CC Racing Developments Group 1 Ford Capri Mk III's

[Skid Scarborough]

Hi Chaps. I've just picked up this thread on Gp. 1 CC Capris and may be able to fill in some gaps of info.. The yellow Track Marshall car No 15 was indeed the car Chuck Nicholson bought from Vince Woodman in about late '80 early '81 It was CC11 and was Vince's Spare/Customer car. Chuck did a few Tricentrol rounds with it and basically ran it himself with sponsorship from Track Marshall. (An agricultural crawler tractor company which Chuck had previously just bought) I think Tony Sugden did also drive it once or twice. I then bought the car from Chuck at the end of '82 and raced it in Modified saloons in '83 and '84. In '83 it was in Track Marshall livery. For '84 I repainted it in Red and White Letchworth Roofing colours who were my sponsors for the next 4 years. In early '85 I sold the car to Metro Breakers. Unfortunately the car was soon written off. I think at Snetterton and I think being driven by a guy called Kevin Glynn. I don't know what happened to it after that. I dont think it was resurected but certain bits of it could have filtered down over the years.

[Stacy]

Graham,

Lovely to hear from you.

Hope all is well.

Stacy

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Skid Scarborough

Hi Chaps. I've just picked up this thread on Gp. 1 CC Capris and may be able to fill in some gaps of info.. The yellow Track Marshall car No 15 was indeed the car Chuck Nicholson bought from Vince Woodman in about late '80 early '81 It was CC11 and was Vince's Spare/Customer car. Chuck did a few Tricentrol rounds with it and basically ran it himself with sponsorship from Track Marshall. (An agricultural crawler tractor company which Chuck had previously just bought) I think Tony Sugden did also drive it once or twice. I then bought the car from Chuck at the end of '82 and raced it in Modified saloons in '83 and '84. In '83 it was in Track Marshall livery. For '84 I repainted it in Red and White Letchworth Roofing colours who were my sponsors for the next 4 years. In early '85 I sold the car to Metro Breakers. Unfortunately the car was soon written off. I think at Snetterton and I think being driven by a guy called Kevin Glynn. I don't know what happened to it after that. I dont think it was resurected but certain bits of it could have filtered down over the years.

Thanks for coming on and offering your info Graham, valuable contribution indeed!! It is incredibly hard to trace histories of certain chassis/cars once they have passed through 2 or 3 different hands as i'm sure you are well aware!

As I remember you as arguably the last competitive Capri driver in any major UK series in the mid 80's (the prodsaloon 2.8i) it is nice to have you on board and I think we would all hope that you continue to contribute as and when you have time.

By the way assuming you haven't already please have a look in the Rover Vitesse and prodsaloon threads in the History section as there's plenty of reference to your exploits in there too including certain questions that need answering about the ex Spice/McGrath car you pedalled in 1987!!

Look forward to hearing more from you 'Skid.'

cheers,
chunterer
section co-host

[chunterer]

I've taken the liberty of adding Skid's notes on CC11 into the chassis thread here:

http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....84&postcount=4

cheers!

[AdeV]

Stacks of good info here

I'm the Ade Vickers who currently owns the ex-Allam CC3 car... I've been meaning to post for, oh, about 3 years; but somehow never got a Round Tuit... but there you go.

I'd like to thank Chunterer in particular for really driving (groan!) this quest for CC knowledge. In particular, it's great to see a picture of my car in it's original shape. Sadly, by the time I bought her, she'd had a "XX pack" added (by Graham Wait I believe, but I could be wrong), which means she just doesn't look like the CC car she is any more.

This is what she looked like shortly after I'd taken delivery:


When I got her, she had a Ric Wood 4ltr "special" engine (400bhp ), dry-sumped, with a Quaife 4-speed aluminium "rocket" gearbox, beefed up half-shafts, and BFO wheels. I'm reasonably sure the wheels, half-shaft & box are non-original; and the engine certainly wasn't original.

After busting the crankshaft in the 4ltr, I purchased a 3.4ltr GA-blocked engine (single cam) from Colin Stott (another Capri racer, who has since moved to Canada with his full quad-cam GA powered Capri), which went to an engine builder & promptly disappeared (long long long story, too boring to repeat here). I'm led to believe, although I don't have any paperwork to prove it, that this engine is the actual motor fitted to this car when she went to Spa, back in the late '70s/early '80s.

I bought another engine for her, a weedy 3ltr, but she was desperately over-geared with that engine (I could just about flash the rev limiter in 3rd approaching Lodge corner.... NOT fast).

As a result of Dad rebuilding his (my original) Capri into a 5ltr BMW-powered beast, I acquired his 280bhp 3.1ltr V6; which is just about rebuilt & will be going back in the car anytime soon.

