Intrepid RM-1

Jim Miller originally hired Bob Riley and his son, Bill, in 1990 to design improvements to his Spice Engineering-built GTP car. However, Miller was unsatisfied with campaigning customer prototypes—"If you're going to be competitive you had to have a unique car," Miller said. Bob had earlier developed conceptual plans for a high-downforce, rear-engined GTP car as a follow-on to his mid-1980s Ford Mustang GTP design, and Miller agreed to fund the design and construction of what became known as the Intrepid RM-1. In designing the Intrepid, Bob Riley considered developing maximum downforce as the primary goal rather than minimizing aerodynamic drag, which meant sacrificing the car's top speed in favor of increasing its cornering speed. He viewed this tradeoff as a favorable one given the relatively slow and twisting nature of most American road courses compared to European circuits. Miller originally planned on powering the Intrepid with a 1,000-horsepower Judd GV10; however, Chevrolet became interested in participating in the project and offered an 800-horsepower Katech-built small-block V8. Though this left the Intrepid underpowered relative to its original design parameters, it also allowed the car to run at a lighter weight as part of an equalization formula. This rules break, combined with financial support and factory backing offered by GM, led Miller to accept Chevrolet's proposal. == Racing history ==

1991 The Intrepid RM-1 made its racing debut on the streets of West Palm Beach, in the Toyota Camel Grand Prix of Palm Beach. The debut was auspicious, as Wayne Taylor qualified the car in sixth place and worked his way through the field to a second-place finish, just behind the Jaguar of Davy Jones and ahead of defending series champion Geoff Brabham's all-conquering Nissan NPT-90. After tests at Sebring International Raceway revealed the Intrepid's undoubted superiority to the Spice, construction of a second car was given the green light. Fitted with new aerodynamic wheel covers developed after the testing, Taylor captured the Intrepid's first pole position at the Miami Grand Prix. At Heartland Park Topeka, Taylor set the fastest race lap and finished fourth. Midway through the season, at Lime Rock Park, the second Intrepid chassis was completed and Tommy Kendall very nearly swept the entire weekend with it, as he took the pole, set fastest lap and was well on his way to victory before making contact with Taylor while lapping him, sending both cars spinning off track and ruining the afternoon. Here, the Intrepid's design showed off its contradictions. On the straights, its massive drag left the Intrepid as much as slower than its GTP competitors, but its equally massive downforce meant that the Intrepid fairly flew through the turns with superior handling. In qualifying, Tommy Kendall continued the Intrepid's streak of strong performances with an outside pole. But the Intrepid's incredible downforce would prove to be its downfall. "I looked at my legs and puked," Kendall remembered later. A post-accident investigation and failure analysis revealed that the Intrepid's left rear upright had collapsed under the stress of the car's nearly 10,000 pounds of downforce, tearing the wheel loose and sending the Intrepid hopelessly out of control. The part was immediately redesigned and never again failed under racing conditions but the accident sidelined the team's hot young driver for the rest of the season and dissuaded potential buyers who would have funded further development. Gary Pratt recalled "There was a lot of interest being generated, and then that big crash at Watkins Glen. That really hurt. The car was looking good, the thing to have. (The crash) took the wind right out of our sails." success would prove elusive. A fifth-place finish at Miami in Taylor's first race of the season seemed to portend a reasonable chance of victory. The rest of the year brought nothing but disappointment, however, as the Intrepid team suffered a slew of mechanical maladies and Taylor was running at the finish in just three of the final eight races, never placing higher than eighth. The season seemed to be summed up at Road America, where All American Racers and the juggernaut Eagle MkIIIs did not enter. Taylor qualified on the outside pole and ran a strong second for the first half of the race, challenging the lead Porsche 962 for 30 laps—until the engine let go, ending what was perhaps the Intrepid's last, best chance for another IMSA GTP victory. == Legacy ==

at the Silverstone Classic in 2007. While the Intrepid RM-1's brief career was marked by unfulfilled promise, the car's design principles would live to fight—and win—another day. The father-and-son Riley design team founded Riley & Scott in 1993, where they developed the Riley & Scott Mk III, one of the most successful and longest-lived designs of the World Sports Car era. A decade later, Bill Riley designed the equally successful Riley MkXI Daytona Prototype. Both prototypes bear a family resemblance to the Intrepid, particularly in their shared shovel-nose design. == References ==