CHAPARRAL 2
The race winning Chaparral 2 driven by Jim Hall and Hap Sharp at the 1965 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix of Endurance. The 1965 Sebring race was the first year the FIA allowed both prototype cars and large-displacement sports cars to race in the same event. This allowed the race promoter to invite the Chevrolet powered Chaparral team founded by Jim Hall and Hap Sharp to race against the big Ford and Ferrari teams. Along with being a very skillful driver, Jim Hall was an engineer and chief designer of Chaparral Racing Cars. Chaparral brought two cars, the first driven by Jim Hall and Hap Sharp, the second car was driven by Bruce Jennings and Ronnie Hisson – they qualified first and second. Although the Chaparrals were much lighter than the Ford’s and Ferrari’s, and very fast – they had won the 1964 United States Road Racing Championship – there was concern that they would not last 12 hours. The USRRC events were much shorter, typically just 2 hours. As expected, the number 3 Chaparral took the lead early in the race… and then shortly after 5 o’clock, the rains came. The rain fell like a wall of water, 5 inches in the first 30 minutes of the storm, with winds reaching 50 mph. The race proceeded at a slow pace, except for the small GT cars with skinny tires that raced past the larger Prototypes and big GT cars on track with ease. Even so, the small GT cars remained many laps down. With three hours left in the race, the rains slowed and finally ended. The number 3 Chaparral was still in the lead, and stayed there until the end of the race. They finished four laps ahead of the second place GT40 driven by Ken Miles and Bruce McLaren.
Standard Print: 13" x 19" ($35)
Stock: 65lb Cover Uncoated
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