80 replies to this topic

[wolf sun]

Can anyone help me with informations about the T.L. Harris-designed Shadow Can-Am car? All I found via Google was this:

http://freddifred.co....htm#The_SHADOW

There must be some pictures, anecdotes, etc. lurking somewhere - anything and everything would be much appreciated!

[Roger Springett]

Hi Wolf Sun

He is a pic of Shadow DN4 and some Shadow Press pack info - I think Tony Southgate designed these later Cars.



Roger Springett

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by Roger Springett
- I think Tony Southgate designed these later Cars.

Jerry Entin will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the first Shadow, the roller-skate Mk. I, was designed by Trevor Harris. The Mk. II and Mk. III were designed by Peter Bryant. Tony Southgate came along at that time to design the DN-1, 2, 3, &4 cars, including the Can Am winning DN-4 of 1974.

The car on the left is a DN-2. The car in the advert appears to be a Mk. III.

Pete Lyons' great Can Am history books have info about the Mk. I. I recall a cover story in Road & Track sometime in 1970 about it also.

[Jerry Entin]

Peter Bryant desigined the cars for Shadow CanAm in 1971 and 1972. He considered Trevor Harris a very innovative designer and had the upmost respect for him. As did I. Trevor's other designs such as the Frissbee and the VDS were state of the art design. His website that Wolf Sun has put up shows his great volume of work. Peter Bryant had nothing to do with the mini car Trevor worked on in 1969 and 1970. In Peter Bryant's words. " Trevor Harris is a very nice guy to boot." I agree 100%.

Trevor's Shadow at Monterey with Follmer. RA Historian is right about the Shadows. As always.

Here is the Shadow at Riverside in early testing. Lothar Motschenbacher looking on and thinking. "Good Luck George"
lent site by Doug Nye-photo by Franco Lini /The GP Library

[wildman]

The August 1969 issue of Road & Track included an extensive feature on the development of the Trevor Harris Shadow. In May 1971, the magazine followed up with another story titled "Whatever Happened to the Shadow?" detailing some of the difficulties Don Nichols encountered in getting the car on track (and keeping the doors of his AVS operation open for business...). I might know someone who could scan the articles for you.;)

[JB Miltonian]

To add to the bibliography on the original AVS Shadow, there are two articles in Sports Car Graphic by Paul van Valkenburgh, which I have here in my home library:

August 1969: "Aerospace Ingenuity and the Can-Am Car" (4 pages, 4 pictures)
May 1970: "Does the Shadow Really Know" (3 pages, 6 pictures)

I also have the two Road & Track articles mentioned above, and I can scan and email per your request if you wish (send me a PM).

[wolf sun]

Thanks to all of you!!!

JB - I´ve just sent you a PM

Jerry - thanks once again for providing me with the most fascinating material!


I do understand that the Rosso Bianco museum features some Shadow models, or at least they seemed to have a rather extensive Can-Am collection a few years ago. For some strange reason, I have not yet managed to visit the place, even though it´s just a few kilometres from where I live.


As to Trevor Harris, I regard him as one of the most overlooked constructors of that era. Even if his mini-car concept didn´t really take off, apparently...

Jerry has made some material available to me that further underlines the forward-thinking (and at the same time free-spirited) approach to racecar design in those days.

If only the Can-Am bunch had come to Europe...

[wolf sun]

Oh no...

http://www.rosso-bianco.de/

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by wolf sun
Oh no...

http://www.rosso-bianco.de/

Yep, I understand that it is closed and that the cars, including several Shadows, were auctioned off.

[1970Mk1]

Hi Wolf Sun,

I have the Mid Ohio version of the Mk1 Shadow that we purchased from Don Nichols about 3 years ago. We completed the restoration eariler this year and entered 2 vintage events (Laguna Seca in September and Sears Point in October).

I have extensively researched the car and the Mk1 history. Let me know what questions you have.

Dennis

[Allen Brown]

So does that mean there's two Mk1 Shadows? Or did Don buy back the one in Germany?

Allen

[simonlewisbooks]

Originally posted by Allen Brown
So does that mean there's two Mk1 Shadows? Or did Don buy back the one in Germany?

Allen

Which one was this at Goodwood in 05?

