat" Patrick, took their requests, which included larger representation on the USAC Board of Directors, to USAC's Board, but the proposal was rejected in November 1978. USAC's rejection of the proposal led the owners to form a new series (CART) in late 1978 under the principles laid out in the Gurney White Paper, with the first race being held in March 1979.

The newness of the organization, however, prevented it from being recognized by ACCUS, the United States representative to the FIA. An arrangement was reached with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) where the SCCA would act as the sanctioning body for the new series. This would allow the events to be listed on the International Motorsports Calendar.

The new series quickly gained the support of the majority of team and track owners, with the only notable holdout being A.J. Foyt. This meant that the front and mid-pack teams would be racing in the new CART series. Of the 20 races held in 1979, 13 were part of the 1979 CART Championship. Of the 10 tracks to host races, 5 would host CART events exclusively and one, Ontario Motor Speedway, would host races from both series. By 1982, the CART series was almost universally recognized as the American national championship.

International Drivers in the 1990s[link]

CART, like its predecessor USAC, was dominated by North American drivers until the 1990s. Many road racing stars, including Mario Andretti, Bobby Rahal, and Danny Sullivan found success in the series. After former F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi won the series title in 1989, however, additional drivers from South America and Europe joined the series.

British driver Nigel Mansell, the 1992 F1 Driver's Champion, switched to CART in 1993 and beat Emerson Fittipaldi for the championship. Former F1 driver Alex Zanardi, who was much less accomplished than Mansell or Fittipaldi in F1, dominated the 1997 and 1998 seasons. His teammate Jimmy Vasser, who won the 1996 championship, was the last American series champion.

During this time, CART found success in street races, taking over the Detroit Grand Prix and the Long Beach Grand Prix from Formula One, as well as having success in venues like Miami, Toronto, Vancouver, Cleveland, and Surfer's Paradise. They also founded the first full-time driver safety team that traveled with the series, instead of depending on local staff provided by promoters.

Formation of the Indy Racing League[link]

Criticism of CART built up in the 1980s, led by Andy Kenopensky, who emerged as the leading critic of the body with often-confrontational discussions over the body's rules and officiating; he led owners meetings that became acrimonious, notably in 1989 in a pair of meetings at Michigan International Speedway and Pocono International Raceway when he shouted down several drivers lobbying for expensive changes to the cars, changes he felt benefited only wealthy owners like Roger Penske.

In 1991, Tony George, President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, approached the CART board of directors, proposing a new board consisting of representatives of the series' tracks, team owners and suppliers. Rebuffed by some members of the CART board, George took a non-voting position on the CART board.

George later expressed his concerns (similar to Kenopensky's) about restrictive engine leases and capricious rule enforcements (e.g. the banning of the carbon fiber tub introduced by March in 1990, ostensibly for safety reasons, until the two CART native chassis manufacturers - Penske and Lola - could catch up), and the lack of American drivers in the series (there were only 10 in 1996), a lack of opportunities for American drivers such as Jeff Gordon, CART's move to include more road racing on the schedule, and escalating costs.

George also wanted a greater voice for the Indianapolis 500, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Although it was clearly CART's flagship event, the Indy 500 was treated as any other race on the schedule, and also awarded the same amount of driver's points.

George resigned from the CART Board of Directors and formed a new racing series, the Indy Racing League (IRL), in 1994 using the building blocks of the Indy 500 / USAC faction as its foundation. With its first race in 1996, the IRL initially included an all-oval schedule, all races on US soil, and mostly American drivers. George all but shut out CART regulars from the 500 by guaranteeing the top 25 drivers in IRL points a spot in the race, leaving only eight of the thirty-three grid positions available to CART regulars. This was known as the "25/8 Rule."

In March 1996, CART filed a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an effort to protect their license to the IndyCar mark which the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had attempted to terminate. In April, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway filed a countersuit against CART to prevent them from further use of the mark. Eventually a settlement was reached in which CART agreed to give up the use of the IndyCar mark following the 1996 season and the IRL could not use the name before the end of the 2002 season.

In response, CART attempted to create a rival showcase event, the U.S. 500, at Michigan International Speedway on the same day as the Indy 500 in 1996. The race failed to attract network TV coverage, and substantial promotional efforts were required to fill the estimated 80,000 seats at MIS. The race had a disastrous start with a ten-car crash involving many of the cars; further hurting CART's credibility, the teams were allowed to hastily bring out backup cars even though they had already crashed out of the race. The race date was changed for 1997 so it did not run against the Indy 500. The U.S. 500 name was, however, retained through 1999, and affixed to the existing July race at Michigan.

CART's next strategy was to hold a race the day before the Indy 500 at Gateway, which also failed to draw attention away from the IRL's most famous race. Tony George's next move was to specify new technical rules for less expensive cars, and "production based" engines that outlawed the CART-spec cars that had been the mainstay of the races since the late 1970s. CART teams would be forced to purchase different cars if they wanted the chance to qualify for the Indy 500.

From 1997 to 1999, no CART teams and drivers competed in the Indy 500. This allowed many American drivers to participate in an event that they might otherwise have been unable to afford, but the bitterness of the turbulent political situation, along with the absence of many of the "top" CART drivers, big-name sponsors, and faster CART-spec cars cast a shadow over the race. It was certainly arguable that to the average fan, the replacement of at least fairly well known foreign drivers by almost-unknown American ones was not perceived as a real gain. But the entry of American drivers, who had more-identifiable local fan bases, made the change a long-term positive for the race as well as the series.

