The first Chaparral was a small, lightweight, tubular-frame, Chevrolet powered, front-engined car designed and built by Troutman and Barnes in California. While it performed well, it didn't produce the overall results Jim wanted, so in 1962 Hall set out in his Midland, Texas shop to design and build an all new car, Chaparral 2. Chaparral 2 would be a mid-engine design to put more weight on the driving wheels, lower the center of gravity, reduce weight, and reduce frontal area. Hall reasoned that a fiberglass monocoque chassis, using fewer body parts, would be lighter and stiffer than a tubular steel space frame with full body panels. It would use an American stock block V-8 and a European transaxle for an extremely high power to weight ratio. In Detroit, Bill Mitchell, GM's Vice President of Styling, had one of his designers, Larry Shinoda, toying with mid-engine sports car designs. Over at Chevrolet, the head of the Research and Development Department, Frank Winchell, had one of his young engineers, Jim Musser, at work on an alternative for the Corvair using the Corvair power plant up front, ahead of the axles, in a front wheel drive configuration. Bunkie Knudsen had recently become general manager of the Chevrolet Division. While he had no great love for the troubled Corvair he had inherited, he was a performance car enthusiast and was intrigued with Mitchell's mid-engine sports car idea. He put Winchell and Mitchell together and Frank recognized that the front drive Corvair's engine, transaxle, and suspension would be a natural for the mid-engined car, so he put Musser to work on the project which was to become the Monza GT.Mitchell's concept was to use a tubular space frame like the exotic European sports cars of the time. But after a brief study Musser concluded that while the space frame by itself was an efficient structure, the weight increase when a floorpan, wheel wells, dash panel, etc. were added to make the car suitable for the street, a more efficient approach was to use these panels in a monocoque construction and then cover the rest of the structure with plastic body panels. When the car was completed, Mitchell was so excited with its appearance and performance that he wanted to show it at a display during the Road America Race at Elkhart Lake, so Winchell and Musser drove to Wisconsin.Jim Hall was also on his way to Elkhart Lake to race his front engined Chaparral since the mid-engined Chaparral 2 was still under construction. When he saw the Monza GT on display he immediately struck up a conversation with Winchell and Musser about its design since it was similar in many respect to his Chaparral 2.After Elkhart Lake conversations continued between Hall, Hap Sharp (Jim's partner in Chaparral Cars), Winchell and Musser. Recognizing the limitations of the Corvair powered Monza GT, Chevrolet R&D wanted to develop a transaxle for their more powerful V8 that could become the basis of a mid-engined Corvette. They also wanted to study vehicle dynamics at the limits of control. What better approach was there then involvement in a program with Hall? Chaparral's facility included a skidpad and 7 turn, 2-mile test track. In January 1964 a track rental agreement between Chaparral and R&D was signed that began the program.The results of this relationship were truly remarkable. It was Hall that first recognized the importance of aero downforce and balancing that force front to rear to achieve near neutral handling in high speed turns. The aerodynamics of the contemporary race car still has its origins in the Chaparral program. Even passenger cars utilize the Chaparral's front spoiler and many employ rear wings or spoilers and other ground effects. Sharp's early contribution was the idea for a torque converter transaxle. Hall remembers the occasion: "One day after we were out here running, Hap said, 'You know, I don't understand why we need a transmission. Hell, it'll spin the wheels in any gear you put it in. If we had a torque converter, why wouldn't that work?'"In early 1964 Chevy R&D's Jim Musser showed up in Midland with two cars that would have a major impact on future Chaparrals. The first was the GS II. (Zora Duntov had just built several light weight front engined Corvettes called the Grand Sport, hence at Chevrolet, Musser's mid engined car was dubbed the Grand Sport II). This car was similar in concept to the Chaparral, but was intended to be a prototype for a production mid-engined sports car. It incorporated a steel monocoque chassis but more important it had a torque converter transaxle. Driving evaluations on the Chaparral track by both Hall and Sharp verified that the torque converter concept was suitable for a race car.