[1970Mk1]

Allen,

There were actually five original tubs constructed for the Mk1. At present, it is my understanding that two were destroyed in a legal action around 1970, one was damaged in a transporter accident, Don still has one and I have one. Supposedly the one sold at auction is the rebuilt damaged tub from the transporter accident reconfigured back to the original coachwork and engine configuration (that never worked well enough to actually take to a race) and sold to the German collector.

The one that I have is per the Mid Ohio specs.


Dennis

[1970Mk1]

simon,

The photo is the car owned by the German collector in 05, prior to his selling of the collection, that later resulted in being auctioned at Quail in August.

The car was purchased at the auction by Fred Cziska who owns a number of vintage cars including the MkIII Shadow.

It is my understanding that Fred's Mk1 will be put in running order by his prep shop Virtuoso Performance. I do not know how Fred will fit in the car as he is bigger than me, and I can barely fit in the Mid Ohio spec Mk1.

You may note that the auctioned Mk1 has no seat, nor provisions for seat belts. The car was assembled by Don Nichols for the German collector from the remaining original spec mk1 parts in his collection sometime in the late 80's early 90's.

Dennis

[Jerry Entin]

Here is 1970Mk1's car in action. This car was restored by Dennis Losher and his good friend Joe Maxwell. The engine is done by Adam Reed of Reed Engine and Machine in Turlock, California. Adam happens to be Dennis Losher's son in Law. Very handy. His race crew consist of his sister and her husband his good friend Joe Maxwell and his son in Law Adam Reed . Dennis's wife Gay is the caterer and number one supporter of his hobby. His friends all pitch in and help. It is a Family affair. The engine in the car is a Big Block Chevy that dyno's out at around 700 hp.


Here are Dennis Losher and Don Nichols and Joe Maxwell at the shake down run. Laguna Seca Raceway 2005. Monterey, California.
photos lent site by Dennis Losher-copyright 2006 Dennis Losher Collection

[macoran]

Originally posted by RA Historian


Yep, I understand that it is closed and that the cars, including several Shadows, were auctioned off.

Wasn't the collection brought to Holland ?? ..........I think it is with the Louwman Parqui collection now.

[Doug Nye]

There should be absolutely zero mystery about any of this.

'The German collector' referred to as if he's some alien being from another planet is Peter Kaus, and the DN1 was one of the three CanAm Shadows which he acquired for his Rosso Bianco Collection at Aschaffenburg near Frankfurt. For the military historians it was the launch pad for the Hammelburg Raid.

Peter sold some sections of his Collection before - earlier this year - selling the remaining majority core to the Dutch interests mentioned above under the Louwman name, Toyota distributors for western Europe, plus many other marques, proprietors of the Dutch National Motor Museum and headed by one of the most discerning and enthusiastic car connoisseurs I've ever known.

The three Shadows were amongst a batch of Rosso Bianco cars offered for sale in the Bonhams & Butterfields Quail Lodge auction at Carmel during the Monterey Historics weekend. The DN1 was sold there to Fred Cziska.

Part of the catalogue description of this car read as follows:

Some of the more earnest and serious-minded of contemporary racing pundits described the car which Don Nichols backed as being ‘certainly unconventional’. Rather more described it as being ‘outlandish’, or ‘truly wild and wacky’. When the first race model actually took the track and ran hard – in the opening round of the 1970 CanAm series at Mosport Park in Canada, one hardened veteran recalls how: “I knew George Follmer was on his way in that amazing little AVS Shadow. I heard it approaching and refocused my camera on the straightaway brow to catch him as he’d come into sight. Then there he was – and it was an amazing sight. It looked kinda like a man just seated on a skateboard, with a Chevvy V8 strapped to his back – the image looked so amazing I forgot to press the shutter and missed the shot! Made sure I got it later though…That car was such an amazing stroke it was too good to miss.”

In fact Don Nichols had first taken interest in producing a CanAm sports car of exceptionally low frontal area – to maximise its straightline speed in contrast to similarly Chevrolet-engined rivals – in 1968. The first prototype car was completed in 1969, and Don Nichols’s Advanced Vehicle Systems Incorporated (AVS) team finally took what we believe was a sister car onto the race tracks for the 1970 Championship season, with the fearless former Porsche SCCA star George Follmer strapped into the tiny device as its driver.