In 1998, following a highly competitive IRL 300-miler at Texas won by Billy Boat, CART mandated the Hanford wing to its superspeedway cars; the goal was to increase drag and return a drafting effect similar to NASCAR and similar to what IRL had achieved with its use of bulkier car bodies.

CART after the formation of the IRL[link]

In the early years after the launch of the IRL in 1996, CART seemed to be dominant. It controlled most of the races and most of the "name" drivers, while George's primary (and for a time, only) asset was Indianapolis Motor Speedway and its 500. The 1996 IRL schedule consisted of only three races, including the Indy 500, and many of the drivers were relative unknowns. By 1998, however, the series began to build a following after several competitive events at Texas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway and the victory by Eddie Cheever, Jr. at the 500, the first owner-driver to win the 500 since A.J. Foyt in 1977. The IRL's Texas race spawned the Hanford wing for CART for its superspeedways and the U.S. 500 saw an enormous increase in positional passing over previous years.

In 1998, CART went public with its stock, and raised $US100 million in the stock offering.

In 2000, Bobby Rahal stepped in as interim president of CART and replaced the PPG Cup (used from 1979–1999) with the Vanderbilt Cup as the series championship trophy. That year, Gil de Ferran of Penske Racing set the world closed-course speed record for a car race at California Speedway in his Marlboro Team Penske Reynard-Honda at 241.428 mph (388.540 km/h) while qualifying for the season ending million-dollar (pursed to the winner) Marlboro 500.^[2][3] Despite the considerable drag on the car (inherent of the mandated Hanford MkII rear wing used in CART on the superspeedways at that time) the feat was accomplished on the first lap of qualifying.

In 2000 some CART teams began preparing to leave the series, a move motivated by continuing CART mismanagement, upset engine manufacturers, and sponsors that desired participation at the Indianapolis 500.^{[citation needed]} Also that year the IRL's June 500-kilometer race at Texas saw a gigantic ten-car battle that lasted for the bulk of the event and was won by Scott Sharp in an electrifying battle with Robby McGehee; Eddie Cheever, Jr. also won the IROC race at Michigan International Speedway, giving the IRL a level of bragging rights it previously had not had.

In 2000, Chip Ganassi, while still racing in the CART Series, made the decision to return to the Indy 500 with his drivers, the 1996 CART and U.S. 500 champion Jimmy Vasser, and the 1999 CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya put on a dominating performance, leading 167 of the 200 laps to win. The defeat was somewhat humiliating for the IRL teams, with the Ganassi team's primary advantage being the greater engineering put into the car. Yet, the real winner in the situation was Tony George, who had brought back one of the CART teams, and its sponsor, to race with the IRL cars. A year later, Roger Penske, historically CART and Indianapolis' most successful team owner, also came back to Indianapolis and won leading a sweep of the top six positions by CART drivers.

The turning point for the CART-IRL rivalry may have come in 2001. That year, CART tried to stage a race at the Texas Motor Speedway, the Firestone Firehawk 600; this came after IRL had run its own 500-kilometer races at Texas and the events became headline-grabbing races. However, by this time, IRL teams were using naturally aspirated engines, which allowed them to easily navigate TMS' steep 24-degree banking. CART teams were surprised when the steep banking combined with their cars' turbocharged engines caused several drivers to experience dizziness and disorientation. At the drivers' meeting, 21 out of 25 drivers reported feeling disorientation of some sort. CART was unable to slow the cars down in time to run the race safely (having made no effort to slow the cars down previously despite escalating speeds) and it was postponed and ultimately canceled; this led TMS to sue CART. After it emerged that CART officials had ignored repeated requests to test their cars before the race (even though they were much faster and more powerful than IRL cars), the two parties settled for an estimated $5–7 million. CART lost $1.7 million for the last quarter of 2001 due to money spent on the suit. While the sanctioning body was commended by many for choosing not to put its drivers in danger,^[4][5] the cancellation of the race and the ensuing lawsuit was a severe blow to CART's prestige.^[4][6]

By November 2001, journalist Brock Yates predicted that CART would be defunct by the end of 2002.^[7]

For 2002, Penske and Ganassi became permanent entrants in the IRL, and Andretti Green Racing after the 2002 season, the latter team being co-owned by CART champion Michael Andretti. The Michigan open wheel race – once the U.S. 500, which was created to rival the Indy 500 – became an IRL event for 2002.

Bankruptcy and rebranding to OWRS[link]

In 2002, FedEx announced that they would end their title sponsorship of the CART series at the conclusion of the racing season. In another blow, Honda and Toyota switched their engine supply from CART to the IRL after 2002. CART decided to rebrand and reform itself. Beginning in 2003, CART began to promote itself as Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford.

Because of the loss of its title sponsor and two engine providers, CART's shares plummeted to 25¢ (USD) per share. It declared bankruptcy during the 2003 off-season and the assets of CART were liquidated.

Tony George made a bid for certain assets of the company, while a trio of CART owners (Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi, and Kevin Kalkhoven), along with Dan Pettit, also made a bid, calling their group the Open Wheel Racing Series (OWRS). George's offer was to purchase only select company assets, in an effort to eliminate any series that would rival his Indy Racing League. However, if George's bid (which was actually higher than the OWRS bid) had been successful, many vendors that were still owed money by CART would have not been paid. Therefore, a judge ruled that the OWRS group should be the purchaser of CART, which ensured a 25th anniversary season in 2004, running as Champ Car. Open Wheel Racing Series. (OWRS) would later change its name to Champ Car World Series (CCWS) LLC.

