The go-fast crazies at GM Performance Parts are kicking off the 4th-annual LSX Shootout this weekend at the Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, MO. There’s going to be plenty of racing and fun going on of course, with several drag racing and car show classes so every car touting an LS motor can jump in on the action. GMPP is even brining out a few toys of their own that make our toys look like well, toys. A LSA-powered ’96 Impala SS, a ’89 Camaro with a LSX454 fitted underhood and a 4th-gen Camaro with a LS9 shoved between the front rails will be on display for your gawking pleasure.

If you have the pleasure of owning an car with a LS powertrain, then you really don’t want to miss this event. It’s a no-hold-barred LS series love fest with plenty of fun for every taste and attitude.

The full press release is included below, but for the full details on the LSX Shootout, head on over to www.nmcadigital.com/lsx.

OFFICIAL RELEASE:

GM PERFORMANCE PARTS SHOWS PROJECT CARS AND NEW LSX PARTS AT FOURTH-ANNUAL LSX SHOOTOUT

GRAND BLANC, Mich. – GM Performance Parts returns as the title sponsor for the fourth annual LSX Shootout and will be on hand with an impressive display of crate engines, parts and project vehicles – including the three GMPP vehicles featured on the cover of the November 2010 issue of GM High-Tech Performance. Each is powered by a new GMPP crate engine.

The project vehicles include:
·        An LSA-powered 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS, using the same 556-horsepower supercharged 6.2L engine found in the Cadillac CTS-V series
·        A 1989 Chevrolet Camaro powered by GMPP’s LSX454 crate engine
·        A fourth-generation Camaro equipped with GMPP’s new LS9 crate engine, which is based on the 638-horsepower supercharged 6.2L engine used in the Corvette ZR1.

Also on display will be the E-ROD ’55 Chevy, featuring the emissions-compliant LS3 E-ROD crate engine package (California EO pending). The E-ROD package includes the 430-horsepower LS3 engine, catalytic converters and other emissions equipment that enable vehicles to pass California’s stringent emissions tests.

The LSX Shootout takes place Oct. 7-10, at Gateway International Raceway, near St. Louis. It features several drag racing classes and car show classes for all vehicles powered by LS engines.

“The LSX Shootout is the premier event for racers and street enthusiasts with LS power, and GM Performance Parts is behind them 100 percent,” said Dr. Jamie Meyer, product integration manager for GM Performance Parts. “The project vehicles we’re bringing demonstrate the possibilities for swapping an LS engine into any vehicle, and we welcome enthusiasts to look them over and ask questions about how to do it themselves.”

GMPP’s parts and engine displays will include the latest LSX maximum-performance parts. They’re suited for drag racing and are designed to support engines making 2,000 horsepower, or more, with supercharging, turbocharging or nitrous. Among them will be the LSX Bowtie blocks – including the tall-deck version for building large-displacement engines of up to 500 cubic inches – as well as new drag-race six-bolt cylinder heads, intake manifolds and forged rotating components. GMPP personnel will be available throughout the event to answer tech questions and explain the key attributes of the new parts.

“As more and more competitors discover the advantages of running an LS engine, we’re rolling out more racing-specific parts that give them the tools they need to go quicker,” said Dr. Meyer. “General Motors designed, engineered, and brought to market the LS engine family, and there is simply no other manufacturer that offers more parts to build the LS engine of your dreams.”

Racing and street enthusiasts can also tap the hands-on expertise of technicians from Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center, one of the country’s largest GMPP dealers and installers.  

“Our guys are true LS gearheads,” said Nickey Fowler, of Scoggin-Dickey Performance Center. “We invest in training on things like camshaft and valvetrain theory, so the technicians we’ll have at the LSX Shootout draw from a deep well of classroom and hands-on knowledge.”

Along with the technical support and parts displays, Scoggin-Dickey will stock popular parts for purchase at the event, in the event racers need a last-minute part to keep them in competition.

It pays to win
GM Performance Parts will award the fastest LS-powered racers at the LSX Shootout and pay a $250 bonus to any racer who wins his or her category using an LSX Bowtie engine block. GMPP will also supply awards to all racing class and show class winners.

More information about GM Performance Parts is available at gmperformanceparts.com. Details on the LSX Shootout are available at www.nmcadigital.com/lsx.