Pete Lyons reported on the debut of the new car and team at Mosport in 1970, like this: “Honours for The Most Astonishing Design went to the AVS Shadow. The car actually existed midway through last season, but was never deemed ready for competition. Fulltime work by the team has proven them entirely serious and now, as financier Don Nichols says, they are ready to go before the world: ‘We’re playing it strong. We’ll either win big, or lose big’.”

Pete Lyons continued: “The car is hard to believe even when seen, so tiny is it – literally knee-high. It all depends on the minute Firestone tyres, which have 11ins and 16ins footprints but are mounted on wheels 10ins and 12ins in diameter. It is said the carcase construction is more flexible than a normal tyre to give a longer footprint, and naturally the rubber compound is harder; pressures in the region of 37psi are used. Temperatures appear to be normal.

“The suspension is designed to give as nearly a perfect parallelogram action as possible, spoilt a trifle in the back due to space problems over a total travel range of four inches. Springs are multiple at each wheel; they’re coils about the size you’d expect around the valves of a large diesel motor, worked by rocking levers. Damping is by multi-plate friction discs just like 40 years ago, but designer Trevor Harris breaks out into his infectious grin and says friction material technology has come a long a bit in 40 years!...

“…At the nose of the car the overall height is determined by the driver’s feet. Harris has beat poor George Follmer, who drives it, completely splay-footed; the pedals work on nearly vertical axes, and there is room for only two of them. The clutch is operated by a cockpit level at the driver’s left-hand, and is actually only used to draw off from rest. Gearchanges on the circuit are clutchless. At this point discussion with the team becomes coy, implying they have done something remarkable to the inside of the Hewland LG600” (gearbox) “so that it will withstand the treatment…there is a quite elaborate transmission lubrication system which receives constant attention…

“Naturally the small wheels have required the cutting of special gears, and the gearbox has a bulge welded into itself to fit them…

“When this little ‘go-kart’ explodes into 7-litre life on the circuit, the effect is attention grabbing to say the least. Follmer…admits the term ‘go-kart’ is is not wildly inappropriate…Nichols and Firestone have spent a lot of money and determination so far, but they seem to have plenty left!”.

As did George Follmer himself, for he actually qualified the little ‘roller-skate’ sixth fastest overall for this debut race at Mosport – headed only by the Gulf-McLaren M8Ds of Dan Gurney and Denny Hulme, future Shadow CanAm Champion Jackie Oliver (then driving the Autocoast Ti22), Peter Revson’s Lola T220 and Lothar Motschenbacher’s McLaren M6B. In the race itself George Follmer received bad news from the Shadow’s instruments and switched-off to avoid a costly engine failure.

At Ste Jovite the AVS Shadow race car reappeared with lowered water radiators in the rear wing assembly, but retired with overheating.

The team’s original race car was then damaged in a transporter accident, and a second race car replaced it in time for the Mid-Ohio CanAm Championship round. This one had been built originally to accept a turbocharged Toyota engine in preparation for potential Group 5 Toyota-Shadow racing in the 1971 World Championship. Now the Toyota notion had been discarded in favour of a Chevrolet V8 for immediate CanAm use. Tail radiators in the wing structure demolished much of the early low frontal area theory, hydraulic rear suspension dampers replacing the friction discs, and Porsche 917 star driver Vic Elford replaced George Follmer in the hot seat…

The Englishman qualified seventh fastest for the Mid-Ohio race but in the race one front wheel lost its balance weight, the steering wheel became a blur with vibration and since wheel changing involved detail bodywork and brake cooling fan removal Quick Vic’s race was over – as was the first Championship involvement of the AVS Shadow.

For many enthusiasts and race car collectors, however, there is always a special cachet attaching to the innovative, lateral-thinking underdog design – and this the maverick AVS Shadow certainly proved to be in its initial as-raced form.

In the mid-1980s Don Nichols was approached on behalf of the great German competition car enthusiast and collector Peter Kaus – creator of the Rosso Bianco Collection – who was interested in acquiring a number of his important CanAm cars. He was particularly interested in the 1969-announced small-wheeled prototype in its original launch form – as publicised at the time in connection with its being driven by past Indianapolis star Rufus ‘Parnelli’ Jones. We understand that Mr Nichols had the car restored in that form and amongst the documentation file accompanying all these cars at Quail Lodge there is a ‘Bill of Sale’ between Don G. Nichols of Carmel, California, and Mr Peter Kaus of Aschaffenburg, Germany, dated May 16, 1990 in which the vendor transferred “…all my rights and title of my personal owend (sic) racecar CAN-AM SHADOW of the year 1968 over to…” the German buyer.

