The Chaparral 2E Sounds Off

[Ryan]

Ronnie Low sent over this video late this afternoon and I couldn't help but post it. The Chaparral 2E established the paradigm for virtually all racing cars built since and remains to be one of Jim Hall's favorite cars. And who can blame him with a s...

To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

[publicenemy1925]

I love that big V8 sound! No wimpy, 4 valve per cylinders, cam belts, or electronic engine management. A true race car.

[stude_trucks]

that does sound very nice indeed.

[Stizzealth]

Ahh YES, I love that hollow roar.

[speedtool]

Those Can-Am cars had hair on their chests, for sure.

[Rex Schimmer]

I worked for Interscope racing back in the early 80s and we ran several Lola T600 GTP cars in the IMSA series and they had Ryan Falconer 355 small blocks. Lucas injection with 2 1/2 inch butterflies, Chevrolet alum heads, roller cams etc. all the good shit. We usually had about 6 of them either being rebuilt or in the truck for spares. They made about 600 hp and were like the Chaparral, they would rev instantly! Red lined at 8500 and they were really fun to start. The owner of the team, Ted Field would usually wing them to 10,000 when he started them! We always made sure they were good and warm before we let Ted start them! Fantastic sound and would really make your hair stand on end when you winged the throttles. Great times!

Pic attached.

Rex

[Bad Bob]

I didn't get a pic of it,but there was a McClaran(????) at the Lee Rocker show last night. It's street legal! He fired it up and left,cause it has no headlights. It was starting to get dark.

[JRODHOTROD]

Jim Hall is one of the greatest engineers of our time. Thankfully he is still around and gives a couple of really great talks every year
Here are a few pictures from my last visit to the petroleum museum in midland
Heres the 66 car without some of the bodywork
If I recall correctly the spoiler was adjustable from in the cockpit and all of the transmissions in his cars were automatic transaxles

[Revhead]

I don't think all of them were automatics. I know the reason for the 2E being automatic was that the 3rd pedal on the floor controlled the inclination of the wing.

[safariknut]

I was under the impression that the 2E had a 7 litre Chevrolet in it.As I recall the Can Am formula was for up to 7 litres. I used to letter race cars for Autodynamics back in the late 60's-early 70's and they had two Can Am cars there:a Caldwell and a Lola T160 which had a TraCo prepared ZL-1 engine.

If I remember right the automatic trans in the Chaparral was a modified PowerGlide incorporated into a transaxle.

[JRODHOTROD]

Ive been to the test track thats down the road from the museum and the few times ive been the gate has been open so the wife and I wander around.
here are a few more from the museum

[JRODHOTROD]

I just looked it up and you are correct, I stand corrected. In 64 they went to autos. A one speed in the summer of 64, 2 speed in fall of 64, and later a 3 speed. The 2E had an aluminum 327.

[JD's 32]

Wow, i had a lot of 327's but they never sounded like that! Man wouldn't you like to take it for just one spin around the track!

[Greybeard]

I just tried googling for a reference, but couldn't find the article that Peter Egan of R&T wrote about these cars within the last eight years. He began with a recollection of climbing thru the fence at Elkhart as kid tp see the car close-up, and ended in an interview with Hall, both supporting and dispelling myths that surround these great cars. I remember following CanAm in the early days, and when Sharp and Hall started winning, rumors of flew - everything from having top secret military backing to alien technology - that a couple guys from Texas (along the lines of Shelby...) couldn't possibly build anything this fast...
In Egans article, Hall spoke about the different automatics, wings and ducted fans.

[TRuss]

There were no displacement limits in CanAm. I believe in the early 70s some cars were even approaching eight unrestricted liters displacement. Unfortunately we will never see a racing series like CanAm again. I'm just being realistic. A modern unrestricted car would probably be prohibitively violent to even the best drivers and the spectators would be in far too much danger. This is why I love vintage racing. I need a sound card bad!

[chainsaw]

Originally Posted by JRODHOTROD

Ive been to the test track thats down the road from the museum and the few times ive been the gate has been open so the wife and I wander around.
here are a few more from the museum

Is the track the old rattlesnake raceway, or is this a new test track?

[Relic Stew]

Ford experimented with some all aluminum 494 cubic inch Boss engines for Can-Am. They dropped the racing program before the engines got to the track. Some ended up in Pro-Stock cars in the 70's.

[A Chopped Coupe]

Vintage racing is the place to see all the "ole great cars".
Have been at Thunderhill and Laguna Seca during some of the vintage racing, and those CanAm/TransAm cars are fantastic, you can just close your eyes smell the racing fuel and listen to those SBC/BBC roar!
In Northern California we had/have Joe Huffaker. Here is a picture of the Last Huffaker Genie made (he made 13/16) and they were a handful. SBC with 4 webers putting down 500HP with top speed north of 180. This car was restored by Allen Prentis and still races in the vintage classes...................and does it sound great!

[Bodacious]

Great sound. I got to see and hear a vintage Can-Am car run at VIR a few years ago during a vintage sports car weekend. I can't remember what it was but it wasn't a Chaparral, I'd have remembered that. It did have the big, injected Chevy though and listening to it at speed on the track was great. He wasn't pussy-footing it either and it was by far the most bad-ass car there all weekend. It reminded me of listening to the injected big-block super-modifieds at Sandusky Speedway in Ohio and Winchester Speedway in Indiana back in the 80s when I lived up that way.

[Chuck R]

My dad took me to the Can Am races every year at Laguna Seca during the mid 60's to early seventies. Sitting on top of the hill by the cork screw was one of the most memorable things of my life. These big block machines would crest the hill and nail it, there would be 30 cars in the field and the sound was music to your ears. They would be on the gas all the way down the hill and the sound would reverbrate in the hills. Awesome !!! Chaparrals, Maclarens, Lolas, Chaparrels , life was good. Always had a dream I would own one, maybe in my next life, at least I got to see them run in the hayday of racing.
chuck