Tag Archives: Chaparral

Yellow Submarine – Chaparral 2K

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In 1978 Colin Chapman revolutionised Formula One car design by introducing ‘ground effect’ to the upper echelons of open wheel racing with his Lotus 79.

By 1979 many Formula One teams were making copies and variations of the Lotus 79 using curved ‘venturi’ in the side pods between the wheels to gain traction grip by controlling the airflow between the lower surfaces of the car and surface of the road to create lowered air pressure underneath the car which ‘sucked’ the car to the road as it moved, the faster these vehicles were driven the more grip there was available.

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Photo Dan Wildhirt

When, in 1978, former Taurus Super Vee designer and McLaren draftsman John Barnard was employed to build an Indy Car for Jim Hall and the Chaparral team to replace their Lola T500 Champ Car, Barnard was the first to transfer the latest Formula One thinking to the Brickyard for the Indy 500.

Al Unser Snr qualified the Chaparral 2K 3rd on it’s debut at Indy and then ran away with the race until the transmission failed on lap 104.

The following year Al Unser Snr moved to the Longhorne team who were building a car based on a design by former Super Vee engine builder Patrick Head who’s Williams FW07 design started winning formula one races in 1979 and would win the Formula One World Constructors championships in 1980 and 81.

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Photo Ed Arnaudin

Johnny Rutherford pictured here alongside Mario Andretti, became the beneficiary of Al Unsers decision to move taking the Chaparral to Victory Lane at the Brickyard in 1980 and onto the PPG Indy Car World Series championship.

In all the Chaparral 2K won six races from 27 starts over three seasons. John Barnard moved back to Formula One with McLaren in 1980 where he introduced the first Carbon Fibre Composite (CFC) chassis into the series, almost all top open wheel series run vehicles using CFC chassis these days, and later in 1989 while working for Ferrari in 1989 he introduced the worlds first paddle shift electronic gear shift mechanism.

Between them Barnard and Patrick Head were the dominant designers during the 1980’s in Formula One interestingly they once worked together for a 46 year old London Taxi driver come racing driver Ronnie Grant on his Formula Super Vee team.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for scanning his Dad’s photo.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Yellow Submarine edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Triple 500 Crown – Lola T500

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During a run of success that included winning the US Formula 5000 championships from 1974 – ’76 with Brian Redman and Can Am 2 Championships with Patrick Tambay ’77 and ’80, Alan Jones ’78 and Jacky Ickx ’79, Jim Hall turned his attentions to the USAC champ car series in 1977. Hall and partner Carl Hass commisioned Lola to build the T500 a fresh design that was to be driven by Al Unser Snr in 1978.

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The design was an instant success at Indianapolis Al qualified 2nd and led 121 laps to go to Victory Lane for the third time. Despite Al bending a front wing in the pit lane 20 laps from home pole sitter Tom Sneva in a Penske ran out of laps to catch the Lola which finished just 8 seconds ahead of Tom.

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The ’78 Indy 500 was the first of ten that was won by a car powered by a turbocharged development of the 3 litre / 183 cui Cosworth DFV that dominated in Formula One from it’s introduction in 1966 to 1981. To meet the USAC regulations the DFV was downsized to 2650 cc / 161 cui and fitted with a Garrett turbo charger.

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Engine designer Keith Duckworth described these motors as being like ‘hand grenades with the in pulled’. By the end of the DFX development programme the motors were producing 840 hp. Al Unser was also at the wheel of the last DFX powered car, a Penske, to enter victory lane at Indianapolis in 1987.

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Having won the 1978 Indy 500 Al Unser also won the two other 500 mile races in the USAC series at Pocono and Ontario becoming the first winner of the ‘Triple 500 Crown’. Al is seen driving the car above in the Daily Express 200 at Silverstone, England battling for the lead with Danny Ongias.

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Unfortunately the battle only lasted 4 laps, Ongias broke a drive shaft, Al led a good deal of the race but ran out of fuel right in front of me.

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The T500 was used in Penzoil colours in early 1979 before Jim Halls Chaparral 2K was ready. In 1980 Jerry Sneva, seen in this photo by Ed Arnaudin, qualified 5th in this T500 and finished 17th in the Indy 500 two further T500’s were raced in this event driven by Tom Bigelow Q 31st F 8th and Gregg Leffler Q 23rd and F 10th.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for the scan of his Dad’s photo.

Hope you have enjoyed Triple 500 Crown edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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