Chaparral Mk1 – Road Runners

February 11, 1962, brings back a very striking memory. I had been married for only eight days, yet for some reason I was sitting in front of a black and white television watching the Daytona 3-Hour Sports Car Race. Perhaps other things should be clearer in my memory, but there was something special about that race. These were still the “early days” of televised motor racing and also early days for Daytona and sports cars.

The race was being led, for a period, by Phil Hill, who had just been crowned the World Drivers Champion for his efforts with Ferrari in 1961. Hill was sharing a mid-engine Ferrari 246SP with his 1962 Ferrari F1 teammate, Ricardo Rodriguez. The Ferrari looked to be swooping effortlessly around the Daytona banking, handling well and disposing of the opposition. What I remember vividly is the camera moving back to a wide view to show another car coming into the picture, a white front-engine machine bearing the number 66, somewhat ungainly and moving around on the surface, but immensely fast. It blew by the Ferrari. It didn’t win but it finished 3rd behind Gurney, and the Ferrari. It was Jim Hall in Chaparral 1, chassis 001. Three places further back was a second Chaparral 1, the Meister Brauser chassis 002, the blue car you see on these pages. But it was the streak of white and Jim Hall which fastened onto my memory.