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Chaparral gives you wings

16. Mar 2021 
by Ziv Knoll
3617 views

American Jim Hall, owner of Chaparral Cars, imagined and built the 2F to compete in the 1967 Endurance World Championship. The 2F was extremely fast and led or ran near the front on every race in which it competed. It was powered by a new aluminium V8 Chevrolet engine and a 3-speed Chaparral automatic gearbox.

Picture above: The Phil Hill/Mike Spence Chaparral 2F Chevrolet, at La Source hairpin at the 1000km of Spa-Francorchamps 1967, where it started on pole, but retired from the race with a broken gearbox.

The Chaparral 2F featured an innovative and efficient high movable wing above the enclosed cockpit chassis. To control the wing, the driver pushed a pedal with his left foot to hold the wing in a flat low-drag position when accelerating on high-speed straight sections. When cornering, the driver released the pedal, which moved the front of the wing to a downward angle, this increased downforce and drag.

“It was terrific not to go flying off into the wild blue yonder but make just a tiny, little jump and come down again.” – Chaparral 2F driver Phil Hill, describing a famous jump at the Nürburgring that sent most cars flying – the 2F aerodynamics held the car close to the track.

The 2F (picture below) won the last race of the season at Brands Hatch – the BOAC 500 – winning against the full might of the factory teams like Porsche, Ford, Ferrari and Lotus.

Source: DR

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