25 JULY 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 3150 YEARS OF THE FORD CAPRI“THAT DEAL SET ME ON THE ROAD TO
BEING A TEAM OWNER. ANDY ROUSE
ENGINEERING STARTED WITH THAT”
BRITISH TOURING CARS
The list of drivers who won British Touring Car Championship races
behind the wheel of a Capri includes Tom Walkinshaw, Andy Rouse,
Gordon Spice, Stuart Graham, Brian Muir, Chris Craft and Jeff Allam.
Ford’s coupe for the family man is very much a part of the history of a
series that was until 1987 called the British Saloon Car Championship.
The first BTCC winner aboard a Capri was Gerry Birrell at the wheel
of a Group 2 RS2600 in 1971, but it is with the Group ‘1.5’ era starting in
1974 that the car is best remembered, or at least when the big-engine
American muscle cars were banished for 1976.
From that point, Spice won the big class no fewer than five years on
the trot, taking 25 race victories in that time with MkII and MkIII Capris.
The outright title eluded him, however, in the days of a multi-class series
in which the top points scorer was crowned overall champion.
The importance of the Capri goes beyond its impressive victory tally.
It is the car that enabled a touring car legend to start his eponymous
team. Charles Sawyer-Hoare approached this already successful tin-top
racer to run a pair of cars for 1981 in the colours of the Daily Mirror and
Juicy Jeans. “That set me on the road to being a team owner,” recalls
four-time BTCC champion Andy Rouse. “Andy Rouse Engineering
started with that deal.”
A run of three straight titles as team owner, chief engineer and driver
would follow in 1983-85, though not with the Capri. Its time came in
the same way as it started, with a change in the upper capacity limit
that allowed in the 3.5-litre Rover SD1.Marshall: “It made a massive difference, but only because it was new.”
Scarborough claimed more silverware with a 2.8i of his own in- He won the Monroe title outright and took class honours in
the BRSCC series, which had backing from Uniroyal tyres. The Capri
was now racing in Class B after a high-capacity division had been
introduced to incorporate the Rover SD1 and turbocharged cars
such as the Mitsubishi Colt Starion.
Marshall wasn’t so active in ‘proddies’ by that time, but the ‘Skid’
tag he’d coined for his old sparring partner hadn’t disappeared.
“Gerry came up with a nickname for everyone,” recalls Scarborough.
“Mine certainly caught on. It stuck to the point that a lot of people
couldn’t remember my Christian name.”
a 3.0S with the Essex engine and carburettors, Marshall the new
2.8i with the fuel-injected Cologne powerplant.
Scarborough recalls Marshall helping him get up to speed with
the Capri, which wasn’t always the weapon of choice in ‘proddies’.
This category had been established in the early 1970s with a class
structure based on list price, and even when the cars were divided
up more conventionally according to engine capacity the Capri
wasn’t immediately a winner.
“It was Gerry who got the Capri going well,” recalls Scarborough,
who got his Ford for the 1979 season. “I gleaned knowledge from him.”
Scarborough had been a race winner in 1981, before a new shell, a MkIII
body rather than a MkII, put him right up with 1981 BRSCC champion