About GM Performance Parts
GM Performance Parts (GMPP) fuels the passions of automotive enthusiasts with factory-engineered and fully assembled crate engines, engine parts and vehicle accessories, including specialized licensed parts and accessories. GM Performance Parts is the only source for brand-new, classic small-block and big-block crate engines, which use all-new parts, including the cylinder block, rotating assembly and cylinder heads. GMPP is also the leader in “LS” performance, with a full range of production-based crate engines and the growing family of LSX maximum performance engines and parts. GMPP’s LS-based E-ROD engine packages include emissions equipment that is certified in California for special-construction vehicles, delivering high-performance with low emissions. No other manufacturer offers a comparable emissions-compliant system. Customers can view information and purchase engines and parts at gmperformanceparts.com.

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As any warm-blooded creature knows, Forza Motorsport brings some of the most realistic, awe-inspiring and ultimately fun driving action available to any set-top video game box. Introduce the new Kinect for Xbox 360, formerly known as “Project Natal”, into the racing equation and you have an experience that could borderline on the unreal. Thanks to the seemingly magical team behind the Xbox, that’s exactly what is going to happen come next year. Controller-less racing action that makes you as much of a part of the car as the faux Corvette ZR1 you drive in your dreams.

Kinect for Xbox 360 has a lot to offer car aficionados besides just racing. Without a physical controller in hand, your body becomes the controller – further blurring the line between fantasy and reality – which a good thing… we think. Notable non-racing features of the Kinect, that you can see for yourself in the video at the bottom, is the ability to check out your car “in person” as your avatar moves along with your movements. This slick element allows you to get up close to specific body parts, open doors with your hand, and even press the engine start button to bring the engine to life.

After the engine is on, steering the car is easy with your hands out in front of you at 10 and 2. Power and brake is controlled with a little more finesse by placing your foot out in front of you and oscillating your ankle up and down like you would while nestled in the seat of your daily drive. All interesting stuff and it seems like a hoot but we’ll reserve final judgment until we try it out for ourselves. Not doubting the genii at Xbox but it’s hard enough to control a 800hp RWD-swapped and LNF-powered Cobalt SS in Forza 3 with a controller, much less by flopping around the living room like a narcoleptic wiener dog to try and stop it from hooning it up all over screen.

While we’ll have to wait until 2011 to play Kinect-enabled Forza, GM has announced that they’ll be partnering up with Microsoft to feature the Volt in the first Kinect racing game from the Microsoft Game Studios. Called “Kinect Joy Ride” it will provide the ability to go on a virtual test drive of the Volt and “kick the tires” as it were.

With guys like our buddy Adam Dension inside GM leading the charge, Chevy is stepping up to the plate to be the first ones to take advantage of a lot of new technology lately. Couple this new game with the Volt iPhone app and the 2011 Chevy Volt is seemingly trending towards being a techie’s dream car.

Check out the video below for a demonstration of Forza with Kinect:

Earlier today I saw a tweet from Tom Henderson at GM (http://twitter.com/TomEHenderson) that put a big smile on my face. Tom is a great guy and a huge GM advocate and close friend to us here at GMTS. There is no denying how 2009 went for not only GM but for the rest of the world. It was tough and brought on a strange time and feeling that we were not used to and did not know how to handle. What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger right?

Through this whole mess last year, we stood strong as did most of you loyal supporters of the GM brand and family – and for that we are forever grateful. 2009 came and went, bringing us into a new year and a new chance to see some great changes and a chance to see GM bring out some amazing products that they have been working tirelessly on for the past few years. Trust me when I tell you, we have some really good news that we are dying to release on some new products that will make many of you very happy. More on that in some future posts.

For now, I am excited to share something with you that Tom shared with me. This will make you proud and more than likely put a nice smile on your face. See video on bottom.

This video made me incredibly proud of what GM is doing and their efforts to pay back the money they owe. GM also released this statement today that we thought we would share as well:

General Motors Company Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre today announced that GM has made its final payment of $5.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury and Export Development Canada, paying back its government loans in full, ahead of schedule.

The announcement came at a ceremony here to highlight an investment of $257 million at GM’s Fairfax, Kansas, and Detroit Hamtramck assembly centers.  The investment will prepare Fairfax to build the next generation of Chevrolet’s award-winning Malibu, and make Detroit Hamtramck a second source for Malibu, ensuring that Chevrolet can meet market demand for this popular mid-size sedan.

“GM is able to repay the taxpayers in full, with interest, ahead of schedule, because more customers are buying vehicles like the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse we build here in Fairfax,” said Whitacre. “We are now building some of the best cars, trucks, and crossovers we have ever built, and customers are taking note.  Our dealers are increasing their sales, we are investing in our plants, and we are restoring and creating jobs.”

