SEVENTIES TOURING CAR SHOWDOWN47
As the European Touring Car world moved into abrave new decade, the old-fashioned notion of takingstock dealer cars and giving them a bit of a tweakbefore heading trackside hadn’t just subsided, it’dbeen obliterated.The new trend for muscular wheelarches,aerodynamic appendages and ever-widening rubbermeant tin-tops adopted appearances of track warriors readyingthemselves for battle, while only nominally resembling the cars thatwe could buy.Under the skin this increased exponentially as an engineeringspace-race transformed their respective semi-humble originsinto potent portents of mechanical doom, with fearsome poweroutputs that the previous generation of gentlemen racers couldonly have dreamed of.Yet cars are products of their time and, as the world lurched fromfuel shortage to full-on industrial crisis and global unrest, bothworks teams and privateers would have to ride a wild zeitgeist, onethat crushed dreams yet brought opportunity in equal measure.Now it’s our turn to return to that tumultuous time, as we takethe roadgoing versions of five of the era’s finest competitors for aplay at Brands Hatch. Motor sport fans could be forgiven forrecalling only two tribes going to war, and yes the big boys are herewith the 3.0 BMW CSL squaring up to the Ford RS3100 oncemore, but to that add Ford Escort MkI, Opel Commodore andTriumph Dolomite Sprint, as our quintet play for the ultimate prize.FORD CAPRI RS3100The Blue Oval’s ‘European Mustang’ was never meant to go racing.As a study in fashion, if not precision engineering, the Ford CapriMkI did exactly what it set out to do and conquered the hearts ofeveryman drivers. Engineers though, and especially those of a motorsport bent, just can’t help themselves; surely that chassis – a fusionof Cortina MkII/Corsair and Escort design ideas – had potential?Cue the RS2600, the first Capri homologation special. Despitebeing a joint venture of the Advanced Vehicle Operation at Aveleyand Ford-Germany, because of the isolationist nature of production– German Capris made in Germany with German engines, with theopposite true for British versions – it was only ever destined to beleft-hand drive and for mainland Europe. The fuel-injected 2.7-litreCologne V6 produced a spirited 150bhp, while the chassis sportedlowered suspension, Bilstein dampers and single-leaf rear springs.Amazingly its two-door coupé body and cramped interior, by wayof some pretty Jackanory jiggery-pokery, was passed off as agenuine four-seater – Group 2 saloon car racing, here we come. Itsimpact was immediate. The new Weslake-tuned lightweight racersstormed through the 1971 European Touring Car Championshipseason, destroying the field, with Dieter Glemser securing theDrivers’ Championship. The following year Jochen Mass repeatedthe trick, but there would be no duplication in 1973, because thearrival of arch rival BMW’s bewinged 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobiles’ provedvirtually unbeatable. The direct result of Munich’s intervention this48