BTCC Capris

[Screech]

Hi,

Does anyone have any photos of the Mk3 Capri 3.0s that raced in the BTCC in the early 80s, driven by such people as Gordon Spice and Jeff Allam? I've found various writings about them, but very few images.

Thanks,
Screech.

[simon drabble]

try Peter Mallet's website I think you should find what you are looking for - he is the 80's Caprimeister!
malletracing.co.uk I think

[PaulSands]

beat me to it there Simon...definitely http://www.mallettracing.co.uk/
in fact if you want to make a friend just get Peter talking about Gordon Spice

[Peter Mallett]

Bugger! I'll have to sort through my old pics and put them up now.

[gfm]

Les Blackburn had a good one. '82 I think we were 6th at Spa 24 Hours. Don't be fooled by the link it's there 1966 Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA . I think he only did one BTCC round in it. Sprint cars were a bit quick but an expensive short life.

[gfm]

No it isn't. Bugger! Anyway, it's in that post 1966 A R etc.
A man's car weren't they Peter? I had a go in a sort of Club racer 3 Litre at the Snetterton 24, can't remember which year but we came 3rd. Number plate was 'OK Yah'. It was red and hurt a lot going quickley. Gordon somebody (not Spice).

[gfm]

Here's Gordon Spice behind us at Mallory.

[Peter Mallett]

There are surprisingly few pics of the 70's/80's BTCC on the internet. Believe me, I've tried to find some.

The best sources for pics at the moment are the books, FORD in Touring Car racing by Graham Robson, Heynes Publishing ISBN 1 85960 688 1 or Jeremy Walton's excellent publication CAPRI Development and Competition History of Ford's European GT Car ISBN 0-85429-863-0.

However I'm at home at the moment so I will look out my really old photo's and see if there's anything worth putting up on my website. Better expand that History page while I have the chance.

[Nordic]

Start

Heres one of the start of the GP support race, I do have some more that will get scanned in due course, I seemed to have liked Vince Woodman's 'esso cars'

There's a very good reason why so few pictures exist, the races where so exciting that if you had you head stuck behind a camera, you missed a whole lot of action. much much better than the biwinged charde of the current BTCC imho

[vaughan jones]

i seem to think when i raced in mod saloons in the 80,s brian chatfield had a capri,i am certain that it was a proper btcc car, either spice/allam,when it stopped winning he came out in a rover. in fact their where quite a lot of capris in modsaloon chatfields might not have been the onlyone,also some appeared in the early days of thundersaloons

[Screech]

Thanks for all the replies! Peter, you are right: photos of these cars are very hard to find. I've read Jeremy Walton's book, I shall look out for the other one.

Looking forward to whatever photos you guys find: thanks again for your time.

Screech.

[KA]

Originally posted by vaughan jones
i seem to think when i raced in mod saloons in the 80,s brian chatfield had a capri,i am certain that it was a proper btcc car, either spice/allam,when it stopped winning he came out in a rover. in fact their where quite a lot of capris in modsaloon chatfields might not have been the onlyone,also some appeared in the early days of thundersaloons

As I recall, Brian Chatfield had more than one Capri- he did the occasional BTCC round around 1984/5 with them, so they were presumably still in BTCC spec (although I seem to recall hearing of him having a couple of run-ins with the scrutineers at BTCC meetings...), I definitely remember the Rover though- it was an ex-ETCC TWR/Bastos car- he ran it in mod saloons and Thundersaloons around 1987/8, still in the basic red/white Bastos livery, but without the signwriting- I must have photos of it somewhere....

Thinking about it, there can't be many varieties of touring car he hasn't had at some point!

[Peter Mallett]

A start is here:

http://www.mallettracing.co.uk/btcc1976.htm

You've really upset my holiday now!

[Peter Mallett]

BTW Screech. Can I ask you why the specific interest in BTCC Capris?

[Peter Mallett]

Another pic on this page:

http://www.mallettracing.co.uk/btcc1980.htm

But whilst searching through my "stuff" I came across this gem.

[Peter Mallett]

Another here but also two others with different marques.

http://www.mallettracing.co.uk/btcc1978.htm

[Frank de Jong]

Peter, could you give us a look at the entry lists of the 1981 TT programme? I don't have a single starting number of that race on my site...

