Group 2 Ford Capri RS2600/3100 racing history and whereabouts (mega merge!)

[Peter Mallett]

This is one for the touring car fans.

The following is a quote taken from one of the books in my library. It’s a quote from a famous racing driver (F1, Sports Cars and Touring Cars) talking about the competition and what that particular manufacturer has done.

“**** has done some steps for *** which weren’t among the ideas he had before about saloon car racing. He knew he had to win this year and he wouldn’t have won without those funny ****s on the ***s. So he homologated them, which was of course very clever but I think its a little off the line of saloon cars. I don’t think it’s a very good thing to do – to start with all those ****s – but sometimes its necessary to do things like that.”

We are talking here about two famous touring car marques. One of them did not have the means to homologate the parts that the other decided would give it the advantage it needed to win. The following year both marques had developed these items for their racing cars.

So. I realise these are difficult questions but can anybody tell me who is the person who homologated the parts? What were the parts in question? Who is the driver and what are the two marques concerned?

A clue is that these parts can be blamed for the "death of ST racing".

[Sparky]

Would it be Gabriele Tarquini and the aero package designed and homolagated as the Alfa 155 'Silverstone'?

I guess the other must be Nigel Mansell (?) discussing his time at Ford, and the struggle Ford / Andy Rouse had with the aero bits?

I think I'm way off the mark with our Nige, but dunno who else it could be...

[Peter Mallett]

Well Sparkster.

You are obviously on the right track but then again ................ perhaps not. I raised this as an example of how things get paralleled in motorsport. In your case the wings on the Alfa dealt the initial blow to Super Touring.

[kmchow]

In retrospect, I agree with your Peter. Alfa's wings certainly caused reprecussions in the future. Hmmm, ever watch Back to the Future with Michael J Fox??

However, you gotta admit, the spiral downward definitely was pretty damn cool looking!! Those aero aids made the cars look just absolutely mean!!

Sadly, the result is terminal and extinction of such a cool level and type of racing.
Sighhh...

Let's toast ST--Cheers!! ST was "An Affair to Remember!"

[Michael M]

I remember that in the 70s something similar happened with the BMW CSL Coupe, when the "homologated" spoilers of the standard CSL had been deposited in the trunk of any sold car, leaving it to the buyers to fit them or not. At least this was done for the small strips fitted between bonnet and front wings, I'm not sure whether they did it also with the rear spoiler. If BMW is correct, the other make must be Ford, which makes sense considering this topic opened by Peter.

Edit 1: I checked some photos, the strips had been mounted o n the front wings, and not between wings and bonnet, and the other trunk item was the spoiler mounted on rear part of the roof. The main rear spoiler as far I remember was standard for the CSL, but I may be wrong.

Edit 2: Okay, I give it a try now. Peter is talking about a book, and as he has only one , it must be about Capris, so the topic BMW CSL v/s Ford Capri must be correct. The year was 1973, the BMW driver Hans-Joachim Stuck, and the Capri driver most probably Jochen Maass. The question about the person who homologated the "Batmobile" is problematic, because homologations can only be done by companies, not by persons. However, it must have been Jochen Neerpasch, at that time head of BMW's racing department, and Managing Director of the newly created BMW Motorsport GmbH, which was also in charge selling the "Batmobile" to the public.

[This message has been edited by Michael M (edited 27 March 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Michael M (edited 27 March 2000).]

[Peter Mallett]

Humph,

Actually I do have more than 1 book. I’ve got one about Lamborghini!!!

Mr Chow.

How right you are about the Alfa’s wings and splitters. They made the car look great and indeed were so effective that the other manufacturers got sucked in to the game and changed the regs to include splitters and wings. However, I don’t recall that many production cars having those appendages in the immediately following years.

Michael.

You are absolutely correct. Jochen Mass was talking about Jochen Neerspach who’s actions for BMW forced Ford into homologating the RS 3100 Capri in 1973 with the rear “ducktail” in order to compete. The “Middle East crisis” caught them all out. Ford sold very few RS 3100s because of the hike in fuel prices. It was therefore a very expensive piece of homologation for them.

That was 1973/4 and the parallels with the current ST situation are there for all to see.

The story comes from Jeremy Walton’s book “Capri” which I tend to read at this time of the year purely for the stories about the Cologne Capris. Those were the days.

Sparky,

You see you were on the right course. So near yet so far.

