Ludvigsencapri zakspeed uncovered

We delve into the world of Zakspeed and the most amazing Capri ever built.

Wunderwagon
Words Matt Wildee Photos Jon Hill
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ZSC History
Where the greatest Capri ever built came from, and why.

zakspeed capri history

A boost knob gave extra power for overtaking and up to 700 bhp was just a twist away

RACING HISTORY
1978 The Capri made its debut supporting the 1978 German GP, driven by Hans Heyer. The first car appeared in the same Mampe colours just like their GRP5 Escorts. It was fast from the off, taking pole by four seconds. It retired after five laps, but it was a statement of intent. In the last half of the season it gained three poles and one win. 1979 The first full season. Zakspeed won a double victory at its first meeting, but the 1427cc 380 bhp cars struggled against the Porsche 935. In the end the championship went to the Klaus Ludvig in a Porsche, but Zakspeed was already developing a big-bore 1745cc version with 600+ bhp to compete in the bigger-capacity Division One of the championship. 1980 This was supposed to be Zakspeeds big year. The cars were quicker than the Porsches, but it caused controversy over its rear-wing design. Champion Ludvig (who had defected to Zakspeed) was disqualified from the first two rounds. To make up for the lack of rear-wing downforce, the team developed ground-effect tunnels and sideskirts. Ludvig scored five wins, but it wasnt enough to gain the overall championship. He still scooped Division One of the championship, though. 1981 Ludvig switched back to Division Two with the 1.4-litre car, gaining 11 class wins and the overall championship. A 1.7-litre car was campaigned by Manfred Winklehock, getting six overall wins and third overall in the championship. This was the Capris glory year when it was running well, nothing could touch it. 1982/83 The German championship allowed Group C sports prototypes to race in the DRM and as such, Ford and Zakspeed started to concentrate on the C-100, with the Capri pushed to the sidelines. Klaus Ludvig still raced a 1.7 Jagermeister Capri though, along with Klaus Neiderweitz, who scored two wins overall. 1983 was the Capris last year, but by now it was outclassed and had been abandoned by the top drivers. Its best result through the year was a fourth.

Never before or since has there been a more extreme Capri.

is one of the most extreme-looking racers cars ever built. Looking like something you scrawled on your exercise book as a kid, it was stupidly fast and packed with attitude. Mad wings, massive spoilers, and flamespitting motors rock our world now, but in the late 70s they were simply shocking. At the time, a 2-litre road Capri struggled to crack a ton and sat on a set of 13 inch wheels. Zakspeeds version was running 19s in 1978 and could almost crack 200 mph from a 1.4. Porsche and BMW were kings of the German DRM championship and Ford wanted a piece of the action. It turned to Zakspeed. Zakspeed boss Erich Zakowski had the credentials hed created some of the fastest blue ovals ever. His MkI and MkII Escorts were seriously fast, winning countless races and clocking up victories in the Nrburgring 24 hours. They were pure, focussed, racing machines, boasting 14 inch wheels and hyper-tuned BDAs kicking out massive power. The MkIII Capri had the potential to be even more impressive. The anything-goes GRP5 regulations meant that only the original shape and a few body parts needed to be kept from the original car. The engine had to be production based, and the suspension had to be the same type. Apart from that you had free reign. It was an engineers dream and made for insane cars. With a steeply-raked windscreen and slippery shape, the MkIII Capri had the potential to be extremely fast in a straight line, and the long bodywork meant a massive ground-effect diffuser could be mounted under the car, sucking it to the ground. Just like the Escorts, power would come from the BDA, but this time it would be twinturbocharged, which meant potential was unlimited. Starting off with just a BDA as its basis, Zakspeed designed and built the most of the engine itself, with bespoke heads, crank,

