The Roaring Season

Luv it

A Sort of Tribute to Pat Hoare

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 ..





The 2H Chapparral with a different big wing that was the car being built for Surtees to race



Jim Hall put the name on other cars too !! a Camaro in the 1970 Trans-Am series

Thanks Roger..............Great stuff

Schuco Tinplate clockwork model - there was a version available with the twin rear wheel set up too !!
The model comes with a hammer and spanners to remove the knock-offs a quick lift jack two sets of tyres, and the winder handle
As Chaindrive said when posted on Facebook " a treasure " - indeed it is, a gift from a friend who left NZ around 20 years ago, and he had it given to him while in Europe in the 1980's .
All the instructions are in German, so I had a friend of my sisters translate it for me - there is quite a lot of writing in the booklet.

Like the Holy Grail !

Roger Dowding wrote: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 ..

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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.

Here is one I started about 20 years ago but never finished. This company produced some great 1:24 scale kitsets. I'd built a couple of their Corvette Grand Sports prior to starting this one.

That's on my wish list. .................Get on with it Steve

" 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." interesting stuff, didn't know all of it.

Steve have a 1;43 of the 2H, with those wierd side windows, but without the huge wing, as raced at Edmonton by John Surtees, now to find a photo !!

Does this help? http://www.grandprixhistory.org/chap_2h.htm

Tamiya released this a couple of years ago. You may still be able to get it
https://www.hobbycity.nz/products/1-18-mclaren-m8a-1968

librules wrote:Does this help? http://www.grandprixhistory.org/chap_2h.htm

A good read and a few photos ; Thanks " librules "

A small tribute to Timaru's 50th

Tribute to the Stanton Brothers

A Small Tribute to the late Ron Rutherford

Presented to Mr Begg some years ago. 1/12 Begg 018

bry3500 wrote:not in the same league but cool nevertheless

Bry3500.. have the Zephyr as original [ not Ernie's ] and did the Fastback thing on an Anglia, using cardboard and resin for the back and filed down the front guards to round off the headlights sadly now gone.
Only taken me 3 years to comment, Oh well .. not in a hurry these days !!

Dad's Merit kit built Talbot Lago - with engine detail, making it more expensive than the standard Merit fare. I think the basics were 7/6d, with the Airfix kits 2/- at the time.

Why can't they produce model kits today of these great old F1 cars at a modest price? Dad's Alfa - also with engine detail needs a bit of repair work as do one or two others, but these days, you can't even just pop into a local toy shop for a tube of glue for plastics!

Same one with a better set of wheels. Ray you're right . It wud be great to see some of these older formula cars produced now
PS. See the price these old Merits are fetching now !!!!!