The Spark

They ran the Chaparral 2J (Sucker Car) the other day.
Every time I am around these cars I find something new and ingenious.

They had the body panels off the car when I got there.
I was checking out under the hood (back) and noticed cooling hose for the rear brakes. OK not so strange on a race car. But the hoses went from the brake to the BACK of the car.


You can see the hole under the tail light.


You can see the hose and duct below the exhaust.

So how do they get the air to the brakes? After they put the body on it occurred to me. The fans suck the air OUT from under the bodywork. The rear tires are inside the body. So the vacuum under the car pulls the air through the cooling duct and across the rear brakes. INGENIOUS.

Side skirts. The side skirts are necessary to maintain the vacuum under the car. Because the car moves up and down the skirts have to also move. They developed this system that is connected by a cable to the suspension. As the suspension moves, the cable moves the skirts up and down. There is a cable attached to all four corners.



Air intake. With the engine under the rear bodywork and the vacuum created by the fans - they had to duct the carburetors to the outside.


There is an opening on each side at the top of the body.



I'm not sure why they have a clear plastic panel over the back of the instruments. I'll see if I can find out.





I've got some video of the fans running. I was standing about 20 feet behind the car and you could really feel the air blast. And the fans weren't at full blast.

I'll post the videos up in the next few days.

ghoffman

Thanks so much, I really miss this kind of innovation in race cars. Compare this to the IRL or NASCAR. Hey, I will bet you dollars to donuts that a Dallara/Honda wins the next IRL race!

69427

I've never gotten an answer why the center section wasn't painted. The previous Chaparral cars were always good looking vehicles, in addition to being innovative, but the 2J just looked tacky to me with the unpainted center section.

BrianCunningham

Love that car.

It really changed racing.

Look forward to the videos.

The Spark

One answer I heard was they were in such a hurry to get the 2J ready that they didn't get the panels painted and just never got around to it before the car was outlawed. I imagine they had lots of details to work on getting this car sorted out. Like little wires behind each front tire to hold the front skirt up so it wouldn't hang up when unloading the car off the trailer or rolling it backwards. The skirt is hinged and runs the width of the car behind the front tires. I wonder how many times they forgot to pull the skirt up?

One thing I noted is the center section and the area between the front fenders are aluminum and a structural part of the car. The white panels are removable and made of fiberglass. You can see in the 3rd picture (with the side skirt mechanism) the aluminum center section extends back to about where the "66" is on the back panel. The suction creates a lot of stress on the body.

The fuel cells are located on each side of the driver. The little doors are to access the fuel cells - not for the driver to get in/out.

The Spark

Here is a shot of the rear of the 2J where you can see the unpainted section extends back to the rear tire.



the green rag is coving the fan engine. You can also see the white air intakes from the carbs to the air intakes.
The large cable that runs over the exhaust, above the tire and to the side is one of the cables that operates the side skirt.


Here's a shot of the fan engine. You just can appreciate how LOUD that thing is.


Here's a shot of the nose. You can see that it is the same unpainted aluminum up to the radiator.


Here is a shot showing the front skirt. This is right behind the front tire. It looks like there are some mud flaps to help protect the skirt from debris kicked up by the front tires. The small tube is an overflow for the fuel cell.

The Spark

Video of driver climbing in the cockpit.


Engine idling


Starting fan engine and letting it warm up



Running fan engine at speed



Making a CCW pass

DaveL82

I need to plan a weekend and get out there to see the cars. Not too far from Dallas and might be able to plan a weekend this fall when they have the airshow out there.

The Spark

The air show is October 9-11 this year.
It's about 5 hour drive from Dallas.

Even if you can't make it for the CAF airsho they have a great museum at the Midland airport. You never know what planes they will have. One of my favorite "scenes" was a WWI fighter parked next to a F-14 Tomcat. Look at the leaps in technology in 50-60 years.

The Spark

If they ever had to change a rear tire during a race they'd lose for sure. You have to remove the rear body panels and then the side skirt.

No 15 second NASCAR pit stops with this car!

But I guess with the vacuum cleaner cleaning the track as you drive you shouldn't have to worry about running over debris.

I was standing about 1-1/2 to 2 car lengths behind the 2J when they had the fans running at speed. The air was still pretty forceful at that distance. I couldn't imagine what it was like for a racer behind this thing. You'd be pelted with debris.

I've heard they outlawed the 2J for having 2 engines. I was told this time that the movable skirt was a reason for outlawing the car. It was ruled to be an aerodynamic device.

Was the movable wing outlawed after the 2E and 2F?

BrianCunningham

Thanks for the vids!

burners

Very cool photos and video. I especially like the detail shots of the skirt mechanisms.