Chaparral Legends...

[BigsGT]

Many of you are true race afficionados, and know well the history of auto racing in the US. Others are attracted to our cars and only come to know that history as they get more involved with the Ford GT. Still others have had direct experience with the cars and drivers when that history was taking place.

Any of you who have been fortunate enough to spend some time with Ralphie know that he falls in the latter catagory. Yesterday I was lucky enough to spend some time with him and donnymac, and after some probing he humbly told a few stories of the times he spent with some of the legends of racing. He's had some experiences others of us could only dream of, including hanging out with Phil Hill before and during his time as world champion in 1961!

Donnymac was kind enough and had the connections to set us up for breakfast with Ronnie Lowe, who is the caretaker and curator of the Chaparral Wing of the Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas. After some awesome Tex-Mex at Reyna's Ronnie took us over to the museum and gave us a private tour and even more stories of the cars that made our hometown hero Jim Hall and so many of the world's best drivers famous. Jim Hall was the pioneer of applying aerodynamics to race cars, and the Chaparral cars were dominate in the 60's and 70's. So many of his concepts have been applied to todays cars as well as the GT40 and our modern versions.

It was an extremely enjoyable morning for all, and made me very proud of American engineering prowess, the entrepreneurial spirit and Midland, Texas. If you've never seen these cars up close it's worth a visit, and donnymac, Peak and I as well as some other forum members who hail from here would be happy to host you. A few pictures from the tour follow. Hopefully when Ralphie gets settled he'll post some more from his camera!

The Nurumbugring winning Chaparral 2D:

The 2J 'Sucker Car' (can't believe I didn't get a good picture of the business end of this car, but it can be seen in mural behind them in picture 4)

There are a few more pictures in my gallery, and here's a link to the Chaparral website with more pictures and history:

http://www.chaparralcars.com/

 

[Howard]

I saw that "sucker" in action at Watkins Glen, in the 70's I think. I'll never forget the sound of the wailing snowmobile engine used for the suction, or the debris thrown out the back of the car from the track.

Howard

 

[Fast Freddy]

we should have a rally in west texas someday. since the BIG Bend road race is headquartered in Fort Stockton we could do Midland, Texas too and visit the Petroleum Museum too which is where these Chaparral cars are located. we could do a road race on Chaparral's race track too. i bet we could even find an airport around there to do some 1 mile top speed shootouts on too. if not there are plenty of long roads around west texas that could be blocked off for a day. i plan on doing the BIG Bend open road race someday in my Viper and when i do i will be sure to stop by Midland and check out Chaparral :thumbsup

 

[Piccola]

Thanks for posting about your experience Don! After DonnyMac had posted pictures of his GT in that Petroleum museum, and getting a small glimpse of what was in there, I was hoping we would find a way to be able to include Midland in this last rally. I'm happy to hear that at least a few of you were able to see it!! :thumbsup

I had the pleasure to ride along with Ralphie during much of the rally and heard some amazing stories! I think that anyone who has been lucky enough to spend time in his company would agree that even without that background, Ralphie is a lot of fun and just a great guy to be around. But after reading a number of racing books and books on the history of the GT40's, it was incredibly bizarre to hear real life stories from someone who was actually there (and not just watching the race from the sidelines). :cheers

 

[fjpikul]

Yes, I'm sure Ralphie had some "good" stories. Did he want to show his "etchings?"

 

[donnymac]

Ralphie and Ronnie had good stories to exchange. Hill, Hall, Penske, Shelby, Foyt and the list went on. Very rich history - especially the etchings :cheers

I would echo BigsGT offer. Y'all have a standing invitation to visit whenever in our country. Would be our( Bigs, Peak and me) pleasure to host a private tour.

FYI - paperwork is pending with Ford for a Chaparral/GT40 swap. March is target date. I'll post details when they are finalized.

 

[PeakCompletions]

Great pics guys! Thanks for the invite :willy

Actually I was out of town anyway that day :biggrin

Myself, Camilo, DBK and Francesca went on a private tour with one of the museum managers last Tuesday... definitely worth going to see as it is a great museum.. It was really neat watching Camilo talk about the different aspects of the designs...

hmmm gt40 swap huh??

thanks again for sharing the pics :cheers

 

[RALPHIE]

Chaparral Cars - More Pictures - Part 1

What a great time I had reuniting with these cars - Donnymac set up the private tour with Ronnie, and Don & I just were in heaven as we we escorted into the show areas!

