September 27, 2000

CCNA CAPRI SWARM 2000

2000 CAPRI SWARM

Draft 1.0, 27 September 2000

Editors: Bev Connell & David Wells
Authors: David Wells, Larry Wells, Norm Murdock, David Valone
Photographers: David Valone, Bart Manhard, Larry Wells, Mike Robertson

"Swarm 2000" took place over Labor Day weekend (Sept 1-3) at National Trails Raceway, near Columbus, Ohio. As in years past, The Swarm, was held in conjunction with the Ford Expo. We had a total of ten Mk 1 and Mk 2 Capris, two Merkurs XR4tis and a Merkur Scorpio for the show.

CCNA members took home lots of trophies, with Glen Faessler taking overall small car (Stock class "F") honors in Ford Expo car show for the second year in a row!

Several CCNA drivers won their classes at the autocross, including Glen Faessler, John Volbers, Norm Murdock, and Larry Wells.

Thursday:

Mike Rahamut didn't get very far. He was having trouble by the time he reached David Wells' house in New Jersey, but they decided to press on. Mike's '74 2800 was running badly, but got as far as western NJ (almost to the Pennsy Turnpike) before he decided to stop for parts/assistance. Dave & Mike plugged the carb holes for the decel valve a bit more elegantly, (the previous plugs looked suspicious, and they suspected a vacuum leak.) but still no luck. After that, Mike told Dave to go on alone. Later, after replacing the points, he got thing going again, but only got a bit past Harrisburg, PA before the car gave out again. Only days later did the problem reveal itself: a bad condenser. Dave W. arrived in at the Lennox Inn (where most of the Swarm participants were staying....) about 10:00 that night. David Valone and David Schultz had arrived earlier from Virginia, but had already gone to sleep.

Friday:

Early in the morning, Norm, Dave Valone and Dave Schultz left for National Trails to set up the Team Blitz truck.

Dave Wells arrived at the track later that morning, only to find David Valone and his partner in crime, Dave Schultz, looking for a ride to the parts store. Dave V. wanted cooler spark plugs. Three Daves in one Capri! Two parts stores later, the Daves returned to the track. We watched a few drag races, including a couple of runs by Pete Snyder's Cortina wagon, with a Formula Ford engine!

Dave Wells scrutineering Pete Snyder's Cortina. Photo by Bart Manhard.

Norm's V8 rough-rider turned in a 14.9 quarter mile time, besting a 351 Cougar Eliminator.

Norm takes his V-8 Capri to the drag strip. Photo by Bart Manhard.

We decided to have the Team Blitz Customer Appreciation dinner at the local "Fridays". (Thanks Norm!!!) Liquid refreshment followed. Larry Wells arrived late on Friday. More liquid refreshment was required to keep the Swarmers happy while keeping Larry company as he ate dinner.

Saturday:

The main day of the event. We had a total of 10 Capris (not much by European standards, but pretty good for North America....)

Norm Murdock's '73 V-8 Photo by Mike Robertson.	David Valone's '73 V-6 Photo by Mike Robertson.
Rob Harber's '73 V-6 Photo by Mike Robertson.	Bart Manhard and his '74 2000 Photo by Mike Robertson.
Ira Schoen's '73 2000 Photo by Mike Robertson.	John Volbers' '73 2800 Photo by Mike Robertson.
Jon Terry's '76 Capri II 2800 Photo by Bart Manhard.	Glen Faessler's award winning '77 2800 Photo by Bart Manhard.
Larry Wells' '71 2000 No Photo Available!	David Wells' '74 2800 No Photo Available!
plus three Merkurs:
Kenny Heck's XR4Ti No Photo Available!	Tony Vissoc's XR4Ti No Photo Available!
Mike Galati's Scorpio No Photo Available!

Norm held a tech session on Saturday afternoon on Capri springs. As one might expect, Team Blitz springs were prominently featured.

Swarmers listen to Norm's tech session on springs on Saturday. Photos by David Valone.

Later in the afternoon, Mike Rahamut finally made it, but in a rented Mitsubishi! (hey, how did the Ford club organizers let him in the gate in THAT thing???) Mike's '74 2800 was still stuck in Pennsylvania with a bad condenser....

David Valone was the only Capri owner brave enough to put his Capri on the portable dyno that was at National Trails. His engine still wasn't running smoothly, so he thought the diagnostics might help. Even in its diminished condition, he got 135 HP at the rear wheels.

Dave Valone's "Blue" on the portable dyno
at National Trails. Photo by Bart Manhard.

Dave Wells spotted a number of interesting "Fox" Capri dragsters. One of the most interesting 1984-1986 Capri GS with a supercharged 3.8 liter V-6 engine out of a Thunderbird SuperCoupe.

We ran the gimmick rally to get back to the Lennox Inn. Several teams were tied for the most right answers, (none of the competitors found the brand of Ice Cream served at King Kone....) but Bart Manhard and Mike Robertson had the correct mileage as well, and they were declared the winners. Back at the Lenox, we told stories at the bar for a while, then went to the banquet.

