The World Grand Prix Racers are major characters of Pixar's 12th full-lenght animated feature film Cars 2. They are racers who were chosen by Miles Axlerod to promote his new wonder-fuel Allinol. The competition unites the best athletes of all race types from all over the world to determine the world's fastest car. Though there are 12 spots in each race, there is actually an odd number of 11 racers.
Biography[]
Cars 2[]
At the Wheel Wheel Motel in Radiator Springs, The Residents and vistors watched on TV the Mel Dorado's Show when Miles Axlerod announced his event called "The World Grand Prix", Francesco Bernoulli appeared and talks about Lightning McQueen, later McQueen gets trash-talked by Francesco and later McQueen trash-talks to him because Lightning challenges Francesco to race in the World Grand Prix.
After the travelling to Tokyo, Japan, Lightning greets Lewis Hamilton and Jeff Gorvette at the Tokyo Art Museum, but Mater and McQueen met Francesco Bernoull, later Lightning was the last one to be interviewed by Axlerod, but when Mater runned to drink water, the other racers looked bad at him but Francesco laughs at McQueen.
When the first race was starting, Francesco says his catchaphrase that he is "triple speed", Franceso was hard in the earth section and tried to be in the first place, but Professor Z orders Grem and Acer to use the camera to blow up Miguel Camino, Rip Clutchgoneski and Max Schnell's engines during the race. In the last straightaway, McQueen moves to the right and tries to overtake Bernoulli, to no avail. Bernoulli crosses the finish line 106 milliseconds before McQueen. Behind, Carla Veloso finishes just before Shu Todoroki. Lewis Hamilton arrives alone with a comfortable advantage on the last peloton composed of Nigel Gearsley, Jeff Gorvette, and Raoul ÇaRoule, who arrives a few seconds later.
In the second Grand Prix known as the Porto Corsa Grand Prix, McQueen felts a lot of sadness, guilt and remorse by yelling Mater at Japan, at the middle race, Carla Veloso and Nigel Gearsley's engines overheated at the Casino Bridge. Later on, on the last lap of the race, Shu Todoroki's engine overheated which caused a collision with Miguel Camino, Max Schnell, Raoul ÇaRoule and Rip Clutchgoneski. Fortunately, Jeff Gorvette and Lewis Hamilton managed to avoid the wreck by slamming on their brakes. After the accident, in an interview with Miles Axlerod, he announced that the final race would be held, but without requiring the use of Allinol.
At the end of the previous race, the Porto Corsa Grand Prix, Miles Axlerod stated to Racing Sports Network, "I cannot, in good conscience, continue to risk the lives of any more race cars. The final race will not be run on Allinol". Indeed, during this Grand Prix, three drivers had engine explosions, including Shu Todoroki, who, by blocking the road, caused a pileup involving four other cars. A few seconds after Axlerod's announcement, Lightning McQueen declared he would use Allinol for the final race. He is the only driver in the lineup to use this fuel. All the other drivers used a different brand of fuel from their home countries.
At the London Grand Prix, after Mater tried to escape from Lightning and accelerate off the racetrack, Francesco, who is startled, starts to worry about what is happening. When secret agent Holley Shiftwell suddenly flies by Francesco while using her retractable wings and afterburners, Francesco is startled and really questions what is going on in his immediate surroundings. Francesco is still racing at this point. It soon becomes clear that Mater was attempting to protect McQueen from a bomb while some criminals—referred to as lemons—were attempting to kill McQueen and discredit alternative fuel. Mater quickly notes that the lemons' commander is none other than Axlerod.
Near the end of the film, although McQueen is seen with Allinol logos just before the start of the race, once the start has been made, no driver wears an Allinol logo because of the recent scandal after the London Grand Prix. The race seems to take place over a single lap. Francesco Bernoulli and Lightning McQueen quickly took the first places, on the tarmac section. Raoul ÇaRoule did a great race on the dirt at the edge of the track and stayed behind the leading duo. But Mater runs to McQueen the racers get shocked.
Cars 3[]
Altrough, the other World Grand Prix Racers didn't appear in the film, Jeff Gorvette is the only WGP racecar who appears as a very brief cameo at the Florida 500, it is unknown why Francesco and all the other racers introduced in the Worldgrandprix other than Jeff Gorvette didn't appeared in Cars 3 but it is possible that they were busy with a lot of stuff in their home countries during the entire film.
Video games[]
Cars 2: The Video Game[]
In Cars 2: The Video Game, all the WGP racers appear as playable characters, with the exception of Rip Clutchgoneski and Lewis Hamilton (the latter appeared in beta screenshots of the PSP version, but was removed from the final game; in the PC and console versions for game there is an unused model for Lewis, he also can only be found in the PSP version of the game, as an opponent during races).
Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure[]
In Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure, Francesco is the only WGP racer that appeared in the Bomb Squad level in Tokyo Japan. When the player is a male, their avatar as a car is the same car model as Lewis Hamilton. When the player is female, it is the same car model as Carla Veloso.
Disney INFINITY[]
In Disney Infinity, Lightning and Francesco are the only WGP racers who are playable characters, while Carla and Shu are not playable. Although Raoul ÇaRoule and Max Schnell appear on pictures in Ramone's House of Body Art, they do not make a physical appearance in the game.
Cars: Fast as Lightning[]
In Cars: Fast as Lightning, it seems that nine WGP racers appear in the game as unlockable playables and DLCs.
Trivia[]
- Unlike for the other racers, the paint job of Lightning McQueen, Lewis Hamilton, and Nigel Gearsley are not colored after their respective country's flag. However, Gearsley bears the British racing green along with the Union Jack (British Flag) painted on his hood. McQueen and Hamilton bear their personal colors. It can also be noted that the main color of Jeff Gorvette, yellow, is not a color of his country flag, which is included in his design however. It's also the same for Max Schnell, which his main color is indigo purple, however, his country flag is included in his design.
- Some racers bear their racing league logo. Lightning McQueen is for the Piston Cup, Francesco Bernoulli for Formula Racer, Raoul ÇaRoule for the GRC, and Max Schnell for the WtcL. It can be noted that all are allusions to real racing leagues.
- Suprisingly, Rip Clutchgoneski is the only racer who is not seen with a pit crew chief, just a couple of pitties. However, this may just be a coincidence, as he is a rookie.
- In the Piston Cup in the first movie, the racer's names were not mentioned. However, in the World Grand Prix, the racer's names were mentioned (except for Max Schnell, however his name was already revealed on a promotional image of him and his last name was shown on the after race of Japan)
- Carla Veloso is the only female racer in the World Grand Prix.
- Lightning McQueen is not actually the fastest car in the WGP. In fact he isn't even in the top three. Francesco Bernoulli, Carla Veloso and Shu Todoroki are all faster than him.
- However, he shares his top speed with Jeff Gorvette and Miguel Camino, tying them together for fourth in terms of the top speed.
- In Cars 3 ,Jeff Gorvette appears as a very brief cameo, it is unknown why Francesco and all the other racers introduced in the Worldgrandprix other than Jeff Gorvette didn't appeared in Cars 3 but it is possible that they were preoccupied by business in their home countries during the entire Cars 3 movie.
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