The second car was the Suspension Test Vehicle (STV) which had a fully adjustable suspension system so various roll center heights, camber changes, and anti dive/lift could be evaluated. Hall logged many miles around Rattlesnake driving the STV with numerous suspension settings until the ideal configuration was determined.
Several months later Musser returned to Chaparral Cars with a new GS II. It was referred to as the GS IIb to distinguish it from the original GS II which now was referred to as the GS IIa. The GS IIb utilized an aluminum monocoque chassis to reduce weight to better evaluated the torque converter transaxle. It was mated to an aluminum Chevrolet small block high output engine. The IIb also incorporated the suspension geometry developed on the STV. Because of its lightweight and the advantage of the torque converter transaxle the IIb posted better lap times than the Chaparral 2. As a result the engine/ transaxle combination was tested in the Chaparral 2 to further evaluate it under actual racing conditions.The IIb was strictly a development vehicle, it was never raced, however it became the prototype for the Chaparral 2C (the name "2C "was used so as not to confuse the vehicle with the IIa and IIb).With further development the 2C became the 2E. The changes included moving the radiators to behind the doors for more weight on the driving wheels, but the biggest change was of course the high mounted rear wing. This was unique in that the wing mounted to the rear suspension uprights to put the down force directly into the tires without compressing the suspension. It also was adjustable with a foot pedal from the maximum down force angle for cornering to a minimum drag angle for the straightaway. Of all the Chaparrals this car was Jim Hall's favorite. There was a second 2E built but one of the 2E's crashed so only one has survived and is currently in the Chaparral Gallery in Midland.As the favorite Chaparral and considering its technical importance, Hall has decided once again to team up with Musser to produce a limited number of "Continuation Series" 2E's for possible use in vintage racing. The new 2E's are true continuation vehicles, not only because they are being built by the original people but also because they are using the original 2E body molds along with chassis parts made from the original engineering drawings. The first of the new 2E series will be displayed at the 2005 Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races where the Chaparral is to be the featured marque.
This number 65 is the one used by Phil Hill in the Can – Am 1966. In the six rounds, he completed 4 and finished in the following positions, 4th in Bridgehampton, 2nd in Mospet, 1st in Laguna Seca and 7th in Las Vegas.
The Canadian-American Challenge Cup or Can-Am, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974.Can-Am started out as a race series for Group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (Can) and four races in the US (Am). The series was initially sponsored by J-Wax. The Series used the FIA Group 7 category with unrestricted engine capacity.The Group 7 category was essentially a formula libre for sports cars; the regulations were minimal and permitted unlimited engine sizes (and allowed turbocharging and supercharging), virtually unrestricted aerodynamics, and were as close as any major international racing series ever got to anything goes. As long as the car had two seats and bodywork enclosing the wheels, and met basic safety standards, it was legal... Group 7 had arisen as a category for non-homologated sports car 'specials' in Europe and for a while in the 1960s Group 7 racing was popular in the United Kingdom as well as a class in hillclimb racing in Europe. Group 7 cars were designed more for short-distance sprints than for endurance racing. Some Group 7 cars were also built in Japan by Nissan and Toyota, but these did not compete outside their homeland (though some of the Can-Am competitors went over to race against them occasionally).SCCA sports car racing was becoming more popular with European constructors and drivers, and the United States Road Racing Championship for large-capacity sports racers eventually gave rise to the Group 7 Can-Am series. There was good prize and appearance money and plenty of trade backing; the series was lucrative for its competitors but resulted, by its end, in truly outrageous cars with well over 1000 horsepower (750 kW) (some teams claimed 1500 HP in qualifying trim), wings, active downforce generation, very light weight and unheard of speeds. Similar Group 7 cars ran in the European Interserie series, but this was much lower-key than the Can-Am.A second generation of Can-Am followed, but this was a fundamentally different series based initially on converted Formula 5000 cars with closed-wheel bodies. There was also a 2L class based in Formula 2 chassis.The Can-Am is mostly remembered as the last series to allow unlimited motor racing before it became definitely over in 1974.
