FACTOID # 165: Bolivia has 4,500 Navy personnel - which seems like quite a lot for a landlocked country.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

SEARCH ALL

FACTS & STATISTICS    Advanced view

Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 

 

(* = Graphable)

 

 


Encyclopedia > Grand tourer

A grand tourer (Italian: gran turismo), (initialised GT), is a high-performance automobile designed for long-distance driving. Any such car could be considered a grand tourer, but the traditional and most common body style is the two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 seat arrangement. Gran Turismo is Italian and Spanish for grand touring or grand tourisme. ... Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ... Car redirects here. ... Cars can come in a large variety of different body styles. ... The Peugeot 406 Coupé, designed by Pininfarina 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC coupé, noted for its large, angular design 1997 Rover Vitesse Coupe, club coupé Rover P5 Coupe, a traditional four-door coupé Mercedes CLS, a modern four-door coupé Gala-Coupé of Leopold II, Brussels 1970s Sunbeam Alpine fastback coup... 2 plus 2 (2+2) The term 2 plus 2 (or 2+2) is a semi-slang phrase used to describe a car with seating for two passengers up front, plus two for occasional passengers in the rear. ...


Grand tourers differ from typical sports cars (e.g. Lotus Elise, Porsche 911) in that they are usually larger, heavier (sometimes more than 3,500 lbs), and tend to make less compromise in comfort for the sake of driving ability. For this reason, most have front-mounted engines, which leave more space for the cabin than mid-mounted engines. They also tend to have softer suspensions to provide good ride quality. However, grand tourers do have similarities with sports cars, such as their use mainly of rear- or four-wheel drive, and the term sports car may be used to describe a car with grand touring qualities. Very high-performance grand tourers, such as the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Nissan GT-R and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, may be considered to be supercars. 1963 Jaguar E-Type, a classic sports car 1963 Chevrolet Corvette was based upon European sports cars A sports car is an automobile designed for performance driving. ... The Lotus Elise is a roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the English manufacturer Lotus Cars. ... Porsche 911 in hillclimb The Porsche 911 (pronounced as nine eleven) is a sports car made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. ... Sketch of FMR layout The FMR layout, standing for front mid-engine, rear wheel drive, is a layout of an automobile that places the engine in the front, like the FR layout, but pushed back enough that the engines center of gravity is to the rear of the front... Sketch of RMR layout In automobile design, an RMR or Rear Mid-engine, Rear-wheel drive layout is one in which the rear wheels are driven by an engine placed just in front of them, behind the passenger compartment. ... The front suspension components of a Ford Model T. Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels. ... Ride quality refers to the degree of protection offered vehicle occupants from uneven elements in the road surface, or the terrain if driving off-road. ... Rear-wheel drive (or RWD for short) is a common engine/transmission layout used in automobiles. ... This article is about the class of vehicles. ... The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (internal code F139) is Ferraris 2-seat Gran Turismo flagship model, replacing the 575M Maranello in 2006 as a 2007 model. ... The Nissan GT-R is a coupé created by Nissan, released in Japan on December 6, 2007, and expected to be released internationally by early June of 2008. ... The McLaren Mercedes-Benz SLR is a Anglo-German supercar jointly developed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Automotive. ... For other uses, see Supercar (disambiguation). ...

Contents

Performance Characteristics

Because of their powerful engines, grand tourers can still compete with many sports cars in top-speed and acceleration. However, in terms of handling they are a magnitude below sports cars, because of their weight and softer suspension. Grand tourers excel at high speed, long distance travel, or races, and make more practical daily drivers than sports cars.


Classification

In certain professional motorsport classifications, such as the Grand Touring categories promoted by the FIA, the GT car is defined as "an open or closed automobile which has no more than one door on each side and a minimum of two seats situated one on each side of the longitudinal centre line of the car; these two seats must be crossed by the same transversal plane. This car must be able to be used perfectly legally on the open road, and adapted for racing on circuits or closed courses." The Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile, commonly referred to as the FIA, is a non-profit association established in 1904 to represent the interest of motoring organisations and motor car users. ...


Using the above definition, it is still valid to place sport cars such as the Corvette and the 911 in the grand touring category since they do contain many, if not all, the amenities of a grand tourer. However, this weakness in motorsport classification sometimes blurs the line of what is considered a true production grand tourer, and may lead to mis-classification.


Examples of production grand tourers

See also

IMSA GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with automobiles that have two seats and enclosed wheels. ... The FIA GT Championship is a sports car motorsport series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisations (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile (FIA). ... The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) is a series of automobile races. ...

External links

  • GT Photos (Creative Commons Licence)
  • GT Cars - specifications, photos, forums and more.

  Results from FactBites:
 
Grand Tourer - Wikicars (295 words)
Any such car could be considered a grand tourer, but the traditional and most common body style is the coupé (two door) with either a two-seat or a 2+2 seat arrangement.
However, grand tourers do have similarities with sports cars, such as the fact they mainly use rear or four-wheel drive, and the term sports car may be used to describe a car with grand touring qualities.
Very high-performance grand tourers, such as the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren may be considered to be supercars.
Grand tourer - WOI Encyclopedia Italia (191 words)
Any such car could be considered to be a grand tourer, but the traditional and most common body style is a two door coupe with either a two seat or a 2+2 seat arrangement.
Grand tourers differ from sports cars in that they are usually larger, heavier and tend to make less compromise in comfort for the sake of driving ability.
However, grand tourers do have similarities with sports cars, such as the fact they mainly use rear or four wheel drive, and the term sports car may be used to describe a car with grand touring qualities.
  More results at FactBites »


 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.