Team Rahal moved to the IRL just before the Long Beach GP in 2004. However, several teams stayed with Champ Car, ensuring that the series could continue. Most notable among these was Newman-Haas Racing. The powerful and well-funded team owned by actor Paul Newman and Illinois businessman Carl Haas was adamant on its loyalty to the series and its direction. Another team notable for its loyalty was Dale Coyne Racing, one of the world's oldest continually operating open wheel teams.^[8]

OWRS Bankruptcy and Unification of Champ Car with the Indy Racing League[link]

In 2007, with the withdrawal of Bridgestone and Ford Motor Company as presenting sponsors, the official name of the top-tier series promoted by Champ Car became simply the Champ Car World Series. Rumors and accounts of financial troubles, often reported by respected motor sports reporters, plagued the series all during 2007.

By late 2007, it was clear that CCWS lacked the resources to mount another season. Several races in the 2007 season were canceled before they were held, and in fact, the CCWS never had a season where they ran every scheduled race. Rumors and press reports of the financial situation of the series were common, and complicated any future plans.

In early February, 2008, the CCWS Board of Managers authorized bankruptcy, to be filed on February 14, 2008. On February 22, 2008, an agreement in principle was reached and signed that merged the Champ Car Series with the IRL. The memorandum sold the CCWS' sanctioning contracts (notably Long Beach) and intangible assets, along with the Champ Car Mobile Medical Unit (at the time known as the Holmatro Safety Team), to the IRL for $6 million. The document also included a non-compete agreement for Forsythe and Kalkhoven in exchange for $2 million each, provided they paid "certain bills" for the Long Beach bills for 2008 and support the IRL.

The assets of CCWS were sold at auction on June 3, 2008. The league had now officially folded.

In the agreement, the IRL became the owner of all CART and CCWS material and history, so all CART history will become part of the AAA-USAC-IRL history. Therefore, IndyCar events held at traditional CCWS venues (such as Edmonton) are not "inaugural" events, despite press promotions to the contrary.

The IRL also picked up the Edmonton and Surfer's Paradise races for 2008, and revived the Toronto race for the 2009 season, albeit under different promoters.

Newman/Haas Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Conquest Racing, HVM Racing (without Minardi), and Pacific Coast Motorsports transitioned to the IndyCar Series in the 2008 season. PKV Racing became KV Racing Technology, which took the Team Australia sponsorship from Walker Racing. Failing to make the transition were Forsythe Racing, Walker Racing (except for a joint program with Vision Racing at Edmonton to run Paul Tracy), and Rocketsports.

The first "merged" event was the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 29, 2008.

On April 8, 2008, in his first merged IndyCar Series event, Graham Rahal drove his Newman/Haas Racing entry to victory in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, marking the first win by a merged team.

Due to a scheduling conflict with the IndyCar Series' Motegi event, the Long Beach race was held on April 20, 2008 as an IRL points-paying event using the CCWS-spec DP01 cars, and was contested entirely by CCWS teams.

Comparison with Formula One[link]

Parts of this article (those related to section) are outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (June 2011)

A Champ Car is a single-seat (commonly called open-wheel in the US) racing car. For much of their history Champ Cars have been similar to Formula One cars, although there have traditionally been several key differences between the two.

Over the years, Champ Cars race schedule included high speed oval tracks. The increased stress and speed of these tracks mean that the cars tended to be heavier and have longer wheelbases than F1 cars (increasing stability but decreasing agility). In 2007, there were no oval tracks on the schedule.

When the weight of the driver is factored in, a Champ Car weighs over 27% more than a Formula One Car. The minimum weight for a Champ Car is adjusted from 1,575 lbs based on the weight of the driver compared to the field average; with the driver included, all cars have a minimum weight of 1741 lbs. A Champ Car piloted by 195 lb Paul Tracy (the heaviest driver in the series and 29 lbs heavier than the field average) must weigh at least 1,546 lbs when empty. The minimum weight of a Formula One Car, including the driver, is 620 kg (1,367 lbs). This difference of 374 lbs (169.64 kg) is just over 27% of the F1 car's weight.

Since the late 1960s Champ Cars have used turbocharged engines. Turbos were banned in Formula One on safety grounds in 1989. For some periods of their history, notably in the early 1970s and late 1990s, turbocharging gave Champ Cars up to 300 horsepower (220 kW) more than F1 cars, in the 70s cars had in excess of 1,000 hp. Recently in 1999/2000 the Champ Cars approached 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) before regulations on turbo boost were tightened. The current generation of cars have roughly the same power as F1 cars, Champ Cars having 800 hp (597 kW) on demand and F1 cars having about 775 hp (578 kW) (since F1 switched to V8 engines for the 2006 season), with the turbo used mainly to improve the spectacle rather than lap-times with the so-called 'power-to-pass' or 'push-to-pass' system giving drivers an increased amount of power for a limited duration during the race. Another reason for retaining the turbocharger is the muffling effect it has on the exhaust note helps keep the cars inside noise-limits, particularly at the many city street races on the schedule.

Champ Cars use methanol for fuel rather than gasoline, and refuelling has always been permitted during the race. This is a legacy of a crash at the 1964 Indianapolis 500 involving cars filled with more than 75 US gallons (285 L) of gasoline that killed Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs. Until 1994, when refuelling was re-introduced to F1 (and banned again from 2009 onwards), the coupling for the refuelling hose was a notable difference between Champ Cars and Formula cars.

