Chaparral. The word "chaparral" has two meanings; it is a big, leggy snakekilling bird als

Until the early 1960s, American sports-racing cars were largely follow-ons from European practice; they were thus always a year or more behind in development, with the extra handicaps of having to use heavy production based engines and the American tendency to "build big".

Scarab fought against this practice and brought finesse to the craft, but it was the 1963 Chaparral which advanced US design from the imitative to the innovative, and beyond to the radical scientific stage where Europe, instead of teaching, was glad to learn. The word "chaparral" has two meanings; it is a big, leggy snakekilling bird also called the road runner, and it is the high scrub that grows in the south-western deserts of the USA.

As indicated by the trade mark, Texan Jim Hall's car was the snake-killer, symbolic of the region in which he lived.

The first Chaparral car was really an updated Scarab or a Troutman-Barnes (highly talented partners, who had earlier been with Lance Reventlow, building the Chevrolet front engined space-framed car for Jim Hall in 1961). After six were built and raced suc-cessfully, Hall and his partner, Hap Sharp, decided to design and construct a new, rear-engined car, the Chaparral 2, which departed radically from convention in having a semi monocoque hull of metal-reinforced fibreglass, built up in two halves and cemented together. It employed several Lotus suspension parts, Cooper steering, a Colotti gearbox, and a Chevrolet 400bhp 5.4 litre V8 engine.

It was remarkably light at around 1,2001b dry, and on its debut at Riverside in October 1963, Jim Hall out-paced a star field including Lotus, Ferraris, Coopers and Scarabs, opening a half-mile gap before the electrics failed. But the 2 grew more reliable, and shed its "special" character as more and more parts were made by Chaparral them-selves in their Midland, Texas, plant.

It also began to lose its clean, smooth looks as Hall experimented with spoilers, air dams, louvres, scoops etc, while the intake tubes for the quadruple twin-choke Weber carburettors stood up like power station smoke stacks. A wealthy but qualified and wholly dedicated engineer, Hall was intent on making the Chaparral a success, and besides his own ingenuity and tenacity he got General Motors to give increasing support as the race wins multiplied.

By the end of 1964 the cars from Texas had seven US wins to their credit, assisted by a surprise feature on a racing car automatic transmission.

This was a GM fitment embodying a hydraulic coupling, initially with two speeds, later three, the driver simply lifting off momentarily and flicking a lever. It worked well and featured on all subsequent Chaparrals.

In 1965 the team moved sensationally into the "big time" by winning the Sebring 12 Hours race from the new Ford, a Ferrari and another American challenger, the Cobra. Elsewhere in the US they scooped 13 more wins, plus others in Canada and Nassau, encouraging Hall and Sharp to tackle Europe in 1966 with their latest car, the 2D. This was a coupe, with a fibreglass body, Mercedes style gullwing doors and rather chunky build. Its stock based Chevrolet motor and automatic transmission seemed inappropriate to challenge the "local boys" on the murderous, interminable Niirburgring, but to wide surprise and also pleasure to many, Phil Hill and Joakin Bonnier in the Chaparral absolutely "walked" the race despite Ferraris, Porsches, Fords, Cobras, rain and a broken screen wiper.

Le Mans in contrast was a pure fiasco, with retirement of a perfectly healthy Chaparral with a flat battery early in the night. Meantime, Jim Hall was back home, completing two 2E open cars for the Breaker of tradition: The Chaparral 2D fibreglass coupe of 1966, which came—a single car against a full Ferrari team—to Europe's most difficult circuit, the Niirburgring, and won the 1000km race despite the "handicaps" of a stock-based US motor and 2-speed automatic transmission new CanAm Group 7 prototype class of racing.

The 2E had an aluminium mono-coque instead of fibreglass, and a revolu-tionary new fitment—a large aerofoil, fixed on uprights 31in above the tail. This was driver-actuated to exert a downforce on the rear suspension, improving tyre adhesion and road-holding, and its debut at Bridgehampton was memorable. Hall made pole position in one car, but non-started when vibra-tion broke the aerofoil, while Phil Hill in the other winged 2E placed fourth.

And in their next race, at Laguna Seca, they placed 1-2. The significance of Hall's innovation was not appreciated immediately, for here was the first wing to be used in actual racing, a device destined to revolutionise Grand Prix design. A clever Swiss, Michael May, had pioneered such a device on his Porsche 550 back in 1956, but did not race it. Chaparral's next surprise was the 1967 Hall's amazing last word in Chaparral sports-racing cars was the 2J of 1970, the highly con-troversial CanAm "sucker car" with powered fans improving adhesion by drawing the car downward, aided by skirted bodysides. Rival teams forced the outlawing of this pioneer "ground effect" car.

7 litre 2F coupe, with its body made in a PVC foam "sandwich", a system remarkably light but strong. It had radiators amidships, a deep, square and ugly but purposeful rear end, and a CanAm-style wing above.

Acceleration with one of Chevrolet's special aluminium "porcupine" engines plus the wing was prodigious, but the 1966 transmission was not strong enough. Disappointingly, a bold European tour taking in six major races brought but one victory, in the Brands Hatch Six Hours, by Phil Hill and Mike Spence. Jim Hall confined his last surprise to the CanAm class—the controversial "sucker car" called the 2J.

This appeared at Watkins Glen in 1970, and amazed and affronted rivals by its bizarre nature and appearance. Its broad, severely square rear end contained two extractor fans driven by a German JLO 50hp twin-cylinder two-stroke engine of snowmobile type.

These fans created a partial vacuum, having the effect of drawing the car downward, the bodysides being sealed with flexible transparent thermoplastic skirts. Nick-named the "vacuum cleaner", or sometimes "the shoebox" for its deplorable lines, the 2J was amazingly effective while it lasted. In four races it took pole position three times, but fan drive or auxiliary motor troubles spoiled its chances. Undoubtedly Hall would have got it right, but the "ground effect" Chaparral never raced again; rival teams clamoured that it was unfair, and the FIA banned it.

Yet Jim Hall's remarkable prescience was again borne out, for like the wing, ground effect has become a decisive science in today's racing world.

Specification Engine: Chevrolet 90° V8, mid-located; 102 x 82.6mm, 5,360cc (2D); 108 x 95.3mm, 6,995cc (2F); pushrod oily; four Weber twin-choke carburettors; coil ignition; 5-bearing crankshaft; 415bhp at 7,000rpm (2D); 575bhp at 7,500rpm (2F). Transmission: GM automatic with hydraulic torque convertor; 2-speeds, then 3-speeds (2D); 3-speeds (2F). Chassis: Steel-reinforced fibreglass semi monocoque chassis cum body; independent front suspension by coil springs and wish-bones; independent rear suspension by coil springs, transverse top link, reversed lower wishbone and radius arms; hydraulic dampers; hydraulic disc brakes; aerofoil on 2F, strutted to rear hub carriers. Dimensions: Wheelbase, 7ft 7in; front track, 4ft 7in; rear track, 4ft 10in; approx. dry weight, 1,6601b (2D); 1,7501b (2F).