Unfortunately, lack of time & money has severely curtailed my racing activities in recent years, but I'm hoping that next year I'll be out there.... but it won't be in CC3; I'm going to sell her this year, along with the various engines, as I plan to do a 5ltr BMW Capri (or maybe Granada... haven't decided yet), I'm hoping to be in contention for race wins with such an animal, wheras poor old CC3 is now badly outclassed in the championship I compete in.

Whilst I'd love to restore her back to her Jeff Allam days [and I'm still looking for any photos of Jeff racing her], I don't think I'll have the time or skill to do her justice; and I couldn't bear cutting her up to stick the big V8 in (you have to cut a lot of metal out to make it all fit properly).


Ooh, one more thing: Many thanks to "grantp", who has posted what is, I believe, the *only* picture on the entire internet of my car, prior to any pics I've posted... You can clearly see the deeper cut in the centre of the bonnet which marks her out as a Mk2, with Mk3 grille/lights retrofitted... I don't have that bonnet, sadly, she arrived with a Mk3-style fibreglass bonnet.

[chunterer]

Hiya Ade, good to see you finally took the plunge chap!!

There might be some pics of the car in Allam's hands on here albeit in b&w:

http://www.mikehaywardcollection.co....2_itemId=11456

There might also be a shot or two in the recently release Gordon Spice book?

One of our regulars was also trying quite hard to get Jeff on to talk about the Capris and Rovers (may have been Gregor Marshall...) but I don't think he's with us yet, or not under his own name at least!!

We can hope as recently Martin Thomas; John Morrison and Skid Scarborough have all come on and offered up lots of great info!!

[AdeV]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Hiya Ade, good to see you finally took the plunge chap!!

There might be some pics of the car in Allam's hands on here albeit in b&w:

http://www.mikehaywardcollection.co....2_itemId=11456

Hmmm, now that's interesting: Jeff's car (i.e. mine) is sporting a Mk3 bonnet in that picture.... which makes me wonder: Did Nick Whiting put a Mk2 bonnet on when he had her; or did he in fact own a different car (the Brut 33 car in Mike Hayward's photos seems to have the Mk2 bonnet). Mind you, it's a bit hard to tell from those previews...

One of our regulars was also trying quite hard to get Jeff on to talk about the Capris and Rovers (may have been Gregor Marshall...) but I don't think he's with us yet, or not under his own name at least!!

We can hope as recently Martin Thomas; John Morrison and Skid Scarborough have all come on and offered up lots of great info!!

Now, that would be cool

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by AdeV

Hmmm, now that's interesting: Jeff's car (i.e. mine) is sporting a Mk3 bonnet in that picture.... which makes me wonder: Did Nick Whiting put a Mk2 bonnet on when he had her; or did he in fact own a different car (the Brut 33 car in Mike Hayward's photos seems to have the Mk2 bonnet). Mind you, it's a bit hard to tell from those previews...

Yes interesting, I hadn't noticed the bonnet on the car in any pics when new in Jeff's hands, only what it looked like in grant's pics when in Whiting's hands at Donington. I might be in danger of memory loss but Allam's (your!) was new as a MK3?

I would imagine the car came with some spares when Nick bought it, or he had a bump and needed a quick replacement perhaps?

The Brut car was Stuart Graham's and did start life as a Mk2 that then went onto someone else; Wainwright I think?

[GBRM]

A certain Mr M raced Jeff's car at Spa in '78, I might have a pic somewhere.

[AdeV]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Yes interesting, I hadn't noticed the bonnet on the car in any pics when new in Jeff's hands, only what it looked like in grant's pics when in Whiting's hands at Donington. I might be in danger of memory loss but Allam's (your!) was new as a MK3?

Good question: I'd always thought she was a converted Mk2, but that's probably due to the lack of sunroof (all Mk3's came with a sunroof, didn't they?). However, the timing's just about right for a Mk3...

Originally Posted by GBRM

A certain Mr M raced Jeff's car at Spa in '78, I might have a pic somewhere.

That would be really great, if you do... CC3 seems to be the least-photographed Capri of all time!

[GBRM]

Without reading back I can't remember Dad's CC chassis number but as I've posted before his car was definitley a Mk2 that was converted to a Mk3 in early '78.
About pics, I think there's a pic of Jeff's car in a copy of Autosport in '78 - I'll have a dig.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by AdeV

Good question: I'd always thought she was a converted Mk2, but that's probably due to the lack of sunroof (all Mk3's came with a sunroof, didn't they?!

I think Peter Mallett queried this before when we we mentioned the 2.8 prodsaloons briefly.

The standard Mk3's wouldn't have had sunroofs, but it was optional on the road cars and Ghia's had them as standard IIRC?

Would CC have used standard shells which they then modified for racing purposes or would they have had 'motorsport' shells supplied by Boreham?

