Motorsport History In Minature

[Steve Holmes]

Chaindrive ; a note from my Mate, Jerry Luidahl who runs " Old Irish Racing " website / Facebook page
as well as " Race Car Models " and
" Jaguar Drivers Club of Victoria " - Canada

The story behind the Chaparral McLaren , for John Surtees ;
" The Chaparral 2H was not ready at the beginning of the 1969 season. He needed a car for John Surtees to race since he was under contract. He purchased the McLaren M12 one of the first customer cars, which they raced till mid-season.
I thought Kiwis were taught all things McLaren in school! "

I like the last comment.

The Wing which looks very Chaparral like, and was added during the season.
The Car with Surtees Can Am number 7 ..

That is true but there is more to the story. Jim Hall originally design the Chaparral 2H to use a fully enclosed cockpit featuring a series of mirrors so he could see out. It only had a single front windscreen and a window either side. There were blind spots where the front wheels were.

The car was originally intended to race in 1968, at which time Hall himself was still driving before he had his nasty shunt at Las Vegas. But delays in its completion meant it wasn't ready until the 1969 season, by which time John Surtees was recruited to drive it. But Surtees hated the car, didn't like the enclosed cockpit, and demanded the drivers seat be raised, and an opening cut in the roof so he could see out over the top. According to Jim Hall, this completely ruined the cars centre of gravity.

But in creating the changes meant the 2H wasn't ready for the start of the 1969 Can-Am, so a customer McLaren M12 was purchased. Initially it ran as supplied, without the big rear wing. The wing appeared for the first time in Round 3 at Watkins Glen.

The Chaparral 2H finally made its race debut at Round 5, at Edmonton, but Surtees was way off the pace, qualifying over 5 seconds behind pole man Denny Hulme, and the situation never really got any better. In fact, Surtees returned to the McLaren for Round 7 at Bridgehampton where he immediately qualified third fastest and was much more competitive. The 2H returned for Round 9 at Laguna Seca with a MASSIVE wing perched up above the car (as below), and raced only once more, at Riverside. This was one of the few Jim Hall designs that didn't work, but it would have been fascinating to see how it might have performed without the changes.