The Fastest-Ever Capri

and a pair of KKK Turbos along with two of the sexiest-looking intercoolers ever known to man. A boost knob on the dash also allowed gave extra power for qualifying and overtaking. By 1980 up to 700 bhp was just a twist away. Designed and manufactured almost entirely in-house in Zakspeeds Neiderzissen base, it combined cutting-edge materials with good old-fashioned hands-on engineering. There were no computers used anywhere in the build of the car, says Zakspeeds Marco Fichter. They built the spaceframe chassis by building a scale model out of welding rods, and then removing them, until it had the required amount stiffness without being heavy. Bruno Bunk, the chief engineer, literally went into the workshop with some tools and came out with a car. Kevlar bodywork was fitted to the alloy spaceframe, with just the A-pillars, roof and part of the bulkhead being made from steel. An ultra-thin alumimum floor was bonded onto the chassis, just like a 70s F1 car. It was stiff and strong and very, very light, hitting 780 kg all up. The car was a perfect example of Zakspeeds single-minded approach to racing it beat rivals through being lighter, more aerodynamic and simply better engineered. It was also better driven turning Klaus Ludvig and Manfred Winklehock into tin-top legends. The Capris caught peoples imagination and the crazy colour schemes sold everything from booze to car polish, depending on who was the highest bidder. Best of all, normal people could go out and buy a Capri Porsches were always for the elite. It was an awesome racing machine German writers called it the Wunderwagon and it left a mark on anyone who saw it. Zakspeed became a household name in racing and by the end of 80s was competing in F1 (with a development of the Capri engine), Group C, Touring Cars and F3 sometimes all at the same time. It owes it all to the Capri.

DREAMED UP AS A WAY OF GETTING FORD TO BEAT PORSCHE AND BMW, the Zakspeed Capri

ZSC Laid bare

We get under the skin of the Zakspeed Capri resurrection.

ZSC Resto
The man behind the rebuild and the graft that went into it.

ZSC Man
We chat with Karl Ludvigsen, the man behind the original racers.

Nrbugring, March 29 1981. Klaus Ludvig leads the field in his Wurth-sponsored car, with D&W and Pentosin cars sandwiching Group 5 BMWs and Zakspeed-built Escorts. Ludwig won his class on his way to the title.

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Ludvigsencapri zakspeed uncovered laid bare

THE CLOSEST TO MECHANICAL PORN YOULL EVER GET, taking apart a Zakspeed

Zakspeed Laid Bare

Capri is one of the most exilharating things you can do. Its also nerve-wracking. A handful of Dzus fasteners are all that hold together the bonnet and wings, and

each twist reveals another perfectly prepared bit of race kit. Zakspeed gave us exclusive access to its 1981 DRM-winning car, for us to strip down and drool over. Putting it back together was a different matter...

Aerodynamics
The Capri was developed with a combination of gut feeling and wind-tunnel testing. This 1980 car is unique as it has a full-length ground-effect tunnel, running from the front axle line back, and was introduced to claw back downforce after the rear spoiler was deemed illegal. Flexible sideskirts helped seal the car to the track.

Bodywork
Body was made out of a combination of ultra-strong Kevlar 49 and glass-fibre. This rebuilt car uses new carbon-fibre bodywork from the original moulds.

Wheels And Tyres

BBS split-rim wheels have magnesium centres with alloy rims. Original cars ran 11x16 front and 13x19 rear tyres and used huge Goodyear slicks. This car is now running 18 inch wheels to help with rear arch clearance.

Suspension And Brakes

GRP5 regs meant you had to keep the same suspension layout, so MacPherson struts ruled. The Bilstein race coil-overs are fully adjustable for compression and rebound damping as well as ride-height. The springs are made of titanium. 320 mm vented discs and Girling four-pot callipers are clamped onto alloy hubs. They stop the 780 kg car with harness-stretching force.

Cooling
Zakspeed Capri is festooned in cooling devices. As well as two radiators it has three oil coolers one for the axle, one for gearbox and one for the engine oil.

Rear Axle
Had to keep a similar layout as the original road Capri so a live rear end it is. Specially-cast alloy axle housings give the rear wheels positive camber and adjustable tie bars control toe settings.

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Engine
Based on the Cosworth BDA, it has been extensively reworked for massive boost. By initially reducing the capacity to 1427cc with an 80x71 bore and stroke, it meant that the car could compete in Division Two of the DRM. With 380 bhp, it was fast, but not quick enough to compete with the Porsches. A later 1745cc model boosted power to 550-700 bhp, depending on boost. Heat was an issue the cylinder head used to heat up to 800 degrees when under load and piston temperature had to be kept under control by a constantly-sprayed jet of oil kept them cool.

