For Sale: 1972 Shadow Mark III Can-Am
This car competed at the 1999 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is completely sorted and race ready. The engine, trans, induction system, and electronics were just rebuilt and have less than an hour of track time.
In the original Can-Am series there were only four factories that won championships: Lola, McLaren, Porsche and Shadow. Shadow, far less known than the other three, won the last original Can-Am championship in 1974. The Shadow was the leading American car of the series scoring more points then the legendary Chapparals, and the only American design to win the championship.
The Mark III was designed by Peter Bryant for Don Nichols Shadow team and drivers Jackie Oliver and Carlos Pace to compete in the 1972 Can Am series. The team finally abandoned the low profile tires of the previous years car for conventional rubber. The larger tires meant that the body of the MkIII, though of similar shape to the 1971 MkII, was now taller. The radiators were moved to the sides of the car and a wing placed between the front wheels, just as McLaren did with their M20. The team also began testing a turbocharged Chevy V8. This car was used during the ’72 series in normally aspirated configuration and then converted into turbo form for the last race of the year at Riverside. Team leader Jackie Oliver drove it in practice but elected to race the non turbo version.
For 1973, Shadow built an all new Can-Am car, the DN2 designed by Tony Southgate. (Shadow had also started racing in Formula One. They won the Can-Am championship in 1974.
The car was kept by the team and not raced professionally again. In the late 1990’s Bud Bennett purchased the car and performed a mild restoration and race preparation. He ran the car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 1999 and selected vintage events in the U.S. George Staffer purchased the car for his private collection but never raced it.
Mark Montanos purchased the car in 2003 for his private collection but also wanted to drive the car in vintage events. Montanos commissioned Virtuoso Performance in Hayward California to mechanically restore the car and fully sort and re-engineer the turbo system. Every mechanical system of the car was checked and rebuilt where necessary. All suspension components and wheels were crack checked. The transmission was completely rebuilt. The Turbo system was re-engineered keeping the appearance of the period components but hiding modern injectors below the intake runners. A fully integrated electronic management system was designed and hidden in the tub. The only thing that can be seen is the computer laptop data link plug. The results were absolutely earth shattering! The engine produces over 1200 horsepower and staggering 1800 ft. lbs. of torque but has a very smooth power curve. The car has been fully sorted and set up for vintage racing. It was track tested twice to optimize the fuel injection mapping and race one at Infinion Raceway. It is currently completely race ready.
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