Champ Cars continue to have sculpted undersides to create ground effect. This innovation was originally created in Formula One by Lotus in 1978, and was immediately used on the Chaparral Champ Car in 1979. F1 banned sculpted undersides in a bid to lower cornering speeds for 1983. In an effort to create better passing opportunities, the new spec Champ Car chassis being introduced in 2007 will generate nearly 50% of the total downforce of the car with sculpted underside tunnels versus the front and rear wings. This will reduce turbulent air behind the cars, enabling easier overtaking.

Unlike in F1, Champ Car teams are not obliged to construct their own chassis, and in recent times have tended to buy chassis constructed by independent suppliers such as Lola, Swift, Reynard, March and Dan Gurney's Eagle. The most notabbale exception was Penske Racing, although they also bought other cars when their own chassis was uncompetitive. Starting in 2007, Champ Car features a single, "spec" chassis, the Panoz DP01, created by Elan Technologies, a racing equipment manufacturer owned by Don Panoz. The spec chassis was introduced to reduce costs for race teams, however Champ Car had essentially been a spec series since 2004, with all teams favoring the Lola chassis mainly because of Reynard's bankruptcy in 2002.

The Formula One Car is a more expensive and technology-centric platform than a Champ Car. This was even the case during the CART PPG era during the mid to late 1990s. At this time global engine manufacturers Toyota, Honda, Mercedes and Ford vied for dominance. Since Champ Car's restructuring, a desire to keep costs down and the existence of one engine manufacturer has helped to create a series with far more parity than its European-based cousin. For instance, a competitive Champ Car team like Newman-Haas Racing team operates on approximately US$20 million per season, while the Ferrari F1 team operates on approximately US$285 million.^[9]

Direct comparison[link]

In recent years it has been possible to compare the respective performance of the two series.

The performance superiority of the Formula One machines was first demonstrated in 1989 when Champ Car began to race on a street circuit in downtown Detroit, Michigan that had served as the United States Grand Prix just one year prior. There was no big discrepancy in lap times on this occasion, but this was partly due to a tight second gear chicane that was removed from the circuit for the Champ Car series.

Since 1978 Formula One has made an annual visit to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Champ Car added this circuit to their tour in 2002, making a direct comparison possible.

During the inaugural Champ Car visit in 2002. Former Champ Car Champion Juan Pablo Montoya won the pole position in the Formula One race with a lap time of 1'12.836. Several weeks later, Cristiano da Matta won the pole position in the Champ Car race with a lap time of 1'18.959.

In the Autocourse / CART "Official Champ Car Yearbook" for 2002, the following article appears on page 132, entitled "CART VS. F1":

"With the FedEx Championship Series making its first visit to the track that had hosted the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix since 1978, there were inevitable comparisons between the world's two major open-wheel categories. Admittedly, it was rather like comparing apples and oranges, but it did represent the first opportunity in over two decades to get some idea of the relative performance of Champ Cars and their F1 cousins.

"On the face of it, there was no contest. Cristiano da Matta's pole time of 1m 18.959s was 6.123 seconds shy of 1999 CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya's stunning pole-winning effort aboard the BMW/Williams at the 2002 GP - which was exactly the sort of discrepancy da Matta had predicted in the run-up to the event, any way the fastest time for a Champ Car in the same weekend was only 3.97 seconds above Montoya's record, set by Tagliani in Practice.

"In CART, meanwhile, Bridgestone's position as sole tire supplier ensured production of a more conservative (i.e., harder) compound, prioritizing durability over ultimate pace. Granted, the F1 tire war was fought on grooved rubber rather than the slicks sported by Champ Cars. But bear in mind that a Champ Car weighed the best part of 400 pounds more that [sic?] its F1 counterpart, and the general conclusion was that CART's machinery stacked up pretty respectably.

"And then there's the 'other' factor. As da Matta observed, 'It's a pretty unfair comparison, since one side spends £100 million more than the other! I think that our designers and engineers are pretty smart if they can get this close with ten percent of the budget.'"

However this does not take into consideration the fact that the big F1 teams build their own chassis and engines.

In 2006, the latest and last time both series raced on the same track, Formula One was 5 to 7 seconds faster than Champ Car. The pole position in Formula 1 was taken by Fernando Alonso in a time of 1'14.942, while Sébastien Bourdais took the pole in 1'20.005 in Champ Car. The fastest lap in the Formula 1 race was 1'15.841 by Kimi Räikkönen, while Sébastien Bourdais' fastest lap was 1'22.325 in the Champ Car race. Bourdais' qualifying effort was almost 1 second off the pace of even the slowest F1 qualifier, Super Aguri's Franck Montagny, who turned in a time of 1'19.152.

At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on August 20, 2006, Toyota F1 test driver Ricardo Zonta set a new unofficial lap record of 1'06.309, however, this was in an exhibition, not a qualifying or race session.^[10][11] The official record time is 1'07.722, set by CART driver Helio Castroneves in a Penske Champ Car in qualifying for the 2000 CART Honda Grand Prix of Monterey. The Toyota record was eclipsed by another unofficial mark set March 10, 2007 by Sébastien Bourdais, who lapped in 1'05.880 piloting the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Panoz DP-01 during Champ Car Spring Training.

