Chaparral race cars

[Walter F.]

Not sure if I spelled it right but I remember back in the late 1960s a car called Chevrolet Chapperal. Did Chevrolet have any input into this race car and did it as Shelby said to the Corvette put the Cobras in the weeds?

[Don H.]

Re: Chapperal

Walt,
just Google Chaparral cars, or Jim Hall or Hap Sharp for all the info in the world on the Chaparral in the USRRC and Can-Am series' back in the very good old days. Hall had been one of Zora's racer of the GS in Nassau, and probably would have been factory supported if GM had not pulled out of racing.
Here is one site with info on the Chaparrals. http://www.chaparralcars.com/

[Ed D.]

Re: Chapperal

As Don said Google Chaparral and there is lots of information. I had the pleasure of seeing Jim Hall at Road America in 1965. He did not have offical support form Chevy, but some racing state of the art items, for the time, were part of the Jim Hall's program (automatic trans, aluminum blocks, ect}. Jim was a very good engineer,and driver, in his own right, however everyone thinks he had inside information and support form Chevy. The trip to Road America was the first step in me getting totally motivated and interested in buying my first Corvette

[Dick W.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

I have a pair of magnesium valve covers that were made for him. Just more of my wall art

[Duke W.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

Chevrolet R and D's (under Frank Winchell) close involvement with Jim Hall and his Chaparral Cars operation is very well documented in Paul Van Valkenburgh's "Chevrolet Racing: Fourteen Years of Raucious Silence". It's been reprinted recently after being MIA for decades and is available from SAE and maybe other sources.

Duntov had no involvement as he was not part of R and D, which was purely a research organization totally separated from production cars. Hall's Chapparals were built to compete in the FIA Group 6 prototype category and Can-Am, both of which had very liberal rules to allow for innovation. Since Winchell was interested in gaining a quantitative understanding of vehicle dynamics and aerodynamics, it was a very synergistic association that met both organizations needs.

Duke

[Martin M.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

At the 1987 Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca we watched the Chaparral mechanics standing around one of their cars on Fri evening having a discussion after the racing was over. Then one of them brought out a sawsall type of tool, and opened up the wheel openings about 1 1/2". We couldn't believe it. And that was the only time all weekend my camera was in the car.

Marty

[Michael J.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

in our 2011 show, his car won the Need For Speed Award:

http://www.santafeconcorso.com/archive/2011/1966_chaparral_2e.html

Beautiful car to see in person.

[Gary C.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

Mr. Jim Hall engineer extraordinaire. Mr. Hall's Chaparral cars are in a section of the Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas. Worth a stop if you're driving I20 in west Texas.

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

http://www.petroleummuseum.org/ click on the Chaparral Gallery tab in the menu

http://ashcom.homestead.com/ChaparralTribute.html

Rattlesnake Raceway http://www.thechaparralfiles.com/rat...ke_raceway.php
Rattlesnake raceway, a 2 mile road race track built by Mr. Jim Hall. Rattlesnake race held several SCCA meets in the 60's.

[George J.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

The tribute to Hall and the Chaparral cars at Monterey, a few years ago, was great. I am sure there are some videos if you do a search.

[Chris H.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

He was light years ahead of everyone when it came to aerodynamics. To this day his influence is still felt.....current F1 cars use movable rear wing elements.

[Ray G.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

We lived in the Milwaukee area in the sixties. We had a new '62 Super Sport convertible and went to Road America specifically to watch Jim Hall and his phenomenal race cars. We could park inside (I think) turns 5 & 6 and watch him pass in the corners. It appeared his racecar was sucking down to the track as he came into the corners. I worked for Hall Chevrolet at the time and the owners son's name was Jim Hall. No relation, but it gave us some kind of bragging rights.

[Patrick N.]

Re: Chaparral race cars

There is a great article on the Chaparral development and Chevy's and GE's contributions in this months "Racer" August 2013 "The Great Cars II" magazine. Chevy's R&D dept conducted the initial Vacuum testing on the concept vehicle as well as the suspension testing. The article has some great first hand accounts of the development and beautiful photos of the car as it is today.