Turbo
For the first few seasons, the Capri used a twinturbocharger system that was designed to give the car a bigger and more accessible power band. It didnt work as well as hoped and was replaced by the single, larger KKK (Kuhnle, Kopp and Kausch) turbocharger, which proved a more reliable package. The engines usually ran about 1.5 bar (23 psi) of boost, with a blow-off valve regulating the flow of exhaust gasses to make sure boost didnt increase past the set levels.

Fuel Injection
The engine uses Bosch fuel injection. The 80s ECU and the ignition controls are located in a service hatch next to the transmission tunnel. Accesibility was a key Zakspeed philosophy.

Intercoolers
A legacy of the twin turbochargers, the two smaller Zakspeed-cast Garret intercoolers are a thing of beauty. By cooling the air before it enters the engine, the charge is denser and more oxygenpacked, therefore giving the car more power.

Exhaust
The Zakspeeds exhaust system is stainless steel and fairly conventional, until you get to end of the side exit system that is. To keep the undertray as flat as possible, the exit is squashed into an oval. The racecars exhausts were always vulnerable to damage because of the ride height.

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Roll Cage
Built in as part of the spaceframe, it too was constructed out of aluminium tubing. It would be outlawed today steel tubing is all that motorsport safety experts allow these days. 80 metres of pipework were used in the cars construction.

Luggage compartment
The place where 70s businessmen put their luggage now contained the 100-litre ATL bag tank, the battery, four fuel pumps and the dry sump system. Its a plumbers dream. Theres never been a sexier rear.

Dash
The rebuilt dash features displays for RPM, water temperature, oil temperature, turbo-temp, boost pressure and battery voltage, as well as trip switches and fuses for the cars functions. All wiring was aircraft-spec to save weight.

Air Vent
The turbocharged, front-mounted motor produced a massive amount of heat that the driver had to cope with in the enclosed cockpit. A sliding window and a single vent, which had an intake on the windscreen scuttle panel, were the only mods to driver comfort.

Transmission Tunnel Cut-out

The tiny nick on the side of the transmission tunnel was to give driver Ludvig more room. The German had to fight for years for this one concession to ergonomics.

Boost Knob
Normal boost for the motor was 22 psi, at which point it produced 550 bhp. Turning this knob gives you big boost up to around 30 psi and 700 bhp at 9000 rpm.

Seats And Harnesses

Nomex-covered single race seat is bolted onto the spaceframe and is still set up for Klaus Ludvig. The race harnesses bolt straight into an alloy bar on the roll cage behind the driver. Dont try this at home!

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THE GRAFT Seven years in the making, Zakspeed documented every stage of the cars rebuild.

If anyone damages it Ill kill them

Meet Marco Fichter. Hes just restored this Zakspeed Capri. He guards it with his life...
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1. Capri Shell was crack-tested and damaged tubes replaced. 2. Bodywork was fitted with new panels 3. As well as rebuilding the suspension, a new, stronger front subframe was fabricated. 4 & 5 A New dash was made from alloy plate 6. Capri was built in-house in Zakspeeds race workshop.

7. New fuel cell takes shape. 8. Measuring-up for the graphics. 9. A new rear was grafted onto the original tubular chassis. 10. All-new interior will be one of the best. 11. Twin intercoolers look stunning. 12. Rear end is a work of art check out the sculptured alloy inner wings.