Champions[link]

Season	Driver	Team	Chassis/Engine Cup	Rookie of the Year
SCCA/CART Indy Car Series
1979	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Penske/Cosworth–Ford	Bill Alsup
PPG Indy Car World Series – sanctioned by CART (except for Indianapolis 500)
1980	Johnny Rutherford	Chaparral Racing	Chaparral/Cosworth–Ford	Dennis Firestone
1981	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Penske/Cosworth–Ford	Bob Lazier
1982	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Penske/Cosworth–Ford	Bobby Rahal
1983	Al Unser	Penske Racing	Penske/Cosworth–Ford	Teo Fabi
1984	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola/Cosworth–Ford	Roberto Guerrero
1985	Al Unser	Penske Racing	March/Cosworth–Ford	Arie Luyendyk
1986	Bobby Rahal	Truesports	March/Cosworth–Ford	Dominic Dobson
1987	Bobby Rahal	Truesports	Lola/Cosworth–Ford	Fabrizio Barbazza
1988	Danny Sullivan	Penske Racing	Penske/Chevrolet	John Jones
1989	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	Penske/Chevrolet	Bernard Jourdain
1990	Al Unser, Jr.	Galles-Kraco Racing	Lola/Chevrolet	Eddie Cheever
1991	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola/Chevrolet	Jeff Andretti
1992	Bobby Rahal	Rahal/Hogan Racing	Lola/Chevrolet	Stefan Johansson
1993	Nigel Mansell	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola/Cosworth–Ford	Nigel Mansell
1994	Al Unser, Jr.	Penske Racing	Penske/Ilmor	Jacques Villeneuve
1995	Jacques Villeneuve	Team Green Racing	Reynard/Cosworth–Ford	Gil de Ferran
1996	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard/Honda	Alex Zanardi
PPG CART World Series – sanctioned by CART
1997	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard/Honda	Patrick Carpentier
FedEx Championship Series – sanctioned by CART
1998	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard/Honda	Tony Kanaan
1999	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard/Honda	Juan Pablo Montoya
2000	Gil de Ferran	Penske Racing	Reynard/Honda	Kenny Bräck
2001	Gil de Ferran	Penske Racing	Reynard/Honda	Scott Dixon
2002	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola/Toyota	Mario Dominguez
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford – sanctioned by CART
2003	Paul Tracy	Player's/Forsythe Racing	Lola/Cosworth–Ford	Sébastien Bourdais
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford – sanctioned by OWRS
2004	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola/Cosworth–Ford	A. J. Allmendinger
2005	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola/Cosworth–Ford	Timo Glock
2006	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola/Cosworth–Ford	Will Power
Champ Car World Series – sanctioned by OWRS
2007	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	Panoz/Cosworth	Robert Doornbos
2008	After "unification", Champ Car sanctioned a race at Long Beach where drivers scored points towards IRL title

By team[link]

Team	Championships	Last
Penske Racing	9	2001
Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	8	2007
Chip Ganassi Racing	4	1999
Truesports	2	1987
Chaparral Racing	1	1980
Galles-Kraco Racing	1	1990
Team Green Racing	1	1995
Rahal/Hogan	1	1992
Patrick Racing	1	1989
Player's/Forsythe Racing	1	2003

Fatalities[link]

Four drivers died in CART-sanctioned events:

• Jim Hickman – (August 1, 1982), Tony Bettenhausen 200, Milwaukee Mile, practice.
• Jeff Krosnoff – (July 14, 1996), Molson Indy Toronto, Exhibition Place, 3 laps from finish.
• Gonzalo Rodríguez – (September 11, 1999), Honda Grand Prix of Monterey, Laguna Seca Raceway, qualifying.
• Greg Moore – (October 31, 1999), Marlboro 500, California Speedway, lap 10.

The Indianapolis 500 was not a CART-sanctioned event, however, CART-based teams participated in the event from 1979-1995. For a list of deaths related to that event, see List of Indianapolis 500 fatal accidents

See also[link]

	Book: Formula racing
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• IndyCar Series
• List of Champ Car circuits
• List of Champ Car drivers
• List of Champ Car fatal accidents
• List of Champ Car pole positions
• List of Champ Car teams
• List of Champ Car winners

References[link]

Look up Champ or champ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Champ may refer to:

• an abbreviation for champion, a winner of a competition
• Champ Car, class and specification of cars used in American Championship Car Racing
  • Champ Car World Series, international open-wheel championship
• Champ Bailey (born 1978), American football player (NFL)
• Fender Champ, a guitar amplifier
• Aeronca Champion, a light aircraft commonly called Champ
• Avid Champion, an ultralight aircraft
• Austin Champ, a Jeep-like vehicle
• The Champ, a 1931 film about a boxer
• The Champ (1979 film), a remake of the 1931 film
• Champ (film), a 2011 South Korean film
• Champ the Dog, The Postal Dude's pet from Postal series
• "The Champ", a song by Ghostface Killah on the album FishScale
• Champ (album), a 2010 album by the band Tokyo Police Club
• Champ (comics), a comic strip featured in the British Comic Whizzer and Chips
• Champ (comic), A British comic published by DC Thomson from 1984 - 5
• CHAMP, a German satellite launched July 15, 2000
• Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project, a directed energy weapon demonstrator by AFRL
• William Champ (1808–1892), soldier and politician who became the first Premier of Tasmania
• Champ (food), an Irish dish of mashed potatoes and scallions (spring onions)
• Champ premium hamburger, a type of burger at Jollibee restaurants
• Champ (cryptozoology), a reputed lake monster living in Lake Champlain
  • Vermont Lake Monsters logo, a single-A minor league baseball team in Burlington, Vermont, USA
• Champ (cartoon character), an animated dog introduced by Walter Lantz Studios in 1960
• Champ (mascot), the name of the costumed bulldog mascot for Louisiana Tech University
• Champ, Missouri

See also[link]