[glyn parham]

Peter.
There is an embarassing error on your "Home" page, Group 1 ran from 1974 to 1982 NOT 1969 as the BTCC, until then Group 1 was a club level formula.
Glyn

[Screech]

Peter,

I just have an obsession with old RWD Fords and old Touring Cars. (Can't see anything special in the modern breed of shopping trollies.) I guess you can understand what I see in them! I was reading about the Capris but couldn't find any pictures of them.

Thanks for all the effort.

Screech.

[TimD]

I promise not to hijack the thread, but in answer to Frank's request for 1981 TT entrants - this is my best effort at the results WITH race numbers.

1 Chuck Nicholson 17 Mazda RX7
1 Tom Walkinshaw
2 Helmut Kelleners 1 BMW 635CSi
2 Umberto Grano
3 Gordon Spice 54 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
3 Andy Rouse
4 Enzo Calderari 23 BMW 320
4 Marco Vanoli
5 Vince Woodman 55 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
5 Jonathan Buncombe
6 Dieter Quester 21 BMW 320
6 Dieter Kindlmann
7 Siegfried Muller 12 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
7 Bernd Ringshausen
7 Klaus Niedzwiedz
8 Richard Lloyd 31 Audi 80 II
8 Jonathan Palmer
9 Fritz Muller 18 Mazda RX7
9 Heinz Kuhn-Weiss
10 Holman Blackburn 56 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
10 John Morrison
11 Giuseppe Briozzo 24 BMW 320
11 Urs Knecht
15 Zdehek Vojtech 45 Skoda 130RS
15 Bretislav Enge
15 Vaclav Bervid

r Zdehek Vojtech 44 Skoda 130RS
r Bretislav Enge
r Jan Senkyr
r Adolf Fesarek 46 Skoda 130RS
r Josef Sivik
r Tony Dickinson
r Anna Cambiaghi 4 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
r Lella Lombardi
r Jean Xhencheval
r Peter Seikel 27 Audi Coupe
r Fred Rosterg
r Willi Bergmeister 26 Audi Coupe
r Jaime Sanz de Madrid

Walter Brun 2 BMW 635CSi
Heribert Werginz
Harry Neger
Mauricio Micangeli 3 BMW 635CSi
Marco Micangeli
Frank Sytner
John Markey 5 AMC Spirit AMX
Gerry Marshall
Bodo Jaehn 11 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
Gerd Ruch
Johann Weisheidinger 15 Opel Monza GSE
Dieter Schabe
Dieter Kindlmann 22 BMW 320
Jurgen Pohlmann
Leo Bertorelli 29 Alfa Romeo Alfetta
Peter Hilliard
Rob Kirby
Bernhard Schmitz-Moorman 30 Toyota Celica 2
Karl-Heinz Gurthler
Dieter Engelien 32 Audi 80 II
Thomas Darius
Richard Denvey
Hagen Arlt 33 Audi 80 II
Wolf-Dieter Feuerlein
Bill Wykeham 34 Volkswagen Golf GTi
Brian Classic
Paul Taft 40 Austin mini Metro
Malcolm Harrison
Steve Soper
Richard Longman 41 Austin mini Metro
Alan Curnow
Martin Pearson 42 Datsun B110
Jon Mowatt
Josef Michl 43 Skoda 130RS
Oldrich Vanicek
Petr Martinovsky
Jon Dooley 47 Alfa Romeo Alfasud
Rob Kirby
Leo Bertorelli
Richard Mattozza 48 Alfa Romeo Alfasud
Pierre Jamin
Heinz Putz 49 Audi 50
Bodo Eichner
Michel Delcourt 53 BMW 530
Jean-Marie Baert
Pete Clark 57 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
Nick Mason
Steve O'Rourke
Adam MacMillan 58 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
Tom Dodd-Noble
Edward Arundel
Peter Ulmann 59 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
Charles Sawyer-Hoare 60 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
Andy Rouse
Dennis Leech 61 Ford Capri 3 3.0S
John Spiller
Herbert Herler 63 Opel Monza GSE
Johan Weisheidinger
John Cleland 64 Opel Monza GSE
Jeremy Rossiter
Armin Hahne 71 Mazda RX7
Hanno Schumacher
Herbert Kummle 73 Ford Escort 2 RS2000 Custom
Hartmut Bauer 74 Ford Escort 2 RS2000 Custom
Helmut Gall
Dieter Gartmaun
Joachim Scheefeldt 75 Ford Escort 2 RS2000 Custom
Axel Felder 76 Ford Escort 2 RS2000 Custom
Franz-Josef Brohling
Arne Riis 77 Triumph Dolomite Sprint
Terry Nightingale
Bill Postins 81 Volkswagen Scirocco
Bob Meacham
Bill Pinckney
Hans-Jorn Ley 83 Volkswagen Golf GTi
Josef Rietmann
John Morris 84 Volkswagen Golf GTi
Tom Shephard
Oscar Kessler 85 Audi 80GTE II
Axel Huweler
Robin Carlisle 86 Toyota Celica 2
Tony Dickinson 89 Austin mini Metro
Malcolm Leggate

