The Spark

Technically this should be in the OT-Other Cars section, but I figured y'all would appreciate the Chaparral cars more.

I got a chance to watch the Chaparral 2E go for a little spin today.
This has to be my favorite of the Chaparrals.

Here's a couple of shots of them warming up the engine and making a few adjustments. It was awesome.






I only got a few shots of it driving around the driveway. It didn't run too long and I wanted a few shots with the Nikon as well. They didn't run too fast. Just enough to keep her loose and ready to hit the track.





In another thread someone asked about the 2J (Sucker car) and why the sides were raw aluminum instead of painted white like the body.

It just so happens they had the 2J torn down with all the body panels off. You could see the extra engine and how it ran the fans. The aluminum sides are part of the structure and not a removable body panel. One of the "Chaparral guys" said his theory was that they were in such a big hurry to get the car to the track they didn't worry about painting that part white. Could be. I'll ask some others and see what story they tell.

The Spark

I found this video highlighting some of the features of the 2E.



Man were these guys innovative - especially for 1965.

Slalom4me

See post #53 in your earlier thread for one version as to why the
Chaparral 2J center section was unpainted.
Also, here is a thread from a while back about the Chaparral 2E
'Continuation' car.
Thanks for the posts, it is great to hear first-hand accounts of these
vehicles and the people associated with them.

If you are taking requests for questions, I'd be interested in knowing
how sales of the continuation car are going and whether there are
plans to add any of the other models to this program. Regrettably,
I ask only out of curiosity and not with a view to purchase.

.

burners

SS Racing, those are great videos. Thanks for posting them. If seems like you go by the museum often. Do they publish a schedule when they run the cars or are you just getting lucky?

The Spark

I get an email a day or so before they run a car. No set schedule.
They run them in the evening after the museum closes.

To keep with Midland's cutting edge race car heritage, the museum is showing a car that 2 local oilmen built back in the 50's to race at Bonneville.



It ran 203.105 mph on the salt flats in 1953 and was dubbed "the World's Fastest Sports Car". Someone found the car in a field outside of Juarez, Mexico and brought it back to the US for restoration. It has a Hemi engine. We were looking at it the other night (got inside the ropes for a close look) and I saw a piece of hemp rope attached to a metal ring in the drivers floor. They told me back in the day one of the boys was going to drive the car and it didn't have a roll bar. The mother told them that if they got into "trouble" to pull themself down into the car with the rope.

One of the Mabees said to be accurate it needed several knots in it.

This car is on display with the Chaparral cars for a few months before going to the owners (not the Mabee family).

Scott