One of the most colourful of International superstars to bring cars to the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 11.12.13 will be motor racing's legendary 'Long Tall Texan' - Jim Hall. Today bolt-on wings on racing cars are taken as being absolutely standard. Who developed the first successful wing on a road racing car? Jim Hall - and the quiet American oilman turned racing car designer and racing driver will be bringing two of his pioneering Chaparral sports cars to Goodwood for the Festival.
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Hall's cars will be the 'ghost white' Chaparral 2E and Chaparral 2F Coupe, both powered by massive 7-litre Chevrolet V8 racing engines producing some 600-horsepower. The 2E was Jim Hall and Chaparral Cars Inc's greatest achievement. A fantastically shapely, swoopy-bodied open sports-racing car it was built for the big-money Canadian-American Challenge Cup series of 'anything goes' racing cars in 1966. It made its sensational debut on the Bridgehampton race track, Long Island, NY, in September 1966 and its distinctive secret was its enormous wing, erected high above the rear wheels on two tall struts.
Jim Hall (68) - from Midland, Texas - had been an enthusiastic aeromodeller and private flyer since his teens. Seeking extra tyre grip and traction to enhance his cars' acceleration, braking and cornering power, he had reasoned that a carefully designed wing system would weigh only a few pounds, yet could harness the effect of moving rapidly through the air to generate several hundred - and maybe thousands - of pounds of thrust at speed. While aircraft wings generate upward thrust - lift - to enable them to fly, Hall realised that if he mounted his wings in effect 'upside down' they would generate downward thrust, to press his racing cars down onto the road surface and so enhance grip.
His startlingly futuristic-looking Chaparral 2E did just that. Pursuing a personal racing career which had seen him running in Formula 1 forty years ago in 1963 - when he drove Lotus cars at Goodwood against the likes of Jim Clark and Graham Hill - he built two such winged-wonder Chaparral 2E sports cars for himself and his team-mate - America's former 1961 Formula 1 World Champion Driver Phil Hill (who will be driving one of the Chaparrals next month at Goodwood) - and they shone.
For 1967 they then produced the 2F Coupe version, which is also appearing at Goodwood, which was a closed car specifically developed to contest the World Championship of Makes in the year-long annual series of endurance races which included such events as the classical Le Mans 24-Hours, the Sebring 12-Hours in Florida and numerous 1,000-Kilometre events at Europe's leading circuits. Jim Hall led a tiny team to Europe, and with Phil Hill and Maidenhead racing driver Mike Spence as his prime pairing they eventually won outright with the amazing 'Winged Wonder' 2F Coupe in the BOAC 1,000 race at Brands Hatch.
These wonderful cars are genuine ground-shakers with their thunderous, rumbling V8 engines and their tall strutted aerofoil aids will fulfil one of the themes of this year's Festival of Speed - 'Wings over Goodwood'. Such tall aerodynamic aids proliferated in sports and Formula racing into 1969 when a series of catastrophic failures and accidents led to strict new regulations governing wing size, height and location on the cars. Jim Hall, however, had progressed still further, and for decades now his American-based racing team - which he runs in conjunction with Carl Haas - has been one of the most successful in American speedway racing.
His name was one of the very first to go onto the 'wish list' of guest stars and cars compiled by Lord March's core team when they first conceived the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 1992-93. After years of contact in which Jim was always faced by conflicting race dates, he finally attended with two Chaparral cars in 1997. And was staggered by the experience of meeting the amazingly knowledgeable Goodwood crowd. "There are guys here", he enthused, "...who remember more about my Chaparrals and what we did than I do. This just has to be the most car-savvy and friendly crowd of race fans I've ever encountered anywhere in the world...".
He was particularly tickled by one group of Festival fans sitting in the paddock grandstand at Goodwood who would leap to their feet whenever he appeared in his trademark Stetson, and would whoop "Yeee-Haaaaaa!!!" in the Texan's honour.
Have little doubt, it will happen again as Jim Hall and Phil Hill in these great grumbling Chaparrals fly their wings once more, high over Goodwood.
Also expected to be seen -
David Coulthard - Sunday only
Jean Alesi - Mercedes-Benz DTM
Jarno Trulli - Renault F1
Allan McNish - Renault F1
Olivier Panis - Toyota F1
Juan Pablo Montoya - BMW Williams F1
Jenson Button - BAR Honda F1
Dan Gurney
Stirling Moss
John Surtees
Jacky Ickx
Hannu Mikkola - World Rally Champion
The photos shown here are from the 2002 event. The Goodwood Festival 2003 runs from Friday 11th July to Sunday 13th July. Entrance to the Sunday is by pre-booked ticket only - no purchase on the day.
For a full description of the event, including online ticket booking, please look at www.goodwood.co.uk
