The Chaparral 2 was the first car designed by Texan Jim Hall, co-founder of Chaparral Cars with Hap Sharp. Hall qualified the car on pole position in it's first race at Riverside in 1963, but retired due to an electrical problem while comfortably in the lead. In 1964 Hall dominated the USRRC (US Road Racing Championship) with 7 race wins overall, and he was even more successful in 1965 winning 16 out of 21 USRRC races held that year (thus again winning the championship), and also won the 1965 12hr race at Sebring.
The Chaparral 2 was a milestone in racing car development. It was the first racing car to feature a fibreglass composite chassis and the first with a semi-automatic transmission - the clutch had been replaced with a 3-stage torque converter developed in secret by GM engineers. The distinctive modular wheels introduced a cross-spoke design which has been widely imitated up to the present day.
According to the story I heard, the reason for developing an automatic transmission for this car was to free up the drivers left foot from clutch duty, leaving it free to operate a pedal controlling a moveable rear wing (on some versions of the Chaparral 2). The version of the car depicted by this model has a fixed rear spoiler, but Jim Hall developed versions of the 2 with moveable rear wings. The advantage of the moveable wing was that it could be lowered on the straights to reduce drag and therefore allow a higher speed to be reached, and when approaching a corner, the driver could press down a pedal with his left foot to raise the wing to increase downforce through the corner and to aid braking by increasing drag. An ingenious idea which is no longer permitted in motor racing following a series of accidents in the late 60s when moveable wings broke or malfunctioned, causing a loss of downforce and hence sudden loss of control.
Additionally having an automatic gearbox allowed the driver to keep both hands on the wheel at all times, which was helpful when cornering hard. Powering the Chaparral 2 was a race tuned Chevrolet V8 which meant the car had both an advanced chassis and a great engine.
Exoto have also released a 1:18th of the Chaparral 2 in several forms, some with and without the vents in the body, some with the moveable rear wings and so on (according to the version which Exoto are replicating). It is a superb model but as it came out after this model by AUTOart I decided to get the Aa version (and to date-2005-have not bought the Exoto version). The Aa version when new was around half the price of the Exoto version but was certainly not half the model. For example, the Exoto version has real metal exhaust pipes while the Aa's are plastic, but they are extremely well made and painted and hence look very authentic. The Exoto has a more detailed chassis (but not by that much) and if price is taken out of the equation it is the model to get. But the Aa runs it very close for alot less money.
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