Why Jim Hall is Racing's Total BAD@$$ | The Bad Blonde Car History
/Why Jim Hall is Racing's Total BAD@$$ | The Bad Blonde Car History I jump around a little bit in the timeline, but you'll leave this video knowing Jim Hall changed motorsports forever. A man so well known for his success and ingenuity as a conductor that many forget he was one of the legendary American racecar drivers of his generation, winning consecutive United States Road Racing Championships (1964, 1965), two Road America 500s (1962, 1964), two Watkins Glen Grands Prix for sports cars (1964, 1965), the 1965 Canadian Grand Prix for sports cars, the 1965 Pacific Northwest Grand Prix, and scoring a massive upset at the 1965 12 Hours of Sebring over a contingent of factory-backed Ford GTs, Shelby Daytona Coupes and Ferrari entries. You might be wondering how all of those wins could be overshadowed? Hall made pivotal contributions to race car design through his series of Chaparral cars. They won in every series they competed in. Let’s start at the beginning, Jim Hall was born in Abilene, Texas, he would go on to study engineering in California at the Institute of Technology. During that time he began racing in local car events. Post schooling, he was promised a job at GM.. to work on America’s first sports car, THE CORVETTE! Super interesting to think about that.. After the 50s recession interfered with him GM prospects he went on to work at Carroll Shelby Sports Cars in Dallas. This was a crucial time period in his progression as a race car driver. Though quickly fans would realize the talent that Hall possessed, and soon he garnered international attention at the 1960 USGP at Riverside when driving his own and older Lotus-Climax he ran at fifth for most of the race until mechanical issues took him out near the end of the race. And also after this win, Hall was approached by two ambitious builders Troutman and Barnes who were looking for some funding for a new front-mid-engined, two-seat road racer… Hall decided to join up and that was the birth of the first Chaparral vehicle, the Chaparral 1. The Chaparral 1 was a major success, winning the Road America 500 among other races.. As soon as he felt that success he was already prepping for the next vehicle. This point on that hall began his enduring influence on racing.. Many consider him the most influential race car designer of the 20th century. Hall was the pioneer of movable aerodynamic devices, side-mounted radiators, composite monocoque chassis structures, and wings. All of these innovations are STILL things you see in present-day F1 cars. He was one of the first to recognize and demonstrate the performance benefits of torsional rigidity. The chassis of his Chaparral 2 — it later became known as 2A to distinguish it from other Chaparrals — was by design about four times stiffer than those of the leading sports cars of the day Hall also introduced the world's first constant downforce racecar, the 1970 Chaparral 2J, which used a snowmobile engine to power two fans to reduce the air pressure between the bottom of the car and the road regardless of vehicle speed. The 2J was also the first car equipped with vacuum-protecting “skirts,” another innovation later adopted by Formula 1 In 1979, Hall also became the first to bring ground-effects tunnels to IndyCar racing with his groundbreaking Chaparral 2K. Today, because of Hall, downforce is part of the design brief for every major form of racing car — Formula 1, IndyCar, Le Mans, NHRA, NASCAR, World Rally Championship cars and more — and most high-performance road cars. Let’s talk about his shop in Midland.. The Chaparral 2E is considered the most influential of Hall’s designs. Prepared for the Canadian American Challenge Cup aka Can-Am, the 2e featured side-mounted radiators, semi-automatic gear box, and many other innovations.. Now what most spectators and undoubtedly his competitors noticed most? The massive wing attached to it! remember these were semi-automatic which meant there was room for an extra pedal.. The driver’s left foot was available to activate the pedal. The 2E was the fastest car of the Can-Am season, however with any new vehicle, always a few kinks to work out, and the 2E early races suffered a few reliability issues BUT Hill and Hall went on to finish 1-2 at the Laguna Seca round where the cars performed flawlessly. In 1968, and this was after Hall had been involved in a serious race accident that would take 6 months before he could walk again, he would introduce his final Can-Am racer, the legendary suction ground effect Chapparral 2J. The car was so much faster than ANY other car in the series that every team lobbied against it and the FIA decided to ban it. EVEN though the SCCA had declared it legal! Like this thing was a beast! If you are b your computer or phone, please google the chaparral 2J you need to see it. This action by the FIA disgusted Hall so tremendously that left the series and quit racing as a whole.