Here we are delighted to be able to offer this remarkable low-line, horizontal steering-wheeled black Shadow maverick in all its sleek, ultra low-line, original-intention glory – only one previous private owner, ex-works; the taproot of the AVS Shadow line.


While seeking to validate the rebuilt black-painted car as offered for sale I spoke at length - several times - with Trevor Harris who still bursts with infectious enthusiasm about racing cars and engineering in general. He was in the team truck when the box trailer it was towing - containing the DN1 - was torpedoed by a drunk driver who had crossed the median strip on the highway leaving Ste Jovite. The whole rig capsized into the roadside ditch and the DN1 was jangled up inside.

Trevor was disheartened by the entire experience and left the team. He never saw the trailer emptied, nor saw the wreck.

I talked with other former Shadow employees who did, and they concur that Don Nicholls is a squirrel who never threw anything away just in case it might be useful in future. An ex-Shadow fabricator was commissioned by Don to restore the damaged DN1 tub after long years in storage, and this with other evidence concurred with the restored Rosso Bianco car being based upon the admittedly extensively re-skinned Mosport and Ste Jovite race tub. I had inclined to the view that it was the test prototype tub but this would have been inconsistent with the damage repair described to me.

Regardless - it was very strange to look at this car with its 'pea-shooter' air intake feeding a V8 engine of the same broad type and size as that on the magnificent DN4 with its eight huge individual staggered-height induction trumpets feeding the same type of engine... There must be some trick about the laws of physics which has thus far passed me by?

In any case here's a memorial to one of the most extraordinary CanAm cars ever built and - in my view - a testimony to one particular driver's GIGANTIC cochones for driving it as blindingly quickly as he did.

So let's hear it for George Follmer.

(Sorry to blether on)

DCN

[Allen Brown]

Err Doug, you didn't mean DN1 did you? You meant Mk 1.

(The DN1 was the much later 1973 F1 car)

Allen

[Jerry Entin]

Allen I am sure Doug meant Mk1 it was a typo. Doug: Could I grab your pictures from the Shadow site you started earlier and show them here? Unless, they combine the two threads or you choose to put them here also. You are right about George Follmer he was fearless and I know he had a lot of faith in Trevor Harris. And as you have said I am sure George had big cojones to drive that mighty machine.


Here is the Mk 11 Shadow designed by Peter Bryant. The Shadow Mk11 in 1971 qualified 2nd at Elkhart Lake in the CanAm Series and finished 12th. At Edmonton it finished a fine 3rd. It was driven by Jackie Oliver.
photo lent to site by Tom Schultz- copyright 2006 Tom Schultz

[Doug Nye]

Ha! For 'typo' read hitherto unrecognised F--- up! Sorry fellers. Honesty will out. But thank you Jerry for your misplaced faith. Yes very happy for you to show the photos - credit Franco Lini/The GP Library.

DCN

[Jerry Entin]

My old friend George Follmer getting ready for what they call an "E-ride." At Disneyland. Lothar Motschenbacher said after he looked at this picture that big cojones would not be an advantage in this car. They would be banging on the steering wheel. Lothar was testing his Formula 5000 McLaren Mk 18 with the high wing on this day.
photo lent site by Doug Nye-photo by Franco Lini /The GP Library

Another great picture
photo lent site by Doug Nye- photo by Franco Lini /The GP Library

[Gary C]

and don't you love the dollar sign on the back???

[JB Miltonian]

Is Mr. Follmer wearing a large wristwatch in that first photo?? I thought that was taboo....

[Jerry Entin]

Here is the tub assembly during the restoration in 2005.


Rear view of Tub. Note .090 Aluminum sheet used for front and rear engine plates.
above pictures lent site by Dennis Losher- copyright 2006 Dennis Losher Collection

[wolf sun]

Originally posted by 1970Mk1
Hi Wolf Sun,

I have the Mid Ohio version of the Mk1 Shadow that we purchased from Don Nichols about 3 years ago. We completed the restoration eariler this year and entered 2 vintage events (Laguna Seca in September and Sears Point in October).