• Champion (disambiguation)
• Chump (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Automobile
Benz "Velo" model (1894) – entered into an early automobile race as a motocycle[1][2]
Classification	Vehicle
Industry	Various
Application	Transportation
Fuel source	Gasoline, Diesel, Electric, Hydrogen
Powered	Yes
Self-propelled	Yes
Wheels	3–4
Axles	0–2
Inventor	Ferdinand Verbiest

Passenger cars in 2000

World map of passenger cars per 1000 people

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods.^[3]

The term motorcar has also been used in the context of electrified rail systems to denote a car which functions as a small locomotive but also provides space for passengers and baggage. These locomotive cars were often used on suburban routes by both interurban and intercity railroad systems.^[4]

There are approximately 600 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car per eleven people).^[5][6] Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; the engines of these burn over a billion cubic meters (260 billion US gallons) of petrol/gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.^[7]

Etymology[link]

The word automobile comes, via the French automobile from the Ancient Greek word αὐτός (autós, "self") and the Latin mobilis ("movable"); meaning a vehicle that moves itself. The alternative name car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum ("wheeled vehicle"), or the Middle English word carre ("cart") (from Old North French), in turn these are said to have originated from the Gaulish word karros (a Gallic Chariot).^[8][9]

History[link]

The first working steam-powered vehicle was likely to have been designed by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish member of a Jesuit mission in China around 1672. It was a 65 cm-long scale-model toy for the Chinese Emperor, that was unable to carry a driver or a passenger.^[10][11][12] It is not known if Verbiest's model was ever built.^[11]

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle.^[13] He also constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.^[14] His inventions were however handicapped by problems with water supply and maintaining steam pressure.^[14] In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, believed by many to be the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle. It was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and was of little practical use.

In 1807 Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude probably created the world's first internal combustion engine which they called a Pyréolophore, but they chose to install it in a boat on the river Saone in France.^[15] Coincidentally, in 1807 the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed his own 'de Rivaz internal combustion engine' and used it to develop the world's first vehicle to be powered by such an engine. The Niépces' Pyréolophore was fuelled by a mixture of Lycopodium powder (dried Lycopodium moss), finely crushed coal dust and resin that were mixed with oil, whereas de Rivaz used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.^[15] Neither design was very successful, as was the case with others, such as Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir with his hippomobile, who each produced vehicles (usually adapted carriages or carts) powered by clumsy internal combustion engines.^[16]

In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris.^[17]

Karl Benz, the inventor of the modern automobile

Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz generally is acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile.^[16]

An automobile powered by his own four-stroke cycle gasoline engine was built in Mannheim, Germany by Karl Benz in 1885, and granted a patent in January of the following year under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie., which was founded in 1883. It was an integral design, without the adaptation of other existing components, and included several new technological elements to create a new concept. He began to sell his production vehicles in 1888.

A photograph of the original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, first built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept

In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle.

His first Motorwagen was built in 1885, and he was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on January 29, 1886. Benz began promotion of the vehicle on July 3, 1886, and about 25 Benz vehicles were sold between 1888 and 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced along with a model intended for affordability. They also were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, initially more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany.

Bertha Benz, the first long distance automobile driver in the world

In August 1888 Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, undertook the first road trip by car, to prove the road-worthiness of her husband's invention.

In 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal-combustion flat engine, called boxermotor. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899 and, because of its size, Benz & Cie., became a joint-stock company.

The first motor car in central Europe and one of the first factory-made cars in world, was produced by czech company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to Tatra) in 1897, the Präsident automobil.

Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Cannstatt in 1890, and sold their first automobile in 1892 under the brand name, Daimler. It was a horse-drawn stagecoach built by another manufacturer, that they retrofitted with an engine of their design. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after disputes with their backers. Benz, Maybach and the Daimler team seem to have been unaware of each others' early work. They never worked together; by the time of the merger of the two companies, Daimler and Maybach were no longer part of DMG.

Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed an engine named Daimler-Mercedes, that was placed in a specially ordered model built to specifications set by Emil Jellinek. This was a production of a small number of vehicles for Jellinek to race and market in his country. Two years later, in 1902, a new model DMG automobile was produced and the model was named Mercedes after the Maybach engine which generated 35 hp. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the Daimler brand name were sold to other manufacturers.

Karl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later when these conditions worsened and, in 1924 they signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest, valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, and sales and they advertised or marketed their automobile models jointly, although keeping their respective brands. On June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles Mercedes Benz, as a brand honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the 1902 Mercedes-35 hp, along with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz until his death in 1929, and at times, his two sons participated in the management of the company as well.

In 1890, Émile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the automobile industry in France.

The first design for an American automobile with a gasoline internal combustion engine was made in 1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York. Selden applied for a patent for an automobile in 1879, but the patent application expired because the vehicle was never built. After a delay of sixteen years and a series of attachments to his application, on November 5, 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent (U.S. Patent 549,160) for a two-stroke automobile engine, which hindered, more than encouraged, development of automobiles in the United States. His patent was challenged by Henry Ford and others, and overturned in 1911.