Ira gave a nice slide show titled "A Tale of Two Capris" on the differences between a street Capri 2000 and a Trans Am 2.5 Capri 2000. (just a few......)

We also gave out the awards at the banquet.

Larry Wells won the trivia contest. (what a surprise)
Ira Schoen got the best original Capri, despite his non-stock steering wheel.
John Volbers got the best modified Capri.
Bart Manhard got the "long distance" award, having driven in from New Hampshire.
Bart Manhard and Mike Robertson won the rally.
Ricky Carmona won the model contest.
Mike Rahamut, won the "coveted" Turtle award for the non-performance of his 2800. (2-time winner John Volbers was relieved!)

Sunday:

We went to Columbus Motor Speedway, a circular 1/3 mile NASCAR track, instead of National Trails. We met up with the folks at United Ford Owners (UFO) who had marked out a tight autocross course with cones.

Capris line up at Columbus Motor Speedway before the autocross. Photo by Mike Robertson

We had so many drivers, we doubled their entry field!

Larry Wells gave the novices a lecture on autocrossing.

Larry Wells instructs the novices on a track walk:
"Fast is slow, and slow is fast!" Photo by Mike Robertson

After Larry's lecture and track walk, we took a parade lap of the course to get a better feel for the track.

Parade Lap. Photo by Mike Robertson

The UFO folks had brought a variety of Fords and other vehicles. Believe it or not, somebody even drove a Lincoln Town Car!! (he got a decent time, too!) One of the UFO guys had a Ford Pinto with a turbocharged 2.3 liter "Lima" in it.

Glen Faessler didn't want to race his award-winning '77 Capri, so he drove his modern Mustang instead.

Ira Schoen didn't want to race his '73 Capri either, so he drove Norm's V-8. Several other people took turns with the V-8 as well.

Lessons from the Autocross:

V-8 Capris are lots of fun! Norm's 289 V-8, with a wide body and low-stallspeed converter had a disadvantage in the super-tight course. But it roared through the kink trap when you could open it up a little. There were lots of broad smiles from the 8 guest club members, who got 5 passes per. It's too bad the V-8 Blitzmobile is too rusty to live, because it's REALLY fun to drive!

Ira prepares to take a run in Norm's V-8 Capri.
Photo by Larry Wells.
Don't autocross against Kenny Heck and his Merkur XR4Ti unless you're REALLY good. Kenny is a really nice guy, and looks totally innocent, but he's pretty darn fast around the race track.
Don't autocross against John Volbers and his '73 2600 unless you're REALLY good. John turned in the fastest time of the day (of the Capris) in the autocross with his narrow, nimble, Comp T/A-shod V6, and well-honed driving style.
Don't let those innocent looking Rostyle wheels on John
Volbers' Capri fool you: they're wearing low profile Comp T/A
autocross tires! Photo by Larry Wells.
Make sure your sway bar is FIRMLY bolted into place. Dave Valone got a DNS in the autocross due to that particular problem.....
In a three car class, (F2/SS) it's easy to get second place when one of the cars gets a DNS. (Dave Wells came in a distant second behind John Volbers.)

Dave Wells dodges some cones in his "Blue Beast".
Photos by Mike Robertson (left) and Larry Wells (right).
In a one car class, it's easy to get first place, isn't it Larry?

Larry Wells and "Col. Mustard" run through the
cones in first gear! Photo by Mike Robertson.
Road racers don't always make good autocrossers. Larry said at the beginning: "If autocross were any easier, we'd have to call it road racing" Ira won the newly established "King Kone" award (yes, named after the ice cream place) for his complete disregard of the "suggested" line. There are lots of orange cones in Columbus for sale real cheap. Black tire marks pre-installed!

Ira Schoen earns his "King Kone" title in Norm's V-8 "Blitzmobile".
Photos by Mike Robertson (left) and Larry Wells (right).

Anyhow, after the day's racing was done, we handed out awards, cleaned up the track, and headed back to National Trails to clean up the swarm site there, and pack up Norm's truck. After that, we went for ICE CREAM! (at the Dairy Queen, not King Kone.....)

Thanks to.....

Thanks to the organizers of this year's mega-successful Capri Swarm, on behalf of all of us in attendance. Of special note,

Event Chair David Valone, who did a splendid job of turning out a nice field of cars and even nicer people.
Club Exec Marc Morgan, who made the autocross and banquet arrangements.
Autocross Chair Larry Wells, who gave a most valuable primer on autocross.
Norm Murdock (for V-8 Capri fun)
the United Ford Owners (UFO) club for doing most of the heavy work on the autocross. Wow, those UFO guys were REALLY nice. We really appreciate the folks at UFO for including CCNA in their event. We had a blast!
Banquet Guest Speaker Ira Schoen, whose "Tale of Two Capris" about the Trans Am vintage car and the tweedy 1973 stocker was info-packed, complete with slideshow.
David Wells, Dave Schultz, Tony Vissoc, Mike Robertson, and Bev Connell who all contributed courtesies as club volunteers which helped the whole show to come together.

Final notes:

Larry has FINALLY named his '71 2000: Col. Mustard. (credit to David Valone for thinking of it.....)

Swarm 2000 Photo Gallery

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