The second car was the Suspension Test Vehicle (STV) which had a fully adjustable suspension system so various roll center heights, camber changes, and anti dive/lift could be evaluated. Hall logged many miles around Rattlesnake driving the STV with numerous suspension settings until the ideal configuration was determined.
Several months later Musser returned to Chaparral Cars with a new GS II. It was referred to as the GS IIb to distinguish it from the original GS II which now was referred to as the GS IIa. The GS IIb utilized an aluminum monocoque chassis to reduce weight to better evaluated the torque converter transaxle. It was mated to an aluminum Chevrolet small block high output engine. The IIb also incorporated the suspension geometry developed on the STV. Because of its lightweight and the advantage of the torque converter transaxle the IIb posted better lap times than the Chaparral 2. As a result the engine/ transaxle combination was tested in the Chaparral 2 to further evaluate it under actual racing conditions.The IIb was strictly a development vehicle, it was never raced, however it became the prototype for the Chaparral 2C (the name "2C "was used so as not to confuse the vehicle with the IIa and IIb).With further development the 2C became the 2E. The changes included moving the radiators to behind the doors for more weight on the driving wheels, but the biggest change was of course the high mounted rear wing. This was unique in that the wing mounted to the rear suspension uprights to put the down force directly into the tires without compressing the suspension. It also was adjustable with a foot pedal from the maximum down force angle for cornering to a minimum drag angle for the straightaway. Of all the Chaparrals this car was Jim Hall's favorite. There was a second 2E built but one of the 2E's crashed so only one has survived and is currently in the Chaparral Gallery in Midland.As the favorite Chaparral and considering its technical importance, Hall has decided once again to team up with Musser to produce a limited number of "Continuation Series" 2E's for possible use in vintage racing. The new 2E's are true continuation vehicles, not only because they are being built by the original people but also because they are using the original 2E body molds along with chassis parts made from the original engineering drawings. The first of the new 2E series will be displayed at the 2005 Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races where the Chaparral is to be the featured marque.
This number 65 is the one used by Phil Hill in the Can – Am 1966. In the six rounds, he completed 4 and finished in the following positions, 4th in Bridgehampton, 2nd in Mospet, 1st in Laguna Seca and 7th in Las Vegas.
The Canadian-American Challenge Cup or Can-Am, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974.Can-Am started out as a race series for Group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (Can) and four races in the US (Am). The series was initially sponsored by J-Wax. The Series used the FIA Group 7 category with unrestricted engine capacity.The Group 7 category was essentially a formula libre for sports cars; the regulations were minimal and permitted unlimited engine sizes (and allowed turbocharging and supercharging), virtually unrestricted aerodynamics, and were as close as any major international racing series ever got to anything goes. As long as the car had two seats and bodywork enclosing the wheels, and met basic safety standards, it was legal... Group 7 had arisen as a category for non-homologated sports car 'specials' in Europe and for a while in the 1960s Group 7 racing was popular in the United Kingdom as well as a class in hillclimb racing in Europe. Group 7 cars were designed more for short-distance sprints than for endurance racing. Some Group 7 cars were also built in Japan by Nissan and Toyota, but these did not compete outside their homeland (though some of the Can-Am competitors went over to race against them occasionally).SCCA sports car racing was becoming more popular with European constructors and drivers, and the United States Road Racing Championship for large-capacity sports racers eventually gave rise to the Group 7 Can-Am series. There was good prize and appearance money and plenty of trade backing; the series was lucrative for its competitors but resulted, by its end, in truly outrageous cars with well over 1000 horsepower (750 kW) (some teams claimed 1500 HP in qualifying trim), wings, active downforce generation, very light weight and unheard of speeds. Similar Group 7 cars ran in the European Interserie series, but this was much lower-key than the Can-Am.A second generation of Can-Am followed, but this was a fundamentally different series based initially on converted Formula 5000 cars with closed-wheel bodies. There was also a 2L class based in Formula 2 chassis.The Can-Am is mostly remembered as the last series to allow unlimited motor racing before it became definitely over in 1974.
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