VIDEO: Chaparral 2E continuation racer

Many would argue that the golden-age of racing improving the breed has passed. We still see innovation and clever engineering out there on the closed course, but it takes forever to get to the open road. Back in the 1960s, Chaparrals were arguably the most innovative racers out there. The company practially invented modern aerodynamic practices as they apply to automobiles, and the cars were full of other trick touches as well. Winding Road's James Morse has spent some time with Chaparral's James Musser, walking around one of the company's continuation cars and following it to a presentation at the GM Tech center. A continuation car is basically an exact a reproduction of the original as possible. Musser offers great commentary explaining how the 2E's innovations came about, and it's enthralling to see how items like the rear wing are implemented. Not only that, but the thing sounds positively evil in the best of ways. There are three videos after the jump for your viewing pleasure.
Thanks to tipster Chuck!
[Source: Winding Road]







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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeff Banks 11:28AM (1/02/2007)
You spelled "Chaparral" wrong.
Reply
Reilly Brennan 12:03PM (1/02/2007)
Full coverage of this car, including a feature story and test drive, can be found in the latest issue of WINDING ROAD: http://www.windingroad.com/download?issue=new
Thanks,
Reilly Brennan
WINDING ROAD
Reply
Billy 1:13PM (1/02/2007)
Incredible how noone had come up with downforce until then, still, how sad that it ever did get discovered, permanently uglifying formula one and countless other race cars ever since then.
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tired_watcher 3:59PM (1/02/2007)
We need to see the 2J as well! Thanks for the video!
Reply
C 7:30PM (1/02/2007)
Very cool stuff. Someone tell the boys and gals at Automobile and Car and Driver that it IS possible to make a classy video that doesn't look like it was put together by my friends and me in high school.
Reply