Lot 338: 1974 Ford Capri MkII 3.0S Race Coupe

Ivan Dutton's success in saloon car racing started in 1972, when he drove the 'Lyons Quick Brew' Ford Escort to a debut class victory in the Britax Production Car Championship following it up with winning the 1973 Britax and Castrol Production Championships outright. By 1974, Ivan had switched to Capris, winning the first-ever Group 1 race by beating Tony Lanfranchi and Tom Walkinshaw's works Capris in a self-prepared entry at Mallory Park. Thirty years later and in recognition of his father's achievements, Ivan�s son Tim built another racing Capri and the resultant 'Quick Brew Capri' took to the track in 2005. Dutton prepared his retro race Capri for the Group 1 Historic Touring Cars Class A, an increasingly popular category catered for by Masters Top Hat with their �Stars of the 70s� races for which car and race equipment are still regulations compliant.
With an eye on possible future participation in FIA events on the Continent and gaining the necessary passport, a conversion by Alan Daffin of the bodywork from MkIII (1977-1986) to earlier MKII (1974-1977) panels was commissioned along with refurbishment and repainting in red with �Quick Brew� livery by the current owners earlier in the year. Safety equipment includes full FIA roll-cage with side-bars, FIA high-back bucket seat in black cloth and full harness, both within their dates, and FIA manual fire extinguisher system to latest spec.
Last rebuilt in 2005 and virtually standard, thus proving to be 100% reliable, the 3-litre Essex V6 reportedly produced 126bhp at the wheels (185bhp at the flywheel at 6000rpm) when last rolling road tested. Lap times have been reduced by anti-dive front suspension and rear axle negative camber modifications. The differential is a Quaife limited slip, the 4-speed gearbox was rebuilt and the clutch renewed in mid-2007, while rear springs, shock absorbers and exhaust have only recently been renewed by CCK. The car sits on new 7ins wide RS-pattern silver alloys shod with Dunlop D83/84J �Control� race tyres and there are 2 spare 7inch width wheels as well as a set of Dunlop F Rs on black 6J Revolutions.
A miniature version of the �Quick Brew Capri� in MkIII guise has been produced by Corgi for their 1:43 scale �Drive Time� Motorsport series, a photo and description of model number VA10801 appearing on page 140 of the Corgi 2007 catalogue and a boxed model being included with the car. Recent race results have included 6th Mallory September 2007, 9th Snetterton March 2008, 4th Brands Hatch May and 13th Castle Combe August.
Featuring on page 40 of the 2008 entries booklet for the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, the car was driven up the hill in spirited fashion in the Touring Cars class by Lady Alexandra Gordon Lennox, daughter of event founder Lord March. Even more recently, this high profile Capri was invited to the British Touring Car Championship Celebrations at Silverstone, where it was due to be driven by �Capri-Meister� Gordon Spice and share the circuit with other former BTCC front runners Jack Sears, Jackie Oliver, Chris Craft, Vince Woodman, Stuart Graham, Andy Rouse, Dave Brodie and Derek Warwick driving examples of similarly historically significant racing saloons.