I have extensively researched the car and the Mk1 history. Let me know what questions you have.

Dennis

Since Jerry and JB Miltonian have been very helpful and generous regarding information about the early Shadows, a lot of my questions have been answered already - the main one being "How the hell did the car evolve from the motorized-skateboard-with-attached-machine-gun-thing into the very different animal that is your version, Dennis! (Parts of that story defy belief, what with dummy engines and car mock-ups being provided for a possible impoundment, the trailer crash, etc...)

Some things, however, remain undisclosed: What´s it like to drive the car??? How does the semi-automatic `box work, etc etc...in short, what´s the driver´s take on the Shadow Mk1???

(Feel free to elaborate, please...;) )


Wolf

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Not a scrap of data to add technically on the little Mk1 but...

...For the season opener at Mosport in 1970, I was free and clear of my college year to get up to the track as I pleased in the runup to the race. My buddy, Nick, and I went up on the Monday prior to the race weekend just on the off chance that this marvelous little car would show for some pre-race testing. Nothing. We returned Tuesday. Still a no-show. Wedsnesday...Thursday...ditto. Into Friday and the first day of official practice and, iirc, no Shadow. Nuts! Finally, an appearance on Saturday and OH MY, IT'S TRUE! IT REALLY IS TRUE! LOOK AT THE SIZE...or rather, lack of it...OF THAT THING!!! For sure, it wasn't as elegant as the article in R&T of the previous year had detailied but WTH. It was worth the near-third-degree sunburn that I had to seek medical attention for on Monday the day after the race. Great days but...

RIP Brucie and Richard Brown

[1970Mk1]

Wolf Sun,

How is the Shadow Mk1 to drive? ..........Very difficult

A few ongoing problems:

I have difficulting fitting into it at 6-1 and 200 lbs. Trevor must of designed it for someone at 5-7 and 140 lbs.

Your feet are splayed sideways to work the pedals. There are only two pedals, one for the brake and one for the throttle. The clutch is operated by hand for pit/paddock use and starting. I am not very good at downshifting w/o a clutch, so this is a problem. There is no semi-automatic. The car always had a Hewland LG gearbox. The gearbox is shifted by two control cables to a common lever at the drivers right leg, which adds to the slop and difficulty in selecting a gear. Don would play games with reporters by adding switches and handles in 1969 and 70, and make everyone wonder. But it was just a Hewland with special gears added by Trevor to allow the car to go 200 mph at Riverside tests with only 19 inch tall rear tires!

The brakes are terrible. Each time I have run the car I really wonder if its going to stop. I have to brake very early. To date I have not achieved very good lap times as we are just sorting the car and me out, and I needed to get the car accepted by the vintage organizations, so spinning off was not an option.

Handling is probably better now than what it was in 1970. The current race rubber that I use (Midget 10 in fronts and Formula Alantic 13 in rears) is much better than the original Firestones of 1970. According to reports, they had to run very high air pressures to get the tires to work and provide a good contact patch. Todays tires can be run at a more resonable air pressure and assist in the overall spring rate of the car.

There are a number of innovative designs that Trevor integrated to make this car work. The basic concept of minimal frontal area and the use of tiny tires rippled thru out the car in areas you would not even think of until you had to build it!

More later, or if you have specific questions, be happy to answer.

Dennis

[wolf sun]

Ha! At 5´5`` and 120 lb I´d probably be your ideal driver then...;)

I assume the pedal layout leaves left-foot braking as the only option, or do you heel-and-toe?

Is it a six-speed gearbox???

Vic Elford reported aerodynamic problems in traffic, have you encountered the same thing?

[1970Mk1]

Wolf Sun,

You would of fit perfectly!

Left foot brake only. No way to heel and toe. Both feet splayed outward.

Gearbox is a Hewland LG, normally an LG600, that is a 5 speed. But even the top gear ratio available from Hewland would not allow over 160 mph using 19 in tall rear tires, forcing Trevor to make his own gears.