In 1893, the first running, gasoline-powered American car was built and road-tested by the Duryea brothers of Springfield, Massachusetts. The first public run of the Duryea Motor Wagon took place on September 21, 1893, on Taylor Street in Metro Center Springfield.^[18][19] To construct the Duryea Motor Wagon, the brothers had purchased a used horse-drawn buggy for $70 and then installed a 4 HP, single cylinder gasoline engine.^[18] The car had a friction transmission, spray carburetor, and low tension ignition. It was road-tested again on November 10, when the The Springfield Republican newspaper made the announcement.^[18] This particular car was put into storage in 1894 and stayed there until 1920 when it was rescued by Inglis M. Uppercu and presented to the United States National Museum.^[18]

In Britain, there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of success, with Thomas Rickett even attempting a production run in 1860.^[20] Santler from Malvern is recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country in 1894^[21] followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895, but these were both one-offs.^[21] The first production vehicles in Great Britain came from the Daimler Motor Company, a company founded by Harry J. Lawson in 1896, after purchasing the right to use the name of the engines. Lawson's company made its first automobiles in 1897, and they bore the name Daimler.^[21]

In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897, he built the first Diesel Engine.^[16] Steam-, electric-, and gasoline-powered vehicles competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s.

Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel engine has had more than very limited success.

Mass production[link]

Ransom E. Olds

The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902 based on the assembly line techniques pioneered by Marc Isambard Brunel at the Portsmouth Block Mills, England in 1802. The assembly line style of mass production and interchangeable parts had been pioneered in the U.S. by Thomas Blanchard in 1821, at the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts.^[22] This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1914.

As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing productivity eightfold (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.^[23] It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. This is the source of Ford's apocryphal remark, "any color as long as it's black".^[23] In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.^[23]

Portrait of Henry Ford (ca. 1919)

Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "Fordism," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the economic rise of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods.

In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide seeing the founding of Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany 1925; in 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufacturer to adopt the production method. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not, had disappeared.^[23]

Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910–1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes.

Ford Model T, 1927, regarded as the first affordable American automobile

Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans often have heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved.

Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, corporate powertrains and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) were common. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs, and even companies with decades of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not manage: of some two hundred American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930, and with the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left.^[23]

In Europe much the same would happen. Morris set up its production line at Cowley in 1924, and soon outsold Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Ford's practise of vertical integration, buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley (gearboxes), and Osberton (radiators), for instance, as well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris had 41% of total British car production. Most British small-car assemblers, from Abbey to Xtra had gone under. Citroen did the same in France, coming to cars in 1919; between them and other cheap cars in reply such as Renault's 10CV and Peugeot's 5CV, they produced 550,000 cars in 1925, and Mors, Hurtu, and others could not compete.^[23] Germany's first mass-manufactured car, the Opel 4PS Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), came off the line at Russelsheim in 1924, soon making Opel the top car builder in Germany, with 37.5% of the market.^[23]

Weight[link]

The weight of a car influences fuel consumption and performance, with more weight resulting in increased fuel consumption and decreased performance. According to a research conducted by Julian Allwood of the University of Cambridge, global energy use could be heavily reduced by using lighter cars, and an average weight of 500 kg has been said to be well achievable.^[24]

In some competitions such as the Shell Eco Marathon, average car weights of 45 kg have also been achieved.^[25][26] These cars are only single-seaters (still falling within the definition of a car, although 4-seater cars are more common), but it nevertheless demonstrates the huge degree in which car weights can still be reduced, and the subsequent lower fuel use (i.e. up to a fuel use of 2560 km/l.^[27]

Seating and body style[link]

Most cars are designed to carry multiple occupants, often with four or five seats. Larger cars can often carry six, seven or more occupants depending in the internal arrange of seats. Sports cars are often designed with only two seats, and very occasionally three seats. The differing needs for passenger capacity and their luggage has resulted in a large variety of body styles to suit personal requirements such as the sedan/saloon, hatchback, station wagon/estate and Multi-Purpose Vehicle/Minivan.

Fuel and propulsion technologies[link]

The Nissan Leaf is an all-electric car launched in December 2010

Most automobiles in use today are propelled by a internal combustion engine, fueled by deflagration of gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel. Both fuels are known to cause air pollution and are also blamed for contributing to climate change and global warming.^[28] Rapidly increasing oil prices, concerns about oil dependence, tightening environmental laws and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for automobiles. Efforts to improve or replace existing technologies include the development of hybrid vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. Vehicles using alternative fuels such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles are also gaining popularity in some countries.

Safety[link]

Result of a serious automobile accident

While road traffic injuries represent the leading cause in worldwide injury-related deaths,^[29] their popularity undermines this statistic.

Mary Ward became one of the first documented automobile fatalities in 1869 in Parsonstown, Ireland^[30] and Henry Bliss one of the United States' first pedestrian automobile casualties in 1899 in New York.^[31] There are now standard tests for safety in new automobiles, like the EuroNCAP and the US NCAP tests,^[32] and insurance industry-backed tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).^[33]

Costs and benefits[link]

The costs of automobile usage, which may include the cost of: acquiring the vehicle, repairs, maintenance, fuel, depreciation, injury, driving time, parking fees, tire replacement, taxes, and insurance,^[34] are weighed against the cost of the alternatives, and the value of the benefits – perceived and real – of vehicle usage. The benefits may include on-demand transportation, mobility, independence and convenience.^[12]

Similarly the costs to society of encompassing automobile use, which may include those of: maintaining roads, land use, pollution, public health, health care, and of disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life, can be balanced against the value of the benefits to society that automobile use generates. The societal benefits may include: economy benefits, such as job and wealth creation, of automobile production and maintenance, transportation provision, society wellbeing derived from leisure and travel opportunities, and revenue generation from the tax opportunities. The ability for humans to move flexibly from place to place has far reaching implications for the nature of societies.^[35]

Criticism[link]

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (June 2010)