This series of pictures are of the Chaparral 2 - the car that won the USRRC Championship in 1964 & 1965 and also the 1965 Sebring 12-Hour - set up as a typical paddock setting.

http://www.petroleummuseum.org/Gallery/Chaparral2.html

 

[dbtgt]

This is too cool! I wish I could have been there!
Way to go, guys! :cheers

 

[Kingman]

:agree:

 

[RALPHIE]

Chaparral Cars - More Pictures - Part 2

Here are Ronnie, Donnymac and Don in front of the Chaparral 2H, a streamlined ground effects car that John Surtees drove, but it never quite got all the handling right. The 2J "Sucker" or "Vacuum Cleaner" car is shown in the poster to the rear, which used a snowmobile engine driving 2 fans and Lexan skirts about ½" above the pavement to evacuate the air to create a suction down force. The car was quickly banned after sitting on the pole in three of its four starts. Clever ideas - these Texans :thumbsup
- http://www.petroleummuseum.org/Gallery/Chaparral2J.html

The next picture shows Don, Donnymac, and myself in front of a Chaparral replica car.

The 3rd picture, clockwise from left shows Chaparral 2F, which raced in the 1967 World Manufacturer’s Championship Series with Phil Hill and Mike Spence at the controls. It used an aluminum BBC (Big Block Chevy), and, while undergoing many teething problems, managed to win the last race of the season, the BOAC 500 race held at Brands Hatch, England - http://www.petroleummuseum.org/Gallery/Chaparral2F.html

Behind the 2F is the 2H, described earlier, with the poster of the 2J behind it.

Centered in the picture is the Chaparral 2E, the first car which carried a wing that applied downforce directly to the rear hubs. It raced successfully in the CAN-AM series in 1966 and finished 1-2 at Laguna Seca with Hill and Jim Hall respectively. Behind the 2E is a poster showing the Chaparral 2 in action with either Jim Hall or Hap Sharp at the wheel. http://www.petroleummuseum.org/Gallery/Chaparral2E.html

Finally, on the right, is the 2D Chaparral, which raced in the 1966 World Manufacturer’s Championship Series, with Phil Hill and Jo Bonnier winning the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometer race - http://www.petroleummuseum.org/Gallery/Chaparral2D.html

Jim Hall was (actually, still is) an exceptional engineer who continually created his Chaparral cars with ingenuity far beyond other racing sports car manufacturers of his day. I put him the league with Lotus's Colin Chapman in driving forward the technology of racing machines throughout the '60's - http://www.petroleummuseum.org/Gallery/Chaparral2K.html and '70's. His Indy car design (2K) of 1979 won the 1980 Indianapolis 500 - http://www.petroleummuseum.org/Gallery/Chaparral2K.html

The record of the Chaparral cars can be seen at http://www.chaparralcars.com/legacy.php

Lastly, upon leaving the Petroleum Museum, Donnymac took me out to Rattlesnake Raceway, the proving track that Hall used to test his cars, and the shops where the cars were fabricated - http://www.thechaparralfiles.com/rattlesnake_raceway.php

Thanks Donnymac for a fantastic visit!! :thumbsup :thumbsup

:cheers

 

[SteveA]

Very cool stuff.
I was a 11 year old boy in the pits for the 69 Riverside Can Am race. I recall all the buzz about the sucker call. Sadly it broke in practice as I recall and only made a few parade laps at the start. That was back when not many had an answer for the orange Mclaren cars.

 

[fjpikul]

BigSy actually looks sober for a change.

 

[Piccola]

I have been quite busy and have not had a chance to post prior to this, but I wanted to share a little bit about my experience. About 2 weeks ago I was passing through Midland, TX, and I stopped by the Petroleum Museum. I had enjoyed reading the posts from Bigs and Ralphie on the Chaparral Cars, and of course also enjoyed reading up on the history from the Petroleum Museum’s web-site before going there. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to see these cars in person! :banana

I got in touch with Donnymac, and despite his incredibly busy schedule, he was kind enough to meet up with me at the museum. Ronnie came over as well and gave us a personal tour of the Chaparral Cars, similar to the one he gave to Ralphie and Don. There were a lot of neat historical facts that he threw in while talking about the cars. :thumbsup

This is a reproduction of the Chaparral 2E (they obviously don’t let you sit in the real one). In the picture, I'm sitting up, but when you sit back and reach for where the pedals are, you feel like you are almost laying back. I would not like to race a car in that position, and it's not 1/2 as reclined as the 2H!

