That's good stuff! Can't wait for it to come out!

For those interested, there's a bunch of pics of CanAm cars at Watkins Glen on this site: http://www.glenphotos.com/memories/racingleft.html

These old pics are awesome...

 

Don't know who's McLaren that is in the top pic, but that's Bobby Rahal sliding around in front of Al Holbert in the bottom...

One of my all time favorite lines was from Mark Donohue... when asked about how much the big uphill on the front straight at Road America slowed him down in the Porsche, he is said to have replied "what hill?"

 

I could never handle the care and feeding of one of those beasts, but they are really the only vintage cars that seriously tempt me. I had the opportunity to follow a Lola (with a rear wing the size of a Cessna) in my little formula mazda. It was the only car I've ever felt wake turbulence behind. My car would move a foot or two from side to side.

 

The blue McLaren was the Scooter Patrick driven #8 entered by Herb Caplan.

 

Thanks Mark. That DVD is a must have for me. I saw the Can_Am races as a kid. I still remember the ground shaking when they'd fire them up. They were faster than F1 at the time. I hope wwe get to see the innovations (6 wheeled Shadow I think), Jim Hall's "sucker car"... fond memories!

Best,

 

In the video promo...there's an all white car with the monster wing...I see it (massively) adjusting as it comes out of one corner. What car is it and who(m) is(are) the driver(s) of this car? Was it a front runner?

Also...the promo starts and says 1960's - 1973. I thought I went to a "Can-Am" race at Mosport in the early '80. Same series, restart of the series, or was I dreaming?

Thanks,

Mike

 

The white car with the monster wing is a Chaparral driven by Jim Hall or Hap Sharp. Jim Hall was one of the first to get into aerodynamics. He developed movable wings and finally the famous sucker car which used a second small engine to drive a fan which sucked air out from under the car. Wild and soon banned.

Best,

 

check here

http://wsrp.ic.cz/canam.html

 

Thanks for that. I'll keep a look-out for it. I also remember seeing those cars as a kid at Laguna Seca.

 

Thanks Bob and Congo.

Mike

 

From what I remember the sucker motor had a bad habit of konking out at bad times causing the car to loose traction when truly needed. Got to love the guys that pull ideas out of the dark places and use them to advantage.

 

wadda ya expect from a snowmobile motor running in the heat???

 

Not sure about heat failure, snowmobile engines are used to power the majority of ultralight aircraft after all. I believe the concept was banned and the EXCUSE was that if the sucker motor failed the car would lose its grip (Doh). I suspect the real reason was that Jim Hall had an unfair advantage. Chaparral dominated the early years, then came Bruce Mclaren and Dennis Hume who owned the series until Penske came along with the Porsches. The Penske Donahue combo owned the series and killed it because few would pay to see Porsches win every time. Too bad because it was outstanding racing with a lot of real innovation.

 

The debris it spit out the back of the car didn't help either.

 

I preordered one from Motorsportcollector in the link previously mentioned. Paul Zimmerman from motorsport said they should be available in Decemeber. Originally it was Novemeber but the producers found additional footage they wanted to include this footage so they went back to the editing block. Good news is the film is suppose to be approx 2 hours. I love watching the Can-AM reunions up at Road America.