Transportation is a major contributor to air pollution in most industrialised nations. According to the American Surface Transportation Policy Project nearly half of all Americans are breathing unhealthy air. Their study showed air quality in dozens of metropolitan areas has worsened over the last decade.^[36] In the United States the average passenger car emits 11,450 pounds (5,190 kg) of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide annually, along with smaller amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen.^[37]

Animals and plants are often negatively impacted by automobiles via habitat destruction and pollution. Over the lifetime of the average automobile the "loss of habitat potential" may be over 50,000 square meters (540,000 sq ft) based on primary production correlations.^[38] Millions of animals are also killed every year on roads by automobiles—so-called Roadkill.^{[citation needed]}

Growth in the popularity of vehicles and commuting has led to traffic congestion. Brussels is considered Europe's most congested city.^[39]

Fuel taxes may act as an incentive for the production of more efficient, hence less polluting, car designs (e.g. hybrid vehicles) and the development of alternative fuels. High fuel taxes may provide a strong incentive for consumers to purchase lighter, smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or to not drive. On average, today's automobiles are about 75 percent recyclable, and using recycled steel helps reduce energy use and pollution.^[40] In the United States Congress, federally mandated fuel efficiency standards have been debated regularly, passenger car standards have not risen above the 27.5 miles per US gallon (8.55 L/100 km; 33.0 mpg_-imp) standard set in 1985. Light truck standards have changed more frequently, and were set at 22.2 miles per US gallon (10.6 L/100 km; 26.7 mpg_-imp) in 2007.^[41] Alternative fuel vehicles are another option that is less polluting than conventional petroleum powered vehicles.

Oil consumption in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been abundantly pushed by automobile growth; the 1985-2003 oil glut even fuelled the sales of low economy vehicles in OECD countries. The BRIC countries might also kick in, as China briefly was the first automobile market in December 2009.^[42]

Residents of low-density, residential-only sprawling communities are also more likely to die in car collisions^{[original research?]} which kill 1.2 million people worldwide each year, and injure about forty times this number.^[29] Sprawl is more broadly a factor in inactivity and obesity, which in turn can lead to increased risk of a variety of diseases.^[43]

Driverless cars[link]

A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car

Fully autonomous vehicles, also known as robotic cars, or driverless cars, already exist in prototype, and are expected to be commercially available around 2020. According to urban designer and futurist Michael E. Arth, driverless electric vehicles—in conjunction with the increased use of virtual reality for work, travel, and pleasure—could reduce the world's 800 million vehicles to a fraction of that number within a few decades.^[44] This would be possible if almost all private cars requiring drivers, which are not in use and parked 90% of the time, would be traded for public self-driving taxis that would be in near constant use. This would also allow for getting the appropriate vehicle for the particular need—a bus could come for a group of people, a limousine could come for a special night out, and a Segway could come for a short trip down the street for one person. Children could be chauffeured in supervised safety, DUIs would no longer exist, and 41,000 lives could be saved each year in the US alone.^[45][46]

Future car technologies[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

Automobile propulsion technology under development include gasoline/electric and plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, hydrogen cars, biofuels, and various alternative fuels. Research into future alternative forms of power include the development of fuel cells, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), Stirling engines,^[47] and even using the stored energy of compressed air or liquid nitrogen.

New materials which may replace steel car bodies include duraluminum, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and carbon nanotubes.

Telematics technology is allowing more and more people to share cars, on a pay-as-you-go basis, through car share and carpool schemes.

Communication is also evolving due to connected car systems.

Open source development[link]

There have been several projects aiming to develop a car on the principles of open design. The projects include OScar, Riversimple (through 40fires.org)^[48] and c,mm,n.^[49] None of the projects have reached significant success in terms of developing a car as a whole both from hardware and software perspective and no mass production ready open-source based design have been introduced as of late 2009. Some car hacking through on-board diagnostics (OBD) has been done so far.^[50]

Alternatives to the automobile[link]

Established alternatives for some aspects of automobile use include public transit such as buses, trolleybuses, trains, subways, tramways light rail, cycling, and walking. Car-share arrangements and carpooling are also increasingly popular–the US market leader in car-sharing has experienced double-digit growth in revenue and membership growth between 2006 and 2007, offering a service that enables urban residents to "share" a vehicle rather than own a car in already congested neighborhoods.^[51] Bike-share systems have been tried in some European cities, including Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Similar programs have been experimented with in a number of US Cities.^[52] Additional individual modes of transport, such as personal rapid transit could serve as an alternative to automobiles if they prove to be socially accepted.^[53]

Industry[link]

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2008, more than 70 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.^[54]

In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in the Asia-Pacific Region, 19.4 million in the USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa.^[55] The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and other parts of Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, China, Russia, Brazil and India saw the most rapid growth.

About 250 million vehicles are in use in the United States. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion US gallons (980,000,000 m³) of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.^[7] In the opinion of some, urban transport systems based around the car have proved unsustainable, consuming excessive energy, affecting the health of populations, and delivering a declining level of service despite increasing investments. Many of these negative impacts fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars.^[56][57][58] The sustainable transport movement focuses on solutions to these problems.

In 2008, with rapidly rising oil prices, industries such as the automotive industry, are experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. The industry is also facing increasing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re-evaluate their private vehicle usage.^[59] Roughly half of the US's fifty-one light vehicle plants are projected to permanently close in the coming years, with the loss of another 200,000 jobs in the sector, on top of the 560,000 jobs lost this decade.^[60] Combined with robust growth in China, in 2009, this resulted in China becoming the largest automobile producer and market in the world. China 2009 sales had increased to 13.6 million, a significant increase from one million of domestic car sales in 2000.^[61]

See also[link]

Cars portal