<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Encouraged by the pace shown, Bryant continued development of the existing design over the Winter. He had finally convinced Nichols to drop the low profile philosophy altogether, which allowed him to use a much improved suspension geometry and larger wheels. The single front-mounted radiator was replaced by two separate radiators mounted on either side of the driver. These were fed with fresh air through channels in the body that originated under the front wing. Although the same tub was used, the extensive changes warranted the change of type name to Shadow Mk III.
In pre-season testing, Oliver was considerably faster than he had been with the earlier Shadow and also a bit quicker than the McLaren M8F that had been the 1971 benchmark. The arrival of the turbo-charged Porsche 917s had nevertheless raised the bar considerably. Oliver once again managed to rival the V8-powered machines on pace but the reliability woes were still not over. He did manage to convert the car's intrinsic speed into a second at Mid-Ohio and third at Donnybrooke early in the season.
A second car was completed halfway through the season, which allowed the team to experiment with a turbo-charged version of the big-block V8. Although very powerful, it certainly did not help improve the Shadow's reliability record. One of the car's issues concerned the Weismann gearbox and eventually Nichols gave up on his all-American philosophy and pragmatically allowed for a British Hewland gearbox to be fitted. All these changes did not help bring in results for Oliver and his alternating team-mates Carlos Pace and Bobby Allison.
Expanding into Formula 1, Shadow hired experienced designer Tony Southgate ahead of the 1973 season. Along with the F1 car he also designed the team's new Can-Am car from a clean sheet. This effectively brought an end to Bryant's involvement in Can-Am racing, which showed plenty of promise but ultimately did not deliver the much desired victories. Those did come for Shadow in 1974 when Jacky Oliver won the title in the Southgate designed DN4, be it against a depleted field. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Encouraged by the pace shown, Bryant continued development of the existing design over the Winter. He had finally convinced Nichols to drop the low profile philosophy altogether, which allowed him to use a much improved suspension geometry and larger wheels. The single front-mounted radiator was replaced by two separate radiators mounted on either side of the driver. These were fed with fresh air through channels in the body that originated under the front wing. Although the same tub was used, the extensive changes warranted the change of type name to Shadow Mk III.