Areo problems reported by Vic Elford in traffic I have not experienced, problably because I have not gone fast enough to discover. I thought the biggest problem that Vic had was the poor damping due to the front friction shocks and the high air pressures required to get the tires to work, short wheelbase, etc. Made the car skittish.

One problem with the design is the extreme rear weight bias, 75% rear/25% front. With the limited suspension travel (about 2 inches total), I can lift the front wheels off the ground in first gear! Great for a drag race, but not to good coming out of a slow speed corner with full throttle.


Dennis

[Jerry Entin]

Shadow Mk 111
The fellow putting the decals on the car is the late Ray Brimble. After he left the Shadow Team he went back to the UK and became the Team manager for Graham Hill's Formula One effort. He was sadly killed in the plane wreck with Graham Hill and Tony Brise.

Shadow Mk 111- In 1972 the Shadow Mk111 under Jackie Oliver's driving in the CanAm Series finished second at Mid Ohio and third at Donnybrooke and fourth at Riverside. Cars designed by Peter Bryant. Engines by Stump Davis and Lee Muir on the Shadow CanAm cars. Carlos Pace finished 4th at Edmonton in the 102 car.
above photos lent site by Tom Schultz- copyright 2006 Tom Schultz.

Jackie Oliver finishing a fine 2nd at Mid Ohio in 1972.
photo lent site Rob Neuzel-copyright 2005 Rob Neuzel

Edited by Jerry Entin, 02 August 2009 - 23:25.

[Doug Nye]

Mark I braking was going to a problem if it relied upon tiny discs sitting within tiny wheels. For this reason Trevor's original scheme included a massive air-brake which operated vertically in the transverse slot on top of the extreme tail, being motored up and down like a garage door on roller tracks. Unfortunately, between this original concept and the emergence of the finished car the FIA banned moveable aerodynamic devices and ACCUS and SCCA enforced that same ban in the States. The small-wheel/small diameter tyre possibility came about because Firestone had built some special tyres for an Oldsmobile Toronado dream car project in which the tyres were enclosed entirely underneath the body panelling, since there was a body of commercial thought at that time that this was the direction in which tyre development could be taking the industry. In order to inflate small-diameter/wide tread tyres to their optimum flat profile demanded tyre pressures of around 60lbs psi. Top speed on test was apprently some 15-20mph faster than McLaren's contemporary best on the same straights - 197mph on an 88-inch wheelbase with 650bhp in the driver's hip pocket. The original friction shock absorbers proved to be, in Trevor's words "an abomination"!

DCN

[RTH]

Originally posted by Jerry Entin

Here is 1970Mk1's car in action.

My goodness, you would not want to hit anything in that with little front protection and a huge heavy lump of Detroit iron right behind you.

[wolf sun]

I can lift the front wheels off the ground in first gear!

Wow!

[wolf sun]

Wonderful pictures, Jerry - thanks!!!

[Jerry Entin]

Joe Maxwell and Adam Reed


Dennis Losher and his Lovely wife Gay. Gay is Dennis's number one supporter in Racing. This is after his first race in the Shadow. Note knee pads. They are needed in the tight confines of the Shadow. Dennis is a 30 year member of the SCCA and has run production sportscars and Formula cars in the past. He has also built and ran a SCCA Solo 2 car. The Shadow is an eye opener for him. Dennis Losher and Joe Maxwell and Adam Reed have done a great job of restoring this great piece of CanAm history. Thanks for allowing the forum members a chance to see your fine work.
pictures lent to site by Dennis Losher-copyright Dennis Losher Collection 2006

[Roland44]

!970 Mk 1 - Hi, I have a 1/43rd Marsh kit of the Mosport car on my bench waiting to be built as I write this and there's something about their interpretation of the shape that's bugged me for some time...isn't the front bodywork narrower than the rear? (Marsh has it equal width front & rear and it just doesn't look right...)

Looking at the car from the rear in that wonderful Lini picture from the Riverside tests, it would seem that there is a pronounced taper to the shape. It would be a LOT of work to correct the resin kit body but I would be happy to do it if it would result in a more accurate model....

If you could clear up this point for me, I'd be eternally grateful.

Thanks
Roland

[1970Mk1]

Roland,

You are correct, the coachwork as well as the tub tapers from the front to the back. If you need dimensions I can provide.