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over and blips the throttle. The turbo spools, malevolent noise fills the workshop and flames shoot out of the side-mounted exhaust. He cuts the engine and for a few moments just stares at the car, smiling. His pride is obvious. Being involved in this car is a dream for me. When I was a kid, my friends and I always used to watch the Zakspeed Capri, be in awe of it and will it to win. To be able to work on the same car is amazing. However, Marco has done much more than just work on it. Hes completely rebuilt and remanufactured it, tuning it from a cracked and tired show car into a fully-working and immaculate work of art. I got the opportunity to work on this car in 1997, he explains. We had been working for Zakspeed on the Opel DTM programme, but the championship folded, leaving us with little to do. Instead of laying us off, Peter Zakowski decided that all the mechanics should rebuild the cars in our museum. The Capris a very special car it was the one that won the German Championship in 1981 with Klaus Ludvig and it was my task to rebuild it. Rebuild is a minor term for what happened next. The car was completely stripped back down to its alloy spaceframe, which was then crack-tested and any broken pieces of tubing replaced. Marco then set about the rest of the car. I replaced every piece of alloy panelling on the car the floors, the inner wings, the ground-effect tunnel, but this time using slightly thicker-gauge alloy. The original floor was so thin that you could feel your fingers on the other side. Just dropping a spanner on the floor would dent it and after years of racing and bodges it was wrecked. Making the car stronger was important. I also rebuilt the front subframe out of a fatter section tube. Now that weight wasnt important it could be built for strength. I had no drawings of the car. I would just drill out rivets, pull off glued panels and hammer them flat. Id then use them as patterns, and even use the original locations for the rivet holes. The hardest was the inner wings at the rear, he continues. These had to bend in several different positions at once. They took several goes to get right. New body panels were formed from carbon-fibre using the original moulds. Carbon wasnt used just because it was lighter than the original glass-fibre and kevlar Zakspeeds subsidiary composite company had tonnes of it and it was stronger. To make sure that the car was as original as possible, many of the same people who helped build the car in 1980 were used

THE STUNNING RED AND WHITE WURTH CAPRI IS UP ON ITS AIR-JACKS AND THE ENGINE IS FAST-IDLING WITH A RACE-BRED SNARL . Zakspeeds Marco Yellow Ficher strolls

the same German engineers and paint sprayers that helped put it together 26 years ago, and they even rebuilt the engine. They were amazed to see the car again, says Marco To get the car to this standard has taken a huge amount of time and effort, seven years to get it how it is now. It has been a joy to work on, though. We always thought of the Capri as a mechanics car it was designed to be worked on and was so cleverly made. Theres nothing there that doesnt need to be. Even these days, when were working on a modern car like our Saleen GT racer and want to solve a mechanical problem, we look to the Capri for inspiration. When Erich Zakowski saw the rebuilt car he couldnt believe the condition of it. Of course when it was racing, the car had to be ready for the next race no matter what the car actually looked like. It didnt matter if the details were tatty as long as the car was fast. Its now in the best condition it has ever been and is almost ready to run again. The only problem is the danger of it getting damaged. Ill kill any driver that puts it though the gravel.

MARCOS TOP FIVE RESTORATION PIECES

1 Curved Radiators These radiators are actually off a diesel Volkswagen Passat. I heated them up and bent them to the right angle and manufactured some mesh guards to protect them from stones. 2 Exhaust And Exit The original pipe and exit looked like something off a truck. I fabricated this one out of stainless steel. Im pleased with the pipe, but the flat exit could be neater. Its still nicer than the one on the original car. 3 Underfloor This car has a total ground-effect floor sucking it to the ground. Reshaping the tunnel to get it to mimic the original wasnt difficult. The hardest part was finding material for the nylon sealing skirts that were stiff, yet flexible enough. 4 Fuel System This fuel tank is simply beautiful and uses two fuel pumps. The fuel cell is a British-made ATL system and most of the fixtures and fittings are new too. 5 Dashboard I replaced this with a neater design and got all the original dials and switch working. You can prime the fuel pumps and start the engine here. Even the indicators now work.

They say the car is in better condition than it was when it first raced in 1980.
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Ludvigsencapri zakspeed uncovered man

Words Richard Barnett Photos Jon Hill

Karl Ludvigsen was Fords European vice president of Government and Motorsport in the early 80s. Unlike many people working in senior management in car companies, Karls an out-and-out car enthusiast. Before joining Ford he worked at General Motors, and before that he was editor of top-selling American magazine Car and Driver. These days hes best known for his books, including the recently published V12, which chronicles the history of the multi-cylindered engine since the earliest examples were built before World War I. Classic Ford caught up with Karl at his home in Suffolk, where he told us about his time with Ford and its involvement with Zakspeed. While he didnt drive them in competition, he was able to drive several examples.

