Talk:Can-Am

Chaparral

In this artical, at the part where it talks about the Chaparral 2J, it says "These fans, combined with rubber 'skirts' around the bottom of the car created a vacuum underneath the car, effectively providing the same level of downforce as the huge wings of previous vehicles"

It is well known that these cars had Lexan skirts, and not rubber ones. In fact, there was a big 'lexan' sponsorship sticker on the car!

I also remember the car being know for having Lexan skirts. A buddy of mine is a Chaparral nut and goes on and on about how trick the skirts were. Scottanon 05:12, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

SCCA

this article really should discuss the 5 litre(1977-1986) SCCA Can Am series as well. The writer is failing in achieving NPOV in a dismissive attitude towards the 5 litre 2nd CA series, which featured many drivers from CART and Formula 1 and was often very competitive. Jonathan Versen 06:15, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it should. But I don't know why you're assuming POV. Maybe nobody added anything because nobody who checked this article has enough knowledge on the single-seater Can-Am. If you can, then please do so. --Pc13 08:49, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

When I started this article I didn't really know much about the Formula 5000 based cars and was hoping somebody would fill in that info. There is mention of the series in the Formula 5000 article, but Jonathan Versen is right, it should be here as well. In my defense I wasn't dismissing the later cars, I just didn't feel I had enough to work with to flesh out the text. Scottanon 23:58, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I've added some more detail - the revived series was pretty much killed off by the rise of IMSA and the end of the USAC/CART war. But it did have some top names - look at the list of champions!

Also added a table of champions - anyone got bios of Miaskiewicz and Kroll, who I've only ever heard of in the context of the second decline and fall of Can-Am!

Pete Fenelon, 2006-07-06 2338BST

I've tried researching the 5-liter formula myself, and useful secondary sources are scarce at best. Given the vast divergence in rules, time frame and spirit between the two Can-Ams, though, I'd think that the 5-liter formula would make the most sense as part of the F-5000 article, with a link at the top of this one. It was a great series, but it was much more F-5000 than Can-Am, despite the name. But hey, anything written on the subject adds to the availability of info. My $0.02. Lmj81 03:24, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Info about Horst Kroll

From the ’79 Can-Am Media Guide

Horst Kroll

A Volkswagen/Porsche specialist with his own shop in the Toronto area, ex-Porsche factory mechanic Horst Kroll won the Canadian Formula Vee Championship in 1964 and 1965. In 1967 he was Under 2-liter Champion of Canada, and the following year Champion of Canada. In 1969 and ’70, he was runner-up in the Canadian F/5000 Championship. In the Can-Am, he was seventh overall in 1977.

From the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame

In a career that spanned more than 25 years, Horst Kroll thrilled fans in Canada and the U.S. He won the Canadian Driving Championship in 1968, driving a Kelly Porsche. That was the same car he beat the factory Porsches in a United States Auto Club race at Watkins Glen. He raced Formula A cars in 1969/70. When the cars morphed into the new Can-Am cars, Horst made the move as well. In 1986, he won the Can-Am Championship. {Hugewally 07:31, 15 December 2006 (UTC)}

Materials

Can-Am cars were among the first race cars to sport wings, effective turbo charging, undertrays, and aerospace materials like titanium.

I don't recall Can-Am undertrays as being anything special (in reality, the first time I ever saw Can-Am and undertrays together was here).

As for turbo-charging and use of titanium, Indy cars were using them since the mid-60s. Mickey Thompson had an all titanium chassis at Indy in '63 and an Offy-Turbo first won Indy in '68. The Ti-22 was I believe the first sportscar to have its a full-length monocoque chassis made of titanium (and aluminum too). Hugewally 01:00, 23 February 2007 (UTC)Hugewally

Jim Hall practically invented downforce, but ground effect undertrays didn't come into use until the Lotus 78 of 1977. The skirts were used to seal the underbody on the 2J to create a stronger vacuum, but their use without the fans, with an undertray that produced ground effect simply through its shape, would be accidental and undocumented.

Lmj81 03:24, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

What does this mean?

"The Can-Am is mostly remembered as the last series to allow unlimited motor racing before it became definitely over in 1974." This is terribly vague - could someone with the requisite knowledge tidy it up? Loganberry (Talk) 13:46, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Interserie...

... really needs its own article, as it lived on long after the Can-Am cars became vintage.

Unfortunately, other than that, I don't know much about it. Maybe just enough to write a stub. Lmj81 03:24, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

An Interserie stub has now been started, to at least acknowledge that is a different series from Can-Am. The359 06:34, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was move Duja► 10:55, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

---

CanAm → Can-Am — Everwhere I have seen the name used, it always has the dash between the n and A, not the two together, this even include all edits on this page —Willirennen 21:47, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Survey

Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with *'''Support''' or *'''Oppose''', then sign your comment with ~~~~. Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's naming conventions.

Discussion

Any additional comments:

• I've actually seen it quite a bit written as CanAm. 132.205.99.122 19:19, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Former Autosport journalist, Pete Lyons who wrote a book about the original series in 1995 even spelt it with a dash between the two words plus numerous websites including this article spelt it with a dash in between. Willirennen 22:50, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

• Every book in the bibliography uses the hyphen.... Pete Fenelon 02:03, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

South African Shelby Can-Am class?

I don't know enough about the subject to contribute to the article, but someone with more subject knowledge might want to have a look at adding information about the South African Can-Am class [1] and see if it is a true descendant of the original Can-Am racing series. If they are related and photos are required, drop me a note on my talk page and I'll upload some to commons --NJR_ZA (talk) 19:29, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Nothing to do with it. Their website describes the cars as being designed by Carroll Shelby for Can-Am, but also mentions it was an SCCA junior series. The cars were later exported to South Africa. It's a one-make series with single-seater sports-prototypes, started with a road-based Chrysler LH 3.3 engine but now uses the Nissan VQ. --Pc13 (talk) 08:44, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

More information here.

Flags on Seasonal Pages

Since the series never held a race outside of the United States or Canada, I believe we should change all the flags to state/provincial flags. AmericanLeMans (talk) 00:56, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

MOS:FLAGS says otherwise, state and providence flags should not be used due to lack of recognizability. As the Canadian-American series, the flags merely denote which races were in Canada and which were in the United States. The³5₉ (Talk) 06:33, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

That would be fine if only Canadians and Americans read Wikipedia. The flags rule is about the audience, not the subject. --Falcadore (talk) 08:05, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Seasonal pages

I have created seasonal pages up to 1981. I would like some help with them. Thank you. AmericanLeMans (talk) 03:58, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

I have now created pages for every season. I'd like someone to make them look more professional. Thank you. AmericanLeMans (talk) 03:56, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

Can-Am Today

Today (2021) I still see regional races held under the banner of Can-Am, but the technical details are more like late model stock cars. They might be loosely based on Can-Am but it is hard to say how much relevances they retain. Still, Canadian national anthem is played and those races largely have loose regulations and should they be included?