[Michael M]

I knew it is a Capri book, and none about BMWs!

For those not knowing what we are talking about:

[kmchow]

Peter wrote:

>They made the car look great and indeed >were so effective that the other >manufacturers got sucked in to the game and >changed the regs to include splitters and >wings. However, I don’t recall that many >production cars having those appendages in >the immediately following years.
>
The way I justify their use is that they provided a good balance between production car and race car looks. Even with all those aero aids, you could VERY OBVIOUSLY tell what production car they were based on. As good as the racing and grids were for Class 2, the series just was "missing" something. Aero aids filled in that seeming "void". Of course, this is just MY HUMBLE opinion in the end!!

[fatbloke]

Hey Michael - thanks for that - I now have a spiffing new wallpaper on my PC...

[Peter Mallett]

Michael. If its ok I will use that on my website. (A little smaller though). OK?

I also have that wallpaper.

Mr Chow.

I think you'll agree that you can also tell which cars you were watching. The ducktail on the Capri reduced its CD by approx 20%. It was extremely hieght sensitive though.

[Michael M]

Peter, I do not own the copyright, I found it somewhere in the www, but cannot remember where. Looks like Nuremberg Norisring 200 Miles Race 1973 or 1974, must be DRM series.

Edit: I just see the source is shown on the picture, although I'm sure that I didn't found it there.

[This message has been edited by Michael M (edited 28 March 2000).]

[Michael M]

Peter, I do not own the copyright, I found it somewhere in the www, but cannot remember where. Looks like Nuremberg Norisring 200 Miles Race 1973 or 1974, must be DRM series.

Edit: what the h... is this now??? Seems so I hit the wrong button ...

[This message has been edited by Michael M (edited 28 March 2000).]

[Peter Mallett]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael M:
Peter, I do not own the copyright, I found it somewhere in the www, but cannot remember where. Looks like Nuremberg Norisring 200 Miles Race 1973 or 1974, must be DRM series.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep, it looks like late '74. Those front splitters were run in the DRM not the ETC.

[Peter Mallett]

LOOK WHAT I FOUND



It belongs to Ron Frew in New Zealand and is the ex Lauda car form 1974 (?). He actually uses it. Lucky Bugger!!!

[Steve Holmes]

How clued up are you folks on Cologne Capri's? I thought all the racing Capri's prepared by the factory during the early 70's were called Cologne Capri's, but I'm told by someone who owns one of the RS3100's that there were only four. His is the car raced by Allan Moffat in Australia after the works had finished with it.

I know the name 'Cologne Capri' is a fairly abused one, and used on just about everything, but there are two more Capri's here in New Zealand, one raced by Paul Fahey in the 70's, and another earlier RS2600, both factory race cars, but apparently not officially Cologne Capri's. But they're loosly refered to as Cologne Capri's.

I know the name comes from Germany where they were built, but it appears unless the engines were built there too, they're not Cologne Capri's.

Any Cologne Capri authorities on this site? And can anyone suggest a website containing info on the subject?

Thanks

[Peter Mallett]

Hmmmm,

I'll look through my references.

[vollpower]

As far as i can make out the RS2600 is the Cologne Capri so called because it used a production V6 block made by Ford Cologne.I think they could bore it out bigger or something.
The RS3100 was more a pure racing motor with 4 cams and 4 valves and looked totally different with bigger wings and spoilers,was 3400cc i believe.
I remember many yonks ago seeing Brian Yogi Muir racing one of the RS2600 here.It was sponsored by Wiggins Teap metallic blue it gave Frank Gardner a hard time in the SCA Freight Camaro.now that was Touring car Racing.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks folks. Keep the info coming. The guy who owns the ex Moffat car, says the earlier cars all had Weslake built engines, the last four, like his, Cologne built engines, hense the name. Trying to find info on them aint easy though, considering their amazing history.

[Peter Mallett]

As far as I can tell it goes something like this:

The original Works Capri was the 2300. This engine was a German "Cologne" engine and was modified by Weslake in Rye. Next came the RS2600 again using the "Cologne" based engine. This suffered from reliability problems and so Peter Ashcroft was sent from Boreham to help resolve the problems. The engines were bored out to around 2.9 litres at this time.

For 1974 it was decided to move into the over 3 litre class and that is when the cars stopped being purely "Cologne" cars. The reason was the engine which was based on the Essex 3 litre V6. Cosworth were given the job of building a 4 valves/cylinder quad cam fuel injected V6 and they came up with the 3.4 litre GAA.

