Capri 30th Anniversary at
Waterford Hills

August 21-22 1999
by David Wells and Larry Wells

Eleven Capris gathered at Waterford Hills in Michigan to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the European Capri. Four racing Capris were there for the whole weekend, and seven road-going Capris were there at various times.

The Convoy

The first three road-going Capris arrived together in a convoy. Larry Wells, ('71 2000) Jeff Lantz ('72 2600) and David Wells ('74 2800) arrived Friday night. It was a good thing they arrived together, since Dave was having alternator problems.

Dave started the convoy in Middletown, NJ on Thursday night, traveling to Rochester NY to link up with Larry. Dave embarrassed a Mustang GT in a hill climb on I-80 near Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania on the way. Friday morning, we headed out through the rain towards London, Ontario to pick up Jeff. On the way, Dave's Blue Beast started having alternator problems. By the time we reached London, the alternator was in enough trouble that we grabbed a spare out of Jeff's parts bin, just in case. The car made it all the way to Clarkston, MI, home of Waterford Hills, before the electricity ran out. A jump start allowed me to make it to the track, but no further. It was too dark to affect repairs, so we left the Blue Beast at the track. After all, it would have been kind of hard to hot-wire and steal it!

At the track we met up with Capri racers George Harkless (ITA) and Barry Smith. (GT-3) Barry's Number 39 GT-3 car is a '73 2000, with dual side draft Mikunis, an interesting Electromotive distributor, and a Borg-Warner T-5 transmission. George's Number 46 ITA car is a '74 2800. George and Barry were both friendly and helpful.
 
  Barry Smith and his "tag team pit crew": Jeff Colah, David Wells, (yellow
shirt, partially obscured) and Larry Wells. Photo by George Harkless.

Meeting Other Capris

Saturday morning, we met up with another Capri owner, Jeff Colah, and his brother. Jeff brought an orange '74 2000.

We also got to meet another Capri racer, Joe Rutherford, who was running his Number 44 Capri 2000 in the ITB class.

Joe Rutherford and his Number 44 ITB car. Photo by Larry Wells.

Later, Phil Kingman showed up with his gorgeous brown '73 2600. Unfortunately, Phil had to leave early, in order to prepare his racing Capri for a race at another venue.

Wayne Tofel, Andy Duzek, and Jim Brozynski arrived from Chicago in the World's Largest Capri (which looks suspiciously like a full size Ford van). Bob Cummings also stopped by. Until recently Bob owned the Ferguson 4WD Capri that was once driven in pro rallies by Dr. Loyal Jodar.

At lunchtime, the Capris got to do a few parade laps in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Capri. We learned just how interesting the Waterford Hills course is. It's a very tight, twisty, and narrow road course. It's not boring!!
 
George Harkless leads Phil Kingman, Larry Wells, and Jeff Lantz on parade laps.
Photos by Joe Rutherford (left) and David Wells (right).

Saturday's Race

Meanwhile, on the track, Barry Smith was having no luck at all in the GT-3 race. He was having brake difficulties all weekend. To make matters worse, on the very first turn there was a crash in front of him which forced him to stop. His hydraulic clutch then balked, and he had to get a push to get going again. Fortunately a full course yellow flag was in effect while the accident was cleared, so Barry was able to stay on the lead lap. Once rolling Barry displayed impressive straight line speed, but the inconsistent brake pedal feel forced him to approach turns with extreme caution. Late in the race, just as the leading GT-1 car was about to pass, the Capri sputtered and coasted to a stop. Luckily the car immediately restarted, and once the GT-1 train passed he was able to rejoin the race. He finished 10th overall, and 3rd in the three car GT3 class. Click here for Barry's report on the race.

George had a little more luck, staying mid-pack for much of his ITA race against MUCH newer competition from Honda and Mazda. There was one mishap when he missed the line at Turn 3 and went onto the grass; in the resulting confusion a trailing CRX made slight contact with the passenger side door. George was able to continue, but late in the race he was forced to slow as his old tires overheated. George  finished 13th in the ITA race, improving his starting position by one. Click here for George's report on the weekend's races.

After fixing some problems with his front bumper, (it had been dragging on the ground in practice!) Joe Rutherford finished 10th overall, and 8th in the ITB class in his Capri.

Russ Layle was racing a "Lima"-powered 1980 "Fox" Capri in ITB, but he was sidelined on Saturday with wheel bearing problems.

Russ Layle and his Number 37 ITB car. Photo by Larry Wells.

Another car of interest to Ford fans was Alan Benstead's Cosworth Escort. This is a European (right-hand drive) Escort with 4 wheel drive, and a 500 HP Cosworth YBT engine. Benstead ran some VERY impressive lap times, and was passing cars almost at will, (no mean feat on a narrow track like Waterford Hills!) until the gearbox gave out.

Fun while it lasted: Alan Benstead was spectacularly fast in this European Cosworth
Escort - until the transmission broke. Photos by David Wells.

Another Escort was Ann Coulthard's (no relation to David Coulthard, at least so she says.....) Showroom Stock Escort ZX-2. She gets the amusing decal award: On the hood of her car was a "Zetec Inside" decal, made to look like the "Intel Inside" logo found on many computers. Ann and her crew were paddocked right next to George & Barry's Capris. They also brought a racing Fiesta, but we didn't see it on the track.

