Saturday 29th July 1978

The spectacular Group 5 Zakspeed Capri was introduced to the world at the support race for the German Grand Prix at Hockenhei – half way through that year’s DRM championship.The car retained very little of the Capri, the roof and pillars as well as some parts of the rear end. The body mainly consisted of aluminium profiles and 80 metres of aluminium tubing. The turbocharged Cosworth engine puts out approximately 530 PS (390 kW) at 9200 rpm with 1.4 bar charge; 1.6 bars were available for short periods for an extra 70 PS (51 kW). It was dressed in black and the red/yellow colours of Zakspeed’s main sponsors Mampe Halb und Halb. The blue oval also featured prominently. Despite only one day’s testing, the car was fastest of all around the Hockenhem circuit in the hands of Hans Heyer. As if to underline the potential of the car, Heyer took pole position by 4 seconds from the championship leading BMW 320 of Harald Ertl. In the race the car lead briefly but only completed 5 laps, succumbing to an engine faliure right in front of the Zakspeed/Ford hospitality box! Heyer is quoted as saying, “This is a beautiful car. With 50% of the weight at either end it handles really good. Itís six seconds faster than our Escort per lap! Everywhere you are going at least 30km/h faster into the corners.” In the rest of the 1978 season, Heyer took 3 more poles and a first victory for the Capri at the Nurburgring in October.