[Frank de Jong]

Thanks Tim! The entrants below Jaime Sanz de Madrid - do you know if they took part in the race or were on the entry list only?

[Peter Mallett]

Hi Tim,

I've scanned it and sent it to Frank.

The interesting point about that event was the inclusion of Group 1 cars in a round of the Trans Europe Championship.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by glyn parham
Peter.
There is an embarassing error on your "Home" page, Group 1 ran from 1974 to 1982 NOT 1969 as the BTCC, until then Group 1 was a club level formula.
Glyn

Thanks Glyn.

Done!

[glyn parham]

Peter.
A pleasure to help out.
Seeing the entry list for the TT reminded me of Guenda Eadie, I wonder what she is doing now?
She was the first winner of the "Ford find a lady rally driver competition" and it is a little known fact that one of the prizes she received was a model of the Fiesta that she raced and rallied. Guess who made the model for her and co-driver Ellen Morgan?
Yes thats right, yours truly and I got to repeat the excercise the following year when Louise Aitken won, which was a relief to Ford as they were a bit upset to discover that Guenda preferred racing to rallying and had used the competition as way of getting onto the tracks.
Glyn

[chunterer]

Originally posted by KA
As I recall, Brian Chatfield had more than one Capri- he did the occasional BTCC round around 1984/5 with them, so they were presumably still in BTCC spec

Yes,i'm also a bit of a Capri fan and were the first cars i saw racing a s boy at Thruxton. I was having a chat with a Mr Thomas at Silverstone last year and we were gassing about the MK3's.

Brian Chatfield bought two ex CC cars in 1983 i think, one ex Spice red one and the ex Woodman esso one. He ran them both in BTCC periodically and made a stormer of a start in the '85 opener in the Esso car to try and take the lead into Copse i think!!

Anyway, Dave had purchased the an ex CC car, that Chatfield ran but he wasn't exactly sure who had driven it. He said it had flared arches (eughhh yuk!!) and some spare red basic wings. That'll be a Shell Spice or Rouse car then, i said!! Dave is planning to race it with a 3.4 engine at Nurburgring to beat Porsches and stuff, but he isn't planning on fully restoring it at the mo !

The ex Woodman car that passed through Chatfield's hands and onto people like Pete Winstone was painstakingly restored in recent years by Ric Wood and was sold to a chap who hopes to race it in Grp 1 soon when he can afford it!! It looks mega in the original Equipe Esso colours i can tell you! I did an article on it for a mag in 2003.

Vince himself is apparently quite keen to get in it and have a go!

I'll have to have a look at your site Peter, and as some of you have said the Walton and Robson books are pretty good for info.

The ex Allam car you refer to was planned to be rebuilt a couple of years ago,i think the last person to race it was Graham Waite?. Ric Wood is also appraently restoring the ex Stuart Graham Faberge Capri that Terry Nicholls later ran in Special Saloons, but it probably won't be right back to a 'standard' shell. It'll probably keep the wide body, but with the original colour scheme.

I'm sorry for wittering on. I have some pics of various old Grp 1 cars, the late Pete Clark once sent me a couple! Also have some modsallon and prodsaloon Capris but i don't have the technology to post them on here!! Terrible i know.

I hope histoy is helpful and if there's anything else i can help with i'll be only too happy to as i oove the cars.

BTW gfm, the 'OK Yah' Willhire car you drove or shared sounds like Roy Eaton's? 2.8i, Red with silver stripes? Also driving was Dave Oates and/or John Clark i think?