Ford Capri Group 5 Zakspeed Team sponsored by Wurth Kraus - Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft DRM 1980
Marking / livery in 1/24 scale manufactured by Studio27 (ref. ST27-DC700C, also 4545310007005 and DC700C)

Starting in 1977, the rules of the German DRM Championship (Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft) allowed Group 5 vehicles to participate, becoming the dominant category. In essence, Group 5 or “silhouette formula” only required cars to remotely resemble the original car, allowing for the creation of amazing machines, many of which were more powerful than the F1 single-seaters of the time. One of the teams that played a major role in this magnificent 5-year period was the German team Zakspeed, using a Group 5 Escort MK2 to great success during the 1977 season. However, they soon realized that in order to compete for overall victories, reserved for Division 1 cars like the Porsche 935 or the BMW M1, they would need a much more powerful and faster car.

With the support of Ford Germany, Zakspeed created the incredible Group 5 Capri at their factory in Niederzissen, using more than 80 meters of aluminium tubing for the construction of the chassis. The aerodynamics were developed in the wind tunnel of the University of Aachen using a 1/4 scale model, and with regard to the engine, the Capri mounted the new BDA with a 1.427 cc cast-iron block, fed by a turbocharger, initially achieving a power of approximately 380 CV.

The Capri Turbo was put on the track for the first time at the end of the 1978 season driven by Hans Heyer, with the same "Mampe" livery previously used on the Escorts. Of course, there were reliability issues, but it was obvious from the outset that this car had what it took to be in contention for the championship, and indeed before the year was out Heyer took Capri's first victory at the Nürburgring, no less.

Zakspeed only built 7 units of the Capri Group 5, two of them with a complete tunnel along the entire floor with Venturi effect and flexible side skirts in the purest F1 style with ground effect of the time. A more powerful version of the BDA engine was also mounted, with the displacement increased to 1.745 cc, which could produce up to 650 HP in qualifying configuration, placing it on a par with the mighty Porsche 935 and BMW M1 within the Division 1 category. As a comparative data on the power of these Group 5 beasts, in 1982 Klaus Niedwedz recorded an incredible time of 7:08.59 in the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, just 10 seconds behind Niki Lauda's time in the 1975 Ferrari F1.