Canadian-American Challenge Cup

The Canadian-American Challenge Cup , CanAm or Can-Am for short , was a series of sports car races in North America from 1966 to 1974 . The counterpart in Europe was or is the interseries . A second generation of CanAm with fundamentally different rules was based on outdated Formula 5000 cars that were given the look of sports cars.

McLaren M1A

Toyota Seven CanAm V8, 1969

Beginnings

CanAm began as a racing series for racing cars with two races in Canada ( English Canada, hence Can ) and four races in the United States (America, hence Am ). The series was initially sponsored by J-Wax . For the series, the Group 7 rules applied from the FIA regulations of the FIA , the very little restrictions on innovations had. These rules allowed practically unlimited possibilities to experiment with displacement, power, turbochargers and the downforce of the car. This ultimately resulted in truly “monstrous” cars with well over 1000  HP (750 kW), wings , active contact pressure generation, very low weights and speeds that had never been seen before.

Notable drivers and technologies

Notable drivers in the original CanAm series include virtually all major drivers of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Denis Hulme , Bruce McLaren , Phil Hill , Mark Donohue , Jim Hall , Chris Amon , Dan Gurney , Peter Revson , Masten Gregory , John Surtees , Parnelli Jones , Mario Andretti , Jack Brabham , Pedro Rodríguez , Vic Elford and Jackie Stewart all drove at one point or another once CanAm Wagen.

CanAm was the birthplace and testing ground for, at the time, outrageous technology. CanAm cars were among the first race car with wings, powerful turbochargers clad sub-soils and materials from the air and space , such as titanium . This ultimately led to the downfall of the original series as the cost degenerated. However, the CanAm cars were always up to date with the latest racing technology. Notable designers of the series were McLaren , Chaparral , Lola , BRM , Shadow and Porsche .

The turbo-charged Porsche 917/30 Spyder is considered the ultimate CanAm racing car .

Decline

The last CanAm championship took place in 1974. Dizzying costs, an economic slump in North America as a result of the oil crisis and a decline in sponsorship interest led to the series being abandoned at the end of the 1974 season. The name CanAm was still known, which prompted the SCCA in 1977 to present a second CanAm series based on revised vehicles from the Formula A / 5000 series, which had recently been dissolved. However, the fame and success of the original could never be matched again.

master

year	driver	team	dare
1966	John Surtees	Team Surtees	Lola T70 - Chevrolet
1967	Bruce McLaren	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M6A Chevrolet
1968	Denis Hulme	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M8A Chevrolet
1969	Bruce McLaren	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M8B Chevrolet
1970	Denis Hulme	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M8D Chevrolet
1971	Peter Revson	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M8F Chevrolet
1972	George Follmer	Penske Racing	Porsche 917 /10
1973	Mark Donohue	Penske Racing	Porsche 917 / 30KL
1974	Jackie Oliver	Shadow racing cars	Shadow DN4A Chevrolet
1975	no races
1976	no races
1977	Patrick Tambay	Haas - Hall Racing	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
1978	Alan Jones	Haas-Hall Racing	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
1979	Jacky Ickx	Carl Haas Racing	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
1980	Patrick Tambay	Carl Haas Racing	Lola T530 Chevrolet
1981	Geoff Brabham	Team VDS	Lola T530-Chevrolet / VDS 001-Chevrolet
1982	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	Frissbee GR3-Chevrolet
1983	Jacques Villeneuve	Canadian Tire	Frissbee GR3-Chevrolet
1984	Michael Roe	Don Walker	VDS 002-Chevrolet / VDS 004-Chevrolet
1985	Rick Miaskiewicz	Mosquito Autosport	Frissbee GR3-Chevrolet
1986	Horst Kroll	Kroll Racing	Frissbee KR3-Chevrolet

Class under 2 liters

year	driver	team	dare
1979	Tim Evans	Diversified engineering services	Lola T290- Ford
1980	Gary Gove	Pete Lovely VW	Ralt RT2- Hard
1981	Jim Trueman	TrueSports	Ralt RT2- Hard
1982	Bertil Roos	Elite racing	Marquey CA82- Hard
1983	Bertil Roos	Roos Racing School	Scandia B3- Hard
1984	Kim Campbell	Tom Mitchell Racing	March 832 - BMW
1985	Lou Sell	Sell ​​Racing	March 832 - BMW

Web links

Commons : Canadian-American Challenge Cup  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• CanAm history (English)
• CanAm story by Michael Stucker (English)
• Results 1966-1986
• Creation of Can-Am Racing by Leon Mandel (English)
• CanAm in Laguna Seca, Monterey, California by John S. Krill (English)