Real Deal: Chaparral

Chaparral Cars was a United States automotive company which built prototype race cars from the 1960s through the early 1980s.

Chaparral was founded by Jim Hall, a Texas oil magnate with an impressive combination of skills in engineering and race car driving. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Chaparral's distinctive race cars experienced strong success in both American and European racing circuits. Despite winning the Indy 500 in 1980, the Chaparrals left motor racing in 1982. Chaparral cars also featured in the SCCA/CASC CanAm series and in the European FIA Group 7. It is also said in popular culture that the Chaparral race cars were barred from events because of them being too effective and fast, especially the 2J.

Chaparral was the first to introduce effectively designed air dams and spoilers ranging from the tabs attached to the earliest 2 model to the driver-controlled high wing 'flipper' on the astoundingly different looking 2E, all the way through to Hall's most idealistically inspired creation, the 2J, the car that would forever be known as the 'vacuum cleaner'. The use by Jim Hall of a semi-automatic transmission in the Chaparral created flexibility in the use of adjustable aerodynamic devices.

The Chaparral 2-Series was designed and built to compete in the United States Road Racing Championship and other sports car races of the time, particularly the West Cost Series that were held each fall. Following the lead of innovators like Bill Sadler from Canada and Colin Chapman who introduced rear engined cars to Grand Prix cars in Europe (where Jim Hall had raced in Formula 1), its basic design concept was a rear engined car.

First raced in 1963, it was developed into the dominant car in the series in 1964 and 1965. Designed for the 200 mile races of the sports car series, it was almost impossible to beat. It proved that in 1965 by winning the 12 Hours of Sebring on one of the roughest tracks in North America.

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Real Deal: Chaparral 2A

The 2A is the car as originally raced, featuring a very conventional sharp edge to cut through the air. It also featured a square tail with a concave tail reminiscent of the theories of Dr Kamm. Almost immediately an issue with the front end being very light at speed with a consequent impact on steering accuracy and driver confidence. The first aerodynamic appendages began to appear on the 2A.

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Real Deal: Chaparral 2B

The 2B was the name applied to the cars with the full package of “aero tweaks”, chin spoilers, fender slots and rear spoiler.

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Real Deal: Chaparral 2C

The 2C was the name applied to the car with the first in-car adjustable rear wing which was designed to be flat on the straight and tipped up to add rear downforce under braking and in corners. This was a direct benefit of the automatic transmission which kept the left foot free to operate the wing mechanism. The 2C was based on a Chevrolet designed aluminum chassis and was a much smaller car in every dimension than the 2A. Without the natural non-resonant damping of the fiberglass chassis, Jim Hall nicknamed it the EBJ, “Eye Ball Jiggler.” Jim Hall owned Rattlesnake Raceway adjacent to his race shop; that proximity allowed him to participate in much of Firestone's race tire development.

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Real Deal: Chaparral 2D

The 2D was a variant of the 2, designed for endurance racing in 1966. It won at Nürburgring in 1966 with Phil Hill and Joakim Bonnier driving. It also competed in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, withdrawing after 111 laps. This car is one of two Chaparral race cars to appear in Gran Turismo 4.

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Real Deal: Chaparral 2E

The 2E was based on the Chevrolet designed aluminum 2C chassis and presented Jim Hall's most advanced aerodynamic theories to the racing world in the 1966 inaugural Can Am championship. The 2E established the paradigm for virtually all racing cars built since. It was startling in appearance, with its radiators moved from the traditional location in the nose to two ducted pods on either side of the cockpit and a large wing mounted several feet above the rear of the car on struts. The wing was the opposite of an aircraft wing in that it generated downforce instead of lift and was attached directly to the rear hubs, loading the tires, for extra adhesion while cornering. A ducted nose channeled air from the front of the car up, creating extra downforce as well. By depressing a pedal that was in the position of the clutch pedal on a car with a manual transmission, Hall was able to feather, or flatten out, the angle of the wing when downforce was not needed, such as on a straight section of the track, to reduce drag and increase top speed. In addition, an interconnected air dam closed off the nose ducting for streamlining as well. When the pedal was released, the front ducting and wing returned to their full downforce position. It was a brilliant design. Within two years every sports racing car as well as formula one car had wings on struts, although many were not as well designed as Hall's and the resulting accidents from their failures caused them to be outlawed.

The 2E scored only one win in Laguna Seca with Phil Hill driving, but the reason for this may have been the larger engines the other competitors were using. Hall stuck to an aluminum 5.3 liter Chevrolet engine in his lightweight racer while the other teams were using 6 and sometimes 7 liter iron engines, trading weight for power. The 2E was a crowd favorite and remains Jim Hall's favorite car.

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Real Deal: Chaparral 2F

Hall applied the aerodynamic advances of the aluminum 2E to the older fiberglass chassis 2D for the 1967 racing season. A movable wing, on struts, loaded the rear tires while an air dam in the front released pressure to keep the suspension from compressing at high speeds, and the radiators were moved to positions next to the cockpit. An aluminum 7 litre Chevrolet engine replaced the 5.3 litre engine of the 2D. While always extremely fast, the extra power of the larger engine was too much for the automatic transmission to handle and it broke with regularity. When a solution was finally found to the transmission problems, the 2F scored its only win on 30th July 1967 in the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch with Phil Hill and Mike Spence driving. After this race, the FIA changed its rules, outlawing not only the 2F but the Ford Gt Mark 4 (winner at LeMans) and the Ferrari P4 (winner at Daytona, 2nd at LeMans) as well. As with the 2D, the 2F raced wearing Texas license plates.

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