Also Gregor, if you can find the CC number for the Mk2/Mk3 Triplex car that would be ace!

I always thought the CC chassis numbers were all Mk3's, but if Gerry's car was a converted Mk2 and originally a CC built car then this opens up further possibilities? I.E if CC did start with a few Mk2's, who many did they do before they started with fresh Mk3's?!!!!

[GBRM]

Dad's Capri was Colin Vandervell's car from '76 and '77 and was definitely a Mk2 - I know from talking to Dad about it plus from reading all his Autosport columns in '78 and also from photos, you can see it does look slightly "different". Not sure on chassis number though, sorry, but I can tell you Dad sold it for £8,000 at the end of '78.

I have found two b&w pictures of Jeff Allam's car in Autosport in '78 (still looking though) and there is a great one of Dad driving it at Spa in '78 and in Dad's column he does say Jeff's car was originally a CC Engineering car.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by GBRM

Dad's Capri was Colin Vandervell's car from '76 and '77 and was definitely a Mk2 - I know from talking to Dad about it plus from reading all his Autosport columns in '78 and also from photos, you can see it does look slightly "different". Not sure on chassis number though, sorry, but I can tell you Dad sold it for £8,000 at the end of '78.

I have found two b&w pictures of Jeff Allam's car in Autosport in '78 (still looking though) and there is a great one of Dad driving it at Spa in '78 and in Dad's column he does say Jeff's car was originally a CC Engineering car.

Yes sorry Gregor, yes you did tell us a while back that Gerry got it from Colin Vandervell, you were even answering one of my own questions!!

Allam's car was no. CC3, thought to be a brand new Mk3, but if Colin/Gerry's Mk2/3 was CC built, then such an early chassis number also suggests that Jeff's could've been a Mk2 to start with also I suppose.

Wonder how we'll determine that one?!!!

[Slartibartfast]

Look here for footage of these cars in their prime: http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/75...ol-btcc-part-1
Also check out my other touring car related stuff, and watch out for the remaining parts of the 1980 season which will be uploaded soon.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Look here for footage of these cars in their prime: http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/75...ol-btcc-part-1
Also check out my other touring car related stuff, and watch out for the remaining parts of the 1980 season which will be uploaded soon.

In a word... awesome ! Thanks for uploading that.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Look here for footage of these cars in their prime: http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/75...ol-btcc-part-1
Also check out my other touring car related stuff, and watch out for the remaining parts of the 1980 season which will be uploaded soon.

Brilliant stuff, thanks for this. (I watched the film late last night, after the Andy Murray tennis game from Wimbledon. I'd been telling my wife how Murray looks like a young Andy Rouse, but didn't realise just how much until Rouse was interviewed at the end of the Mallory race!)

[Stacy]

Top stuff..

More more more!

S.

[chunterer]

On the subject of 1980, i finally managed to dig out some info about the end of season SMMT non championship Group 1 race at Donington.

I mentioned some time ago that Alan Jones won the race in a works SD1, from Jeff Allam and Vince Woodman and Chuck Nicholson in Woodmans' 2nd car at the time - the one we discussed a while ago that Chuck then bought and was later owned by Skid Scarborough.

However I was just a little surprised to learn that another then current, well known F1 driver was at the wheel of a Gordon Spice CC Capri!!! He didn't too half badly either....

For a bit of fun, anyone like to hazard a guess as to the identity of this driver?

[davyboy]

Was it Mike Thackwell ?

Anyways... let's put our money where out mouth is. Which do we prefer - Capri or SD1 ?

For me its the car that was launched on the very day I was born - the Capri !

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Was it Mike Thackwell ?

Anyways... let's put our money where out mouth is. Which do we prefer - Capri or SD1 ?

For me its the car that was launched on the very day I was born - the Capri !

1/ No, he was a GP regular and closer to home....

2/ Like them both equally I think?

3/ Erm do you mean you were born on the day the Classic Capri was born??!!

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by chunterer

1/ No, he was a GP regular and closer to home....

2/ Like them both equally I think?

3/ Erm do you mean you were born on the day the Classic Capri was born??!!

1/ Thackwell raced a Capri in Irish saloons in the Phoenix Park in 1983 I think... need to dig out my old programmes... so that's what led me to think of him. A wild guess so - Derek Warwick ? Somebody will put us out of our misery soon.

2/ If you could only pick one... which would it be

3/ I was born the day the proper Capri was launched... now there's a claim to fame [that I kept to myself when I lived in Essex ]

[GBRM]

Dave Purley.

[Skid Scarborough]

I'm fairly sure it was John Watson

[Peter Mallett]

Well by 1980 I think Dave Purley was doing his flying thing, having had the big one at Silverstone in 77. So you could be right there Skid.