The road cars were built in Halewood. Again a departure from the Cologne factory.

The race cars were still built in Cologne.

Can't find a reference to the actual numbers built but it would make sense because Ford competitions were strapped for cash at the time and so two race cars two spares seems reasonable.

There were also Broadspeed versions of the original Group 2 Capri. They were, I believe, the first to run the "plastic" single leaf rear spring with multi linked suspension.

[Beejay17]

Steve, as you probably know, the ex-Moffat Capri has a specific chassis number, mentioned on the NZ Capri Club site. Not long ago another was sold from the TWR museum when TWR went bust. I didn't record the details but it was identifiable by the no.

There was an extensive story on the Moffat car in NZ Unique Cars magazine, which was reproduced at this site:

http://www.geocities.com/theultimatecapri/cologne.html

The cars were built by the team under Mike Kranefuss, so by my understanding only those RS3100 Group 2 racers would be considered Cologne Capris.

Anyone else?

[Beejay17]

There is a bit of the story in Graham Robson's Ford in Touring Car Racing, which basically says the design layout was different. Various components were in various locations affecting the bodywork, and if you add in the signature ducktail spoiler, a close look will show they were quite different inside and out.

[Peter Mallett]

They went back to steel panels due to the regs. They put the gearbox and diff oil coolers in the rear panel.

If you look at the Homologation Certificate there are photo's covering the various development bits from the original through to the final Gp 2 Car. The wings were originaly fibreglass panels by '74 the squared off vented panels were made up from a kit comprising the top piece in fibreglass and the side pieces in steel. The weight went up from around 960 kg to 1050 (ish).

The radiators were sited in the rear wheelarches. So yes they were different to the original RS 23/2600s. The ducktail was first tried on a RS2600 in Japan. Then a similar car won in Macau. That was the end of '73.

The best source that I know is "CAPRI The Development & Competition History of Ford's European GT Car" by Jeremy Walton.ISBM 0-85429-863-0.

Going back to the "numbers built" I can only find references to three car entries. So unless somebody has more detail there may well be a few "kit built" cars doing the rounds.

Vince Woodman has (had?) a white example. I knew about the TW example and the one that prompted Steve's questions (as I understood it) started out its life as a ETC car but then was pedalled by Niki Lauda in the German Championship before going to South Africa.

As Beejay says the engine in the '74 car was an Essex (Ford UK) derived lump and as such they spent an awful lot of time selecting the necessary blocks from the production batch. This was because they discovered a weakness. Cosworth had to make (or prove that they had manufactured enough components to make) 250 engines.

I'm sure Frank de Jong could help us out here.

[Peter Mallett]

Looking at Frank's Site
http://etcc-history.it4us.nl/

It seems that the cars were called Koln Ford Capri whilst they were run by the works team. So at one time the works 2300/2600 and 3100 cars were known as "Koln" Capris.

[Frank de Jong]

The term "Cologne Capri's" never had an official meaning as far as I know - I would call all works Capris 1970-1975 "Cologne Capri".
Each year a number of cars were built and sold to privateers the year after - even some 2300 GT's lived on as RS2600's I guess (since there were privateer cars with square headlamps in 1971).
I know of at least one 1973 RS2600 which got an RS3100 engine in 1977 (!) and today lives on as an ex-works RS3100.
I know of two factory 3100's built, one maintained by the works in 1975, one went to Grab for Werner Schommers. But perhaps there were more, but they were not raced in Europe in 1975.
IIRC the 1975 works car finally went to Australia for Allan Moffat.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks everyone. That's fantastic! You've all been really helpful. I guess what started it was my mentioning to one of my editors that I'd like to do a story on the Paul Fahey Cologne Capri as part of a series I've been doing on old New Zealand racing saloon cars.

This car came to NZ in the early 70's apparently as a spare factory car, and raced very successfully by Fahey before he retired. It then passed down through several different owners, eventually having the V6 replaced by a Chevy V8 and is now being restored in the South Island.

However, my editor said a friend of his, ie Mike John, owns a real 'Cologne Capri' which is exactly what I thought the Fahey car was. When speaking to Mike, he says the same thing. That there are just four 'Cologne Capri's', the earlier cars having Weslake engines, therefor not being Cologne Capri's.

Keep the info coming. This is great!