Out of the seven Shadow cars present at the 81st Goodwood Members’ Meeting, six are owned by Jim Bartell with the 1973 Shadow DN2 belonging to Kirt Bennett.
Bennett shared insight with Motorsport Week into the valuable history of his DN2 and what it was like to bring it to the historic Goodwood venue for a celebratory demonstration along with 23 other Can-Am machines.
Q: Tell us about the Can-Am car you own and drove for the demonstration.
KB: So this car is a 1973 Shadow DN2. It was originally designed and built to run as a twin-turbo big block. The motor got put behind a little bit, so this car is chassis number one. They ran it in every race as a naturally aspirated big block. For Road America, Laguna [Seca], they had brought out the second car in the turbo version and Jackie Oliver drove that car and then James Hunt drove this car for those two races. The turbo car never made it to the race and ended up having problems in qualifying or practice or whatever. And then from there, at the end of 1973, after the Porsches ruined everything, they redesigned the cars and put fuel limits on it and they [Shadow] ended up building the DN4, which ended up ultimately winning the championship in 1974.
Q: What’s it like having the fleet all here?
KB: Well, it’s been an effort that’s been many years in the making. Jim had put all the other cars together and rounded them all up and built the collection up. And then to have Goodwood invite us over for this is a pretty special deal. The appreciation for the cars, obviously based on the number of people, is pretty impressive. So that’s exciting to be part of it. We’d love to go racing with them, but this track is probably not the right place for that. That’s why we’re just going to have some demonstration laps. But we’ll still be able to put on a little bit of a show for everybody and I’m glad we could bring the cars out.
Q: These Shadow Can-Ams look like the most brutal race cars. How are they to drive?
KB: They make a lot of horsepower. They can get you in trouble in certain areas, but they do drive quite well [if] the cars are set up right, the engines are set up right. They’re pretty straightforward to drive. But yeah, so if you start trying to run fast, they’ll get the best of you, for sure. The acceleration is so impressive. The noise is so impressive. There’s very few eras in racing that have that combination. In this type of car, you can physically see how fast it accelerates. That’s what’s exciting. The noise and the way they designed the cars. The aerodynamics and the wings. They’re just such a good-looking car.
Q: Tell us about what it’s like to manage this car as an owner.
KB: The good part is [these cars] were built way before all the technology. So when it comes to fabricating parts or making parts, they’re very straightforward and easily reproduced. Maintenance-wise, it’s just like any other race car. The more you stay on top of it and the more effort you put into prepping it, the better they run. They do wear out. A lot of the driveline wears out faster just because of the torque. But if they’re done right in the first place, they’re pretty reliable.
Q: Why is it important to have this car at this demonstration, and to keep it running even in today’s world?
KB: I think if you talk to anybody, you look back through the history of the racing series and things like that. It kind of happened in the late ’80s and early ’90s with GTP and IMSA. They always go back to the Can-Am cars because they were unlimited. There were very few rules and it escalated so fast that it basically killed itself. So when people look back 50 years ago, what they were doing, you make the lightest car you can make and the most horsepower you can put into the car. There are just very few times in history where that was repeated. So it holds kind of a special place as being the king of the hill. That’s why it’s so significant to be able to bring them back out and still run them. It’s pretty cool. It’s definitely up there with being one of the most unique eras of motorsport. I think that’s what the desire for everybody to see them is. They have a lot of respect. The people that drive them have a lot of respect for the cars and a lot of respect for what they did back then. To get paid to go as fast as you can in a car like this is crazy. It’s a lot like the early ’70s Formula One stuff. They were in a different group.
Stay tuned for the final piece on Motorsport Week, a feature on Shadow including the words of 1974 champion Jackie Oliver and famed collector Jim Bartell.
