The Ford Capri’s 50th birthday will be celebrated at this year’s Silverstone Classic with a track parade owners can get involved with and a one-off trophy presented by the most famous Capri racer of them all.
Gordon Spice was a class winner in the British Saloon Car Championship for five successive seasons from 1976 to 1980, driving Capris to 24 outright victories in the process.
Now 78, he’ll be awarding the Gordon Spice Trophy to the first Capri past the finishing post in the Historic Touring Car Challenge at this year’s Silverstone Classic.
“I’m absolutely delighted to have been given this honour,” he said. “I never miss the Classic; it’s one of my favourite race meetings of the year and it is always wonderful to see so many Capris still racing today – 50 years is a long time!”
The ‘British Mustang’ broke cover at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1969 and was a massive success, with nearly two million produced up to the final model in 1986.
And, when bigger-engined American muscle cars were banned at the end of the 1975 Saloon Car season, Capris took over the mantle to dominate the championship, with Spice the main beneficiary.