The U.S., Canadian, and Ontario governments, as part of the launch of the new GM, provided loans of $8.4 billion and took equity stakes in the new company.  Today’s payment of $5.8 billion ($4.7 billion to the U.S. Treasury and $C1.1 billion to Export Development Canada) completes the payback of these loans.

“GM’s ability to pay back the loans ahead of schedule is a sign that our plan is working, and that we are on the right track.  It is also an important first step toward allowing our stockholders to reduce their equity investments in GM,” said Whitacre. “We still have much hard work ahead of us, but we are making progress toward our vision of designing, building, and selling the world’s best vehicles.

“We appreciate the support the taxpayers have given GM, and our great new products are tangible results of that support.”

Back in August we reached out to all of you to submit the questions you’d like to have answered by the infamous John Heinricy. We got with John to get answers to your questions and posted the entire Q&A as a special treat to you, the GMTunerSource.com fan. Well after that feature was over and John had spent a little more seat time in the Stage 1-equipped Cobalt SS Turbo, we received some more questions from all of you and followed up with John to see what his long-term opinions and observations were of the kit. Mr. Heinricy was kind enough to give us his take, which we have exclusively after the break. 

Last week we got word that famed race car driver and former Assistant Chief Director for Corvette and Director of the GM Performance Division John Heinricy would be driving around in a Cobalt SS Turbo that was fitted with the upcoming LNF Stage 1 kit. Upon hearing that, we reached out to you to send us questions that you would like to see John answer about his thoughts on the LNF Stage 1 kit. We compiled those questions and shot them over to John, who after spending some time getting to know the Stage 1 Cobalt SS better, answered them for the GMTS fans. We're excited to have John on here for you guys so without further ado, here is his take on the Cobalt SS LNF Stage 1 kit and answers to just about all of your questions.

There has been a lot of coverage of the Cobalt SS Turbo Stage kits on GMTS lately and for good reason - it's kind of big deal. However, even with all the coverage of the kit, the talk around town from all of you has all been "I want to drive it!" Not ones to let anyone down, GMTS and Bill Duncan, Design System Engineer at GM HPVO, teamed up to get some enthusiasts some seat time in a Stage 1 equipped 2010 Cobalt SS Turbo. Bill was actually so excited to see what fans and current SS Turbo owners would think of the kit, that he went out this past weekend to several stops in Southern Michigan to see fans reactions and answer questions firsthand.

We’ve been working hard over here to bring all of you the latest on the LNF Stage kits as the information becomes available. As we released more and more information it seems we received more and more questions, from you, about the LNF Stage kit. Is it a good deal? Why doesn’t it deliver X amount more horsepower? Will it turn my Cobalt SS Turbo into a chick magnet? While we’ve worked with the great folks over at GM to get answers to every one of your questions, one seems to still linger around – why doesn’t the LNF Stage 1 make more horsepower than the LSJ Stage 2 kit? While this may seem like a ridiculous question it deserves an answer. So we got with Bill Duncan over at GM HPVO again and he helped us explain the answer a little better.

The Cobalt Stage 1 Kit is well along its way to being available at a dealer near you. As such, we hear more details weekly that we can then pass on to you, the Cobalt SS Turbo owner and fan. If you are the lucky owner one of these turbocharged monsters, you’ll be able to run out and buy the new Stage 1 kit from a GMPP dealer and instantly add 20hp and 60lb.-ft of torque to your Cobalt and keep your full factory warranty intact. In addition to the added power, the kit serves as the gateway mod for the Cobalt and will disable the “learn down feature” of the stock PCM. This nifty feature allows your Cobalt to fully utilize any other modifications (intake, header, exhaust, downpipe, etc) that you’ve may have or wish to add in the future – making your dream 350hp Cobalt a very close reality.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson greeted the world today at a special Product and Technology Meeting to share with everyone some great news about the upcoming Chevy Volt and other current GM initiatives. Fritz and the rest of his team gave a rundown of the latest and greatest (we’ll get to that in a second) and in staying true to the new GM mission of making the company about the customers, they opened the floor to questions from the Twittersphere and from the Fastlane blog at GMBlogs.com. A lot was covered so we’ll give a quick rundown of the highlights of the show and what all this really means to enthusiasts.

Well this is interesting… GM just released some exciting info about a webcast that will be held tomorrow morning that anyone who wants to get up at 8:00am EDT can sit in on and watch. The meeting will cover “product, brand and customer-outreach strategies” and while some of you may not have much interest in the latter two, we figured you certainly would like the possibility of new products coming to us – Cruze ZR1, Camaro V, Buick GNX, Pontiac G8 16.4 – the possibilities are endless! ;)