Zetec Inside! Ann Coulthard and her Showroom Stock Escort ZX2 (left). We never
did see the Fiesta (right) on the track, though. Photos by Larry Wells.

Perhaps the best race of the afternoon took place while Barry Smith and crew were waiting on grid. In the ITE race Pat Nowak in a 1995 Mustang Cobra R and Doug Chynoweth in an '80s Corvette ran nose to tail for more than a few laps. Nowak was just able to squeeze by the 'Vette in the waning laps to take the win. Later he stopped by to admire our road-going Capris, and we found out he and his wife once owned "his-and-hers" Mk1 Capris. "Best cars I ever owned," he remarked.

Repairs to the Blue Beast

After the day's racing was done, we took our first shot at fixing Dave's Blue Beast. Larry, Barry, George and Dave determined that both the alternator and the battery had gone bad. George gave Dave a ride to the local Sears to replace his not-too-old Die Hard, but Sears' automotive section closed early on Saturday, moments before we got there. With tears in our eyes, (well, Dave's anyway) we went back to George's house where he pulled a serviceable spare out of his parts collection.

No such luck with the alternator. Larry and Dave had already broken the adjuster bolt on the alternator, but the bottom two bolts were rusted solid. We applied penetrating oil, and packed up for the night.

Sunday morning, we tried again to fix the alternator. The penetrating oil failed us, so we unbolted the alternator bracket from the engine. We took the alternator with the bracket still attached over to the Paddock, where heavy weapons could be brought to bear. Barry removed one bolt with an impact wrench, then sheared the other. George used a BF Hammer and a punch to remove the rusted remains from the bracket, then cleaned out the hole with a drill press. The moral of this story is: If you have to have a breakdown, a race track is a good place to do it!

We went back to the parking area, and easily put two new bottom bolts into the spare alternator that Jeff Lantz supplied. There was just one problem: Jeff's alternator was for a 2600, which has the alternator on the opposite side from the 2800, so the adjuster bolt was in the wrong place. We kludged it with another nut, and it held well enough. The new/old alternator worked, and the red light finally went out. Lots of thanks to George, Barry and Jeff!!!!

The Capri Club parking area, Sunday 8/22/99. Randy Betki's RS-2800 is in the foreground.
In the background, (left to right) Jim Linfield's '74, (partially obscured) Jeff Colah's '74 2000,
Jeff Lantz's '72 2600, Larry Wells' '71 2000, and David Wells working on the alternator of
his '74 2800. Photo by George Harkless.

A Very Special Capri II

On Sunday, we had a visit from Randy Betki, who brought his Capri RS-2800. This one was different: Not only is it the very first Capri RS-2800, (only 24,000 miles on it, and it even has its original tires!) it also has a turbocharger! Apparently, it is the only RS-2800 to get that turbocharger. Ford originally planned to release the turbo 2800 for sale, but the RS 2800 program was canceled before it reached the showroom. It's a blow-through type turbo, going into a Motorcraft 2150 carburetor. This car appeared on the cover of Car & Driver magazine in January of 1977. Randy purchased the car from ASC, which was doing the RS-2800 conversions for Ford, shortly after Ford canceled the RS-2800 program. Fewer than 50 RS-2800s were built.
 
Randy Betki's turbocharged RS-2800 prototype. Photos by Joe Rutherford (left) and David Wells (right).

Sunday's Races

Sunday's races were a little more successful for the Capris.

Barry Smith's GT3 car ran 9th overall, and third in GT3, with continuing mechanical problems. Carburetor adjustments the previous night cured the acceleration richness, but the car now mysteriously lacked wide open throttle power.

George placed 12th in the ITA race.

Joe Rutherford placed 10th overall, and 9th in ITB.

Russ Layle finished his wheel bearing repairs, and finished 15th overall, and 13th in ITB.

The Return Convoy

We all started to leave Sunday afternoon. Larry, Jeff & Dave departed after the last ITB race. We arrived in London in time for dinner, and then headed back to Rochester. Larry & Dave tried affect more permanent repairs to the Blue Beast, but the 1976 2800 alternator was too different to work properly, and so we reverted to the 2600 kludge. After some trouble getting the red light to go out again, it finally went out for no apparent reason. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, except.....

Epilogue: A Pesky Toyota

The Blue Beast made it back to New Jersey. While exiting I-78 heading onto the Garden State Parkway, (moving at a relaxed pace, in light of the cobbled alternator) a Toyota Tercel suddenly raced up behind, tailgated, and then got into the left lane of the 2-lane off-ramp. "Puppy-sh**" said the Blue Beast as the Toyota went by. The shifter went into second, and the gas pedal went down. As the Toyota braked into the turn, the Beast induced some on-throttle oversteer. The Blue Beast out-cornered the Toyota on the outside. As the ramp straightened out, the Beast's gas pedal hit the floor. The Toyota disappeared into the Blue Beast's rear-view mirror.

The Beast resumed its normal pace on the Parkway. About twelve miles later, the Tercel showed up again, this time tailgating a Lexus. The Beast gave the Toyota another quick demonstration of Cologne power. The Toyota was never seen again. 


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