50 YEARS OF THE FORD CAPRI25 JULY 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 33SIM
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“I ALWAYS SAY SLICK 50 WAS BEST.
EVERYONE HAD A LAUGH AND IT
WAS GREAT FUN OUT ON TRACK”
That’s because Road Saloons, the brainchild of long-time tin-top
racer Tim Dodwell, did what it said on the tin. The cars had to be road
legal and driven to and from the circuit. Any modifications to the car
that could be seen – either externally or, most pertinently, when the
bonnet was lifted – were not permitted.
The Capri and the Rover were evenly matched in standard form,
remembers Light. He won the 1991 Slick 50 title after a season-long
battle with Tony Harding aboard a Vitesse.
“Some tracks favoured the Capri and some favoured the Rover,”
says Light, who raced a 3.0S Capri. “Between us we won every race,
and I went to the final round at Mallory Park one point ahead of him.
That meant I still had to win or, if I finished second to Tony, get
fastest lap to win the championship.”
Unable to get past the Rover, Light hung back and went for fastest
lap and managed the feat by a tenth.
Light moved up to the Super category, sponsored by Toyo Tires,
the following year and also raced in Falken Tyres Mod Prods before
taking a break from racing for the better part of 20 years. He’s now
back out in the same Capri he was racing nearly 30 years ago, but he
looks back on the Slick 50 with fond memories.
“I’ve done various series over the years,” he says, “but I always say
that Slick 50 was the best. Everyone had a laugh and it was great fun
out on track.”SLICK 50/ROAD SALOONS
No story of the Ford Capri would be complete without a mention
of the car’s exploits in the lower echelons of British club racing.
Perhaps nowhere did it play a bigger role than in the phenomenally
successful Budget Road Saloons category, better known as Slick 50
saloons after its long-time sponsor.
Road Saloons boomed through the 1980s and into the 1990s, quickly
growing from an add-on class in the British Racing and Sports Car Club’s
Mod Saloon series in 1983. By 1986 there were four grids, split between
the initial category, which became Super Road Saloons, and the new
Budget series. And the Capri was very much at the forefront of the
over-1800cc class, along with its arch-nemesis, the Rover SD1.
Simon Light joined the Budget brigade in 1987. A self-confessed
Capri nut, he was inspired to start racing by watching coverage of the
Bathurst 1000 on TV – “I can’t remember if it was on Grandstand or
World of Sport,” he says – and the Slick 50 format offered what he
calls “a cheap and easy way in”.PECKHAMHISTORICS SUPPLEMENTFor Gordon
Spice’s
memories of
the Ford Capri,
turn to page 8
of our free
supplement.