New RS Capri

FORD Advanced Vehicle Operations have announced a high performance version of the Capri 3000 GT. The RS 3100, which will be sold only through Ford Rallye Sport Dealers in Great Britain, features a 148 b.h.p. at 5,500 r.p.m. 3.1-litre V6 engine with gas-flowed cylinder heads, a dual circuit braking system with ventilated front discs, four halogen headlamps, 6 in. wide alloy wheels, suspension developed from the German Capri RS 2600 with Bilstein struts and shock absorbers, relocated track control arms to give negative camber and single leaf rear leaf springs. It has an air dam below the front quarter bumpers and a massive spoiler mounted on the hoot lid, the combination of which is said to give an immense improvement in high speed stability and top speed, which is in excess of 125 m.p.h.

Though the RS 3100 has been designed and developed and will be marketed by FAVO it will be built in the Ford plant at Hailwood with the common-or-garden Capris. Its price is £2,412.64.

Ford have rather more than the high-performance requirements of customers in mind with this car. It is essentially an homologation special to enable a desperately needed tail spoiler to be used on Ford Cologne’s European Touring Car Championship cars. Again, the 0.60in. increase in cylinder bore will allow the use of a bigger racing engine: it takes the Capri into the over 3-litre class, enabling Ford to stretch the V6 as far as possible without increasing the stroke. At a stroke Ford have put themselves back in contention with the be-winged BMW CSLs which trounced them in this year’s ETC. If our experience of the RS 2600 is anything to go by, the RS 3100 should be an exciting car.—C.R.

No fixture list appears this month because of the state of flux the sport is in. The Argentine and Brazilian GPs are definitely on, Daytona has asked for a postponement from February 2nd, and the Tasman series will be held.