Posted 19 April 2004 - 18:22
I was at this event also, and would like to add a bit of commentary. The best part of the weekend for me was the so called "Conversation with Legends" on Friday afternnoon. This was a 1-1/2-hour long panel discussion with several drivers, mechanics, and others who were involved in the Chaparral team.
I'll get to that in a minute. First a general comment on the Chaparral cars. My impression -- from reading Richard Falconer's and Doug Nye's book, from seeing the cars, and hearing the drivers and team members talk -- it is clear that these were not just cars with an aerodynamic gimmick that allowed them to compete above their potential. They were well prepared, carefully engineered, and even beautiful (though certainly unconventional) to look at. In addition to their obvious aerodynamic innovations, they were among the first to use composite monococque construction, and twin, rear mounted radiators (for more favorable weight distribution, and to free up the front of the car for downforce-generating devices). Brian Redman made the observation that Porsche, for whom he was driving at the time, was until 1970, still building cars to go very fast down the straight, at the expense of going fast round the corners.
Chaparral perhaps underachieved in international competition the one year they competed, but against the likes of Ferrari and Ford of the late 60s they managed two wins -- at the Brands Hatch 500 and Nurburgring 1000km. Every other race, they DNFed. If the automatic gearbox that caused so many of their DNFs had been up to scratch, who knows. As an aside, at its biggest, the team had 13 employees, Nevertheless, no excuses, they were good cars.
Anyway, as promised, here's a recap of who attended the "Conversations with Legends" forum, and what they said. All information is from my (possibly faulty) memory. (If there is any interest, I can also post some photos of the discussion panel, the Chaparral workshop, and more of the cars themselves.)
Dan Gurney: Surprise visitor to the panel. No direct relationship with Jim Hall, except that he was an American driver and car builder of the same era.
Franz Weiz: Mechanic, crew chief, and engine guru -- also a very good test driver. Brian Redman said no one was faster than Franz around Rattlesnake Raceway.
Ronny Hissom: Local hotshoe and Chaparral driver in the early days.
Brian Redman: Drove for a for the Jim Hall/Carl Haas F5000 team in the 70s. One year, identical Lolas were sent to the Lola factory in England and to the Chaparral team in Midland. Redman went to England to test and prepare the car under Eric Broadley himself, while Hall and the Chaparral team prepared a car at their Midland workshop. After months of preparation, the two "teams" met at Riverside for the first race of the season. After driving both cars, Redman chose the Chaparral-prepared car, and went on to win the race, passing Jody Scheckter in the process.
Phil Hill: Recounted Nurburgring 1966, which he won driving a Chaparral 2D. - Hill had pulled out a substantial lead when it started to rain. Firestone supplied the team with rain tires, but apparently, they were nearly worthless. The Chaparral team had experimented with cutting two fairly wide circumferential grooves out of the tires to allow water to evacuate. (Picture the grooves in a modern F1 tire, but wider). Phil Hill described one as something like 'three little tires.' The tires worked perfectly, and after losing time in the pits, Hill in fact extended his lead.
Nearing the end of the race, his windscreen became muddy, and a faulty wiper made matters worse. Because of the automatic gearbox in the car, Hill couldn't stop the car to get out and clean the windscreen. Instead, he slowed to a crawl, opened the door, crawled halfway out of the car and cleaned the windscreen by hand. A cameraman observed him, and thought he was out of the race. This was announced on the lousdpeaker, much to the dismay of the Chaparral team. Hill, of course, was not out of the race, and went on to win.
Vic Elford: Drove the Chaparral 2J ('sucker car') for a few races in the Can Am series. The car never finished a race before it was banned, but was very fast indeed while it was running. Elford spoke fondly of his time with Hall and Chaparral, and obviously enjoyed it. Apparently, the team scared him nearly to death with warnings about snakes and tarantulas at Rattlesnake Raceway, and never to get out of the car if he had an off or otherwise stopped while testing there.
Bob Donner: Drove an early (front-engined) Chaparral at Sebring in 1963. Said that down the straight at 140 mph or so, the front end had so much lift that you could move the steering wheel back and forth all you wanted, but the car wouldn't steer! He asked fellow driver Ronny Hissom, "what if I come up on an Austin Healey or something?" Ronny replied, "slow down and drive around him!"
Jim Hall: Too much to recount here!
-Bob
