Over the years, they have gone from a variety of relatively simple rear-wheel drive machines to much more complex turbocharged and fuel-injected front-wheel drive cars. But there were always those at Ford who argued that the RS factor could be applied successfully elsewhere as well. In the case of Capri, which was, after all, Ford's most ostentatiously production car, the most enthusiastic defender was Jochen Neerpasch.
 

A former Porsche race driver, Neerpasch managed the German department of Ford Motorsport which was established on January 7, 1968 as a continental counterpart to Ford Competitions in Boreham. The department was housed in two-story workshops and offices within Ford's Niehl, Rhine plant, and the team included Michael Kranefuss, who later became the head of Ford World Motorsport. His competitive successes with the Escort and Taunus models included victory in the 1969 East African Safari using a Weslake modified V6 engine at the Taunus 20M RS salon. But what worries us here is the development of Capri as a racing car, a story that spans ups and downs - points so low that Jochen Neerpasch offered his resignation before the 1971 season. It was not accepted, but that the proud and competitive Neerpasch should have felt that such a step was necessary indicates the depths in which Capri's reliability in endurance races has sunk. But then the golden years came, with Capri in dominant form in the 1971 and 1972 seasons of the European Touring Car Championship.

The first German competition with the Capri involved the 2300GT, which appeared in the Lyons-Charbonniere rally as a prototype in March 1969. This model was the first use of the V6 engine of the Taunus saloons on the higher-capacity German Capris. Later, this family of V6 iron blocks, which the Capri production used in all capacities, from 2.0 to 2.6 liters, became the basis on which the RS2600 was built for road and competition use. Later, drawing on the experience gained during the European Touring Car Championship campaign, the production block was strengthened as a base for Arizona's Federal 2.8 V6, which was seen in Capris and Mustangs for the USA. Finally, it is worth remembering that the OHV 2.8 iron drive shaft became the propulsion for a number of European Fords in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Granada 2.8i, Capri injection, Sierra XRs and the Granada / Scorpio.
That first Capri competition in March 1969 ran with Weslake engine modifications that boosted it from the standard 108bhp (later in 1969 some 125 horsepower was offered) at 5,100rpm to 170bhp at 6,500 revs. Changes to the 2.293 cc (90 mm x 60.1 mm) V6 included triple Solex carbs and high compression (10: 1 instead of 9: 1) for the Weslake iron heads, which kept the Siamese, as well as the engines of production. until the advent of the 2.9 V6 seen in 1987-Granada / Scorpios specification. However, the development of the Capri competition soon saw schemes much more adventurous than those early efforts with what were basically modified cars registered on the road ...

 

The debut of the 2300GT Capri was marked by a fourth overall for Dieter Glemser / Klaus Kaiser and the factory was encouraged to continue to assemble the Ford coupe until 1969. The 2300GT engine was constantly improved, doing 192bhp at 7,200 rpm with Lucas fuel injection and a compression ratio of 10.5: 1 for the Tour de France, in which Jean-François Piot grabbed an encouraging sixth against high-quality opposition.
The best result of 1969 for the German Capri GTs entered the Tour de Corse, the fast road event in Corsica that is now part of the World Championship. A prototype of the Group 6 Capri 2600GT (2.550cc, 90mm x 66.8mm) for Piot and Jean Todt (Peugeot-Talbot competition chief in the 1980s) finished an excellent third overall. That 2600GT had some 200 horsepower at its disposal at just 6,000rpm (compared with 125bhp for the street 2600GT).
The result of Corsica, in addition to the unexpected victory of Robin Hillyar / Jock Aird in Safari Taunus, made the Ford Competitions department a dead end in 1970, bringing together Capri on the East African Safari and facing the European Championship of Touring Cars. In both cases, the 2300GT model was implemented, evolving to the 2.397cc point and an official 230bhp Kugelfischer fuel injection to boost ever-increasing front spoilers and wheel extensions with a weight of 940kg / 2.0161b.

Back in Britain, the RS Capri plan was being carried out. . . A month after Ford's management approval was granted for the creation of FAVO in October 1969, the agreement to move forward on the construction project for the first RS Capri was received. Bob Howe, FAVO's first chief engineer, recalled the starting point of the project: Jochen Neerpasch identified the need for a Capri sports car