We decided that to extend the performance of the car, we (needed to) build a second chassis, but do everything that was possible to do everything as light as possible to extend the performance capability. We built (the new GSIIb) at Chevy R&D and Larry Shinoda, of course, did the body for that. That car became the prototype, really, for the Chaparral 2c, which was the first Chaparral to really use an aluminum monocoque.”
Send to a friend» Grand Sport IIb December 12th, 2006 3:36 PM Link
[…] This is one of the things I love about cars, especially marques like Corvette that have such a rich and interesting history behind them - it seems like you learn something new about them every day. I came across this Winding Road article about the Grand Sport IIb. At the time, GM was experimenting with different engine layouts and chassis; the Grand Sport II was a mid-engine, steel chassis car. Once the initial testing was done on the GSII, the guys working on the project (Jim Mussner, Jim Hall and Hap Sharp) decided that they needed to do a second prototype, doing everything to make it as light as possibe. That led to the Grand Sport IIb, an alumininum monocoque chassis with a Larry Shinoda-designed, vaccum-bagged ultra-thin fiberglass body. The Winding Road article links to this Corvette Action Center interview with Larry Shinoda (done originally by Wayne Ellwood). They wound up with a 1450 lb. car with who knows how much horsepower. These were the early days of aerodynamics too, so there was a lot of trial and error involved. On one test run, Jim Musser was driving with Tom Goada riding shotgun at the proving grounds, and the doors blew off the car at 198 mph. I’ve always been interested in Chaparral cars. If I’m ever within 100 miles of Midland, TX I’ll be stopping by the Petroleum Museum, where a number of the historic Chaparral race cars are housed. It’s interesting to me that the early days of Jim Hall’s Chaparrals, and the Grand Sport II prototypes, and, by association, the Corvettes of the era are so closely linked. There’s also a good article on the early synergy between Chaparral and Chevy R&D at the Chaparral web site […]
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