Now Reading
Gordon Spice (81), the man who made Capris fly
Book review: Inside OSCA
Racing Style on Lake Como
Book review: One Last Turn
Book review: Peking to Paris 2024
The opportunity of a lifetime
How Hot Wheels are made
Running up that hill
Postcards from Zandvoort
A photographer’s view on Senna
The long tail Alpine is back
Desert cowboy René Metge dead at 82
Alain Prost dons the red once more
HWA builds Mercedes 190 Evo II restomod
Radnor tells tales of the unexpected
Why you must visit this new museum
Oslo Motor Show goes full throttle
2023 Salon Privé: Pride of the Manceau
Here comes a 60-million Holy Grail
Festival of Speed Down Under
Ever seen a Dakar Porsche 959 strip?
Goodwood remembers Carroll Shelby
King of Gymkhana Ken Block (55) dies
In Tazio 6: Jimmie Johnson opens up
The first Tazio slipcase has arrived
Goodwood Members’ Meeting goes GT1
Masters Historic opens up to GT4 racers
And so, we bid farewell to Padova
Michael Andretti: like father, like son
When Mario saw Indy slip away again
One man, one car, one championship
Alfa Romeo celebrates 100 years of Monza
Bernina Gran Turismo shakes up the Alps
Get ready for Goodwood Revival
When the runway is not for taking off
On losing Chánh
Porsche Group C parade at Silverstone
Pebble Beach Concours on the move
Oldtimer GP is back in full force
Smokin’ the Festival of Speed
Impressions from the Mille Miglia
In Tazio 4: Walter by Christian
BRMs (and more) fly at Blyton Park
Retromobile 2022 is McLaren heaven
The Amelia praises Chip Ganassi
Now in Issue 2: Tazio’s hardest fight
Now in Issue 2: how Zagato met Ferrari
Keep it cool
Tazio 2, the limited one
Fuori Concorso: Stealing the light
See racing cars at the sea
Spa Six Hours: Thunder in the forest
Arriva Tazio: We drive the MG Metro 6R4
Group C roars at Jim Clark Memorial

Gordon Spice (81), the man who made Capris fly

Gordon Spice passed away at 81 on September 10th. One of Britain’s most flamboyant racers, he will forever be associated with Ford Capris. But Spice was way more ambitious than that.

Life was one big party for Gordon Spice, and cars just happened to play a very important role in that. Pulled into racing through his brother Derek, Gordon Spice made his debut in 1962 in an MG TF. In 1964, he raced at Le Mans for the first time.

Spice and Capris became synonyms for success. Photo Newspress

Formula 5000

It wasn’t until he started racing Minis in what is now the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) that Spice started making a name for himself. At the same time, Spice was building his car parts shop into a commercial success. Success in business made it so that racing always came second, even though he raced with the ambitions of a pro driver. Outings in Formula 5000 led to a big shunt at Mallory Park. The recovery in the hospital took weeks. With that, Spice’s single-seater career was over.

At that time, Spice had already started what would become his signature project: the Ford Capri. Spice would win his class for six years in the BSCC, now BTCC, with the 3-litre V6 Capri. He would also win the Spa 24 Hours with a Capri in 1978, the last time that race was held on the old, long circuit. In 1979 and 1980, his Capris would win in Spa as well.

Gordon Spice was a regular visitor at Goodwood. Photos (also top image) Julien Mahiels

Group C

With the introduction of Group A, Spice moved his attention towards prototypes and back to Le Mans. At first, with a Rondeau-Cosworth, netting third place in 1980 and 1980. Later, Spice started developing his own cars. The plan at first was to start a Group C effort for Ford, but that ultimately didn’t go Spice’s way. So, together with Ray Bellm, he founded Spice Engineering which at first modified Tiga chassis but ultimately built their own chassis for Le Mans and the WEC in the C2 category, the smaller Group C division. Spice would take the world title in his class in 1984. Spice cars would also run in IMSA.

See Also

Moving up to the big Group C class among the manufacturers proved difficult, but when the big boys pulled out, Spice scored fourth place in the 1990 world championship. Plans were even hatched for Formula 1, but ultimately Spice would close its doors after the 1995 season.

With Gordon Spice, motor racing loses one of its biggest entertainers and raconteurs. Gordon Spice lost his battle with cancer, he was 81. His autobiography is well worth the read.

What's Your Reaction?
Excited
1
Happy
1
In Love
4
Not Sure
0
Sad
0
View Comments (0)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


© 2025 Tazio Publishing B.V., Wannegemstraat 18B 9750 Huise, Belgium. All Rights Reserved. No unauthorized copying is allowed.