Change Giver
CF: What was your role at Ford,

Racing cars need to look good, go fast and finish. The Zakspeed did all three
strong, and from gear-to gear it really was very quick.
CF: Did you believe the cars

We chat to Karl Ludvigsen, the Ford man who wrote Zakspeeds cheques.
CF: How did you first encounter

and when were you there? KL: I joined on February 15 1980, and finished up in the autumn of 1983. I followed in the footsteps of Walter Hayes, taking on the role of vice president of Government and Motorsport. I wanted to get Fords marketing people more involved in motorsport, because theyd lost interest in it, saying there was no credibility. My job was to rebuild those bridges, get their support, and financial support as well. The Zakspeed Capri was a great tool for this.

the Zakspeed Capri? KL: One of the first jobs I did at Ford was go to the launch of the 1980 Zakspeed car. I also tested the car.
CF: And how did it perform? KL: It had a twin-turbo set-up,

which I didnt rate, but it was one heck of a car. It handled well, because the chassis was so good, and every time I drove one it just seemed to reel the telegraph poles in, although it took a little while to get on top of it! Between 5000 rpm and 8000 rpm it was very

would be competitive? KL: Erich Zakowski would do absolutely anything necessary to win, and he would push hard to get success. He proved to be very successful. His approach to engineering was sound.
CF: Why was the car so good? KL: One of the ways he

downforce, without increasing drag. The chassis too was the result of extensive development. Tomas Ammerschlager worked on it and knew the score when it came to chassis design. Remember they were tubeframed, like a drag-racing funny car, but you had to retain certain parts, such as the roof of the original car. It was very much a special racecar.
CF: So what engines were the KL: There was a 1.4-litre

(German Touring Cars). Once it had finished with Capris it used the basis to create an F1 engine. There was interest from Colin Chapman at Lotus, but he didnt support it in the end. That engine worked fairly well in Formula One.
CF: With that level of

CF: Today the Zakspeed Capri

cars running?

achieved success was by using the Aachen wind tunnel, where he worked on improving a cars

turbo model, and a 1.7-litre, and that was big news for DRM

development, it must have performed well? KL: We were lucky enough to have Klaus Ludwig driving it put him in one and hed show the rivals, such as BMWs and Opels, the way home! He was such a talented driver.

has a tremendous following among Ford enthusiasts too young to remember them when they were racing in the same way the GT40 has such a strong following... KL: It isnt surprising. It really was an iconic car and the colour schemes were great. The cars were on posters everywhere and very easy to promote. There were some very serious sponsors, and it was important to have their support. In one instance, with the Kraus/Wurth car, we had to come up with a scheme that

didnt favour one company over another.

CF: So did it live up to Fords, KL: I cant omit mentioning that

and your, expectations?

I have three rules when it comes to motor racing, and what applies to the car: they can look good; they can go fast; and, they can finish. You need to achieve a combination of all three factors, and youll usually get along with two out of those three, but people put a different emphasis on each of those elements. The Zakspeed had all three.

IT WASNT JUST ZAKSPEED CARS... Karl Ludvigsens time at Ford saw him being involved in a host of cars, including the Escort RS1600i and the Escort RS1700T. We had an active RS operation, and because RS cars were in regular production we were able to sell them at a good price in 1982 we were able to cover our expenses from the profits of RS cars wed sold. The RS1600i project was underway when I arrived: Fords Motorsport Group had been commissioned to create a fuel injection version of the CVH engine, to be used in the XR3. It also had in mind to build a special version, which was the RS1600i. The right-hand-drive model was launched six months after the lefthand-drive version, and just before the XR3i. A few tweaks helped make a good car, and once Ford had created a best-in-class car, that was a source of some pride. There was controversy in the company though, because it wasnt stable at certain speeds, and it took a little driving. The ignition system was quite a one-off, and that might be giving Classic Ford readers a headache today, he says. Then, of course, Ford created the Escort 1700T. After the monumental success of the Escort MkII in rallying, the fwd MkIII replacement could be handing Ford disappointment on a plate. So, step forward the RS1700T. It might have used the MkIII bodyshell, but underneath lay a North-South 16-valve engine (1778cc BDT Cosworth on the road version; 1785cc Shrick/Cosworth on the Group B Evolution version) driving the rear wheels via a five-speed transaxle. It goes down in Ford history, though, as a what-might-have-been, as it didnt get as far as a limited production homologation run. The 1700T was a terrific car much like a Zakspeed Capri in fact and would have made a fantastic racecar as it was powerful and really well balanced. We had been dismissive of fourwheel drive would it plough on, or suffer from oversteer, for example? However, it was great on the corners!

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