Top 10 competition Fords of the ’80s
Who or what was it that stirred our sporting enthusiasms in the 1980s? Can it really be 40 years ago that Ford Motorsport decided to pension off the all-conquering Mk2 Escort, and to look ahead to the 1980s, where there would be new regulations, new rivals, and new challenges to be faced? Would Ford have the resources, the engineers, the visionaries and above all the drivers, to turn all their dreams into reality?
We now know that Ford developed several new race and rally cars in the 1980s, that the authorities killed off some by changing their regulations, but that the Blue Oval produced some remarkable winning machines, and programmes, in the same period. These then, are the cars that helped shape history.
10 CAPRI 3-LITRE RACE CARS
WINNERS SO MANY BTCC EVENTS IN THE EARLY 1980s
From 1974 to 1982, British saloon car racing was dominated by the 3-litre Capri — Mk2 in the first years, but Mk3 from 1978 onward. Though they complied with rules which discouraged major modifications, the engines were progressively uprated, to around 255 bhp, and excess vehicle weight was ruthlessly pared away.