Dennis

[Roland44]

Dennis, that would be great if it's not too much trouble. You can pm me at dferg44@earthlink.net & I'll send you some pix of what I'm working on.....

Thanks again.
Roland

[Jerry Entin]

Vic Elford at Mid Ohio. Qualified 7th. Finished 23rd. Bad Wheel vibration cause of DNF.

[Jerry Entin]

Very nice color picture originally posted by JJ 2728

[hipperson]

Thought all you Shadow-nistas might like this...!




Thanks to

Robert Gillespie....(artist donated free)
George Follmer
Russell Whitworth ( for collecting at Watkins Glen)
Jerry Entin
Dennis Losher
Don Nichols
Jackie Oliver

for all your help in assembling this item for our charity auction in May.
All proceeds to Little Havens Childrens Hospice in Southend,Essex.

[Jerry Entin]

Here is Dennis Losher in his Shadow at the 2007 Monterey Vintage races.

Glad to see that Michael Hipperson did well at his Charity auction with the Shadow picture. Little Havens Childrens Hospice is a very worthy cause.

photo by Tam McPartland- Go to Tam's great site to see all the Monterey action from 2007.
http://www.tamsoldra...07Homepage.html

To enjoy Tam's whole site click below.
www.tamsoldracecarsite.net

[Jerry Entin]

Here Dennis Losher is being interviewed by Alain de Cadenet of Speed Channel.


Dennis getting his car filmed for the TV show.

This is what Dennis had to say about their trip to the Monterey Historic Races:

"We had a great weekend. Everyone treated us so well. Since we stay in our trailer when we go to events, we were given a paddock location opposite the garages for all the Can Am cars, which allowed us to be close to the other cars. Fellow Can Am owner/drivers including Andrew Simpson (1974 Shadow DN4), Todd Glyer (1968 Lola T-160), David Pozzi (1965 Lola T-70), Jim Gallucci (1970 McLaren M8C), Bob Lee (1968 McLaren M6B) where very helpful and welcoming."
above photos Amy Reed - Dennis Losher collection

[Jerry Entin]

The Shadow MK 1 Team: Dennis Losher, His lovely wife Gay, his brother in law Dennis Winsor and sister Deanna Winsor. His son in law and engine builder Adam Reed and his grandkids, Zach, Avery and Brandon. All in their Shadow Racing Team gear.
photo Amy Reed- Dennis Losher collection.

[Jerry Entin]

Fellow Forum member Vic Elford stopped by to see his ex ride.


Vic Elford signing his book for Dennis Losher.

Dennis had been having trouble all weekend with the gearbox selector and it was run with it stuck in 3rd gear for most of the weekend. Dennis really couldn't get the car up to speed because of the gearbox problem. The small brakes were also a problem on this weekend.

photos Amy Reed- Dennis Losher collection.

[Jerry Entin]

Don Nichols also stopped by for a visit with the Shadow Team.


Another group photo but this time in the middle is Amy Reed. Until now she has taken all the pictures from the weekend. I thought the forum members would like to see our photographer.
photos Dennis Losher collection

[Jerry Entin]

Here are the DN4 and Mk 1 Shadows. Or as Dennis Losher calls them the "Big" and "Little" one.



DN4 with Andrew Simpson and Mk 1 with Dennis Losher.

Here are some of Dennis Losher's thoughts of the weekend:
"We still had our shifting issues with the cable linkage back to the gearbox, leaving us to start and stay in third gear for the entire weekend. Fridays practice went OK with no new issues. Brakes were as poor as they always are with the tiny 8 inch front rotors. The car had alot of front lift coming over the brow past the start/finish line causing me to lift early, and I was probably the slowest car out there trying to be careful and stay out of the faster cars way."

photos Amy Reed- Dennis Losher collection.

[Jerry Entin]

Here is a video showing the Shadow running at Monterey. It comes at the end of the film. This is from Monterey in 2007. It shows most of the cars in the 2007 CanAm Historic race.



Dennis Losher says:
"We found the problem. It was simply an intake gasket that had broken thru to the engine valley, allowing oil to be sucked up under closed throttle."

[gio66]

Does anyone know where is based the AVS team? (Monterey?)

Why and when the team have lost the AVS brand?

Thank you.

[Allen Brown]

Anyone know where the DN2s are now? There were two or three of them IIRC.

Allen