Below is a shot of the real Chaparral 2E. This was Jim Hall's favorite car. The high wing was created for downforce around turns, so you could go fast around corners. However, because of the drag it created on fast straights, Hall made the wing movable. The car was an automatic rather than manual, so there was no clutch. Instead, there was a special pedal that the driver used with his left foot to change the angle of the wing. Movable parts on the car for this purpose were later banned.

Instead of having one big radiator in front of the car, the 2E had 2 smaller radiators on the sides of the car behind the doors for more weight over the wheels. I was curious about the 2 black panels over the front wheels with holes in them. It seemed an odd location for a vent, but according to Ronnie, Jim Hall experimented with air flow quite a bit. The pedal used for the wing was also used to control air flow at the front of the car to balance the downforce across the car. The area behind the front tires was an area that had air pressure build up. Putting vents there to allow air to flow through relieved that pressure. Here is a picture of the vents:

 

[Piccola]

some more...

During the tour, Ronnie took us into the garage, where the Chaparral 2 was taken apart. People are not usually allowed to go in there, but Ronnie let Donny and me inside. :biggrin

They rotate each of the cars through this garage at different times, and do maintenance on them to make sure that each car is in good working condition. Just like at the Penske Museum in Scottsdale, any of the cars could be driven out of there if fluids and gas were put in them. Also, all of the Chaparrals in the museum are street legal (several even have license plates), they all have to carry a spare tire and have enough luggage room to hold 2 bags.

According to both Donnymac and Ronnie, they actually do take these cars out on the street for a drive every once in a while. Now THAT would be cool! To drive through Midland, TX, stop to fill up for gas, and see a Chaparral car pull up next to you!!!!

In the garage, and several places in the museum, you can see the roadrunner bird on the wall. As many of you know, the Chaparral Cars are named after the roadrunner. (Another name for the roadrunner is Chaparral Cock.) The roadrunner prefers running on the ground to flying (hence it’s name) and can go 17 mph - not bad for a 1 lb bird, and an appropriate name for such a fast car! It is so quick, that it can catch and eat rattlesnakes, which is ironically the name of the Chaparral Cars 2-mile test track – Rattlesnake Raceway.

I don’t have much to add from what Ralphie, Donny, and Don shared about the cars. However, here is an interesting fact about the Chaparral 2. In order to be street legal, it needed a horn (which it didn’t have). So, they found one of those bike horns that you squeeze (which Ronnie let me do) and put that on the car. Ironically, the sound it makes is JUST like the “meep meep” sound that the Roadrunner makes in the cartoon just before taking off at high speeds and leaving Wile E Coyote in the dust.

 

[Piccola]

and a few more...

These are a couple shots of the Chaparral 2D. You can see the spare tire in the back.

And this (below) is the Chaparral 2H. You would not want to be in this car if you were claustrophobic! According to Ronnie, both sides of this car used to be flat, just like the passenger side. (If you look at the passenger side, it doesn't look like there is enough room, but apparently, there was...barely.) Because the driver is so low in the car, even with the mirrors, visibility is a challenge, and he has to look out of these little windows cut into the panel in front of the door to be able to see if there is a car next to him.

Jim Hall was in an accident in the Chaparral 2G (which is not at the museum) during the time the 2H was being tested and developed. Because he was hurt and unable to drive, John Surtees became the driver. He had a lot of problems with the shape of the car, the way it drove, and being almost horizontal in the car. That is why they decided to open up the driver side, allowing him to sit up a little bit higher.

Last but not least, I got to see the 2J (sucker car). Bigs and Ralphie already mentioned just about everything about this car, but it was wild to look at. Here are a couple more pix:

At the end of the tour, Ronnie took me through the back of the museum and into his own garage/shop. He had every kind of picture, article, you name it on the Chaparral Cars in that garage. It was SOOOOOO cool!!!!! (Sorry, no pictures of his garage.)

Donny, it was great to see you again! Thanks for taking the pictures inside the garage with Ronnie, and thank you Ronnie and Donnymac for the visit and very enjoyable tour of the Chaparral Cars!!! :cheers I'm looking forward to coming back in the near future when another special car arrives... :wink

 

[timcantwell]

Thanks for posting the story and pictures. I was hoping to stop in at the museum on my way home from the Rally, but too many people, and too little time. I'll get there soon I hope!

 

[donnymac]

Great report MJ! Ronnie enjoys giving the private tours. Glad you paid us a visit and you're always welcome. Same goes for the GT clan - you're always welcome down here in Texas. :cheers