In South Africa during the ’60s, Basil Green was earning himself an enviable reputation for extracting major performance gains from all kinds of cars. Although he is mainly known for his work on Ford cars, Basil – who once worked as a mechanic for the Cooper F1 team – initially began by tuning BMC cars, racing his own, much modified Mini in 1964. His Mini went so well that he soon had many others wanting their cars performance – tuned by Basil.
By 1965, Green had sold many conversion kits for Anglias, Cortinas and VWs. Along with a new partner, Ronnie Rosen, Green also turned his hand to tweaking Valiant and Barracuda cars. However, with the advent of the Cortina, Green’s business entered into the history books – he slotted an Essex V6 into the Cortina and named his new creation the Cortina Perana – the name being taken from the names of the engineers who helped Green design the cars (a popular misconception is that the name comes from the man-eating fish).
In 1969, Green got his hands on one of the first MkI Ford Capris to arrive into South Africa. He tossed out the V6 and fitted a 5.0-litre Mustang V8 engine, then up-rated the gearbox, differential, suspension and brakes.
In 1970, Motorman magazine road tested a Capri Perana – the car accelerated from zero to 100kph in 6.4 seconds before sprinting to a top speed of 240kph. On the race track in their home country, the Gunston Team Racing Perana Capris demolished everything – even Ford GT40s. They were banned from racing 18 months later, so Basil stopped making them after a significant production run.
Confusion reigns as to exactly how many Capri Peranas were built – some sources quote 500, while others list 803. Even figures as high as 1167 have been quoted – but these probably include production figures for the Cortina Perana, Granada Perana (another Ford V8-powered special) and the Escort Perana (which was fitted with a 2.0-litre ohc engine).
With the above in mind, it is generally believed that around 430 to 500 Capri Peranas were built.
A racing life
In the ’80s, I knew nothing about Basil Green and his Peranas and started racing my 3.8 Jaguar Mk2 in classic events before moving to Porsche 356s – I still own and race a 1956 356 Speedster which has been part of their family for 21 years. The Tolich kids don’t remember life pre-Speedster. This was the first car I used for a Targa event. After watching my classic rallying neighbour Rob Wylie have fun in his Datsun 1600, I decided to have ago and entered my Speedster – with navigator, Stephen Reynolds – in the Targa Bambina. The car did well. However, the old car felt a bit frail even with a roll-cage and you wouldn’t want to hit anything with the fuel tank sitting 150mm above your knees!
I’ve spent the past seven years travelling to Europe a few times a year to race with my London-based Kiwi mate, David Fitzsimons. David owns some seriously exotic machines, which we run in classic endurance rallies and races in Europe. The cars are an Alfa Romeo TZ1, a Ferrari 275GTB/C, an Alfa GTA, a Porsche 2.7RSL, an Alfa GTA and, for this year’s Tour d’Espana, a Porsche 2.8RSR.
But it was another of David’s cars that really impressed me when he first drove it at Donington. It was a Ford Capri V6 that’d been track-day prepared by UK racer, Willie Green, with subtle mods including lowered suspension on Spax shocks, Yokohama tyres, a roll-cage and with the V6 giving an easy 164kW (220bhp). Simple and effective, the car was wonderful to drive, and it out-ran many of the more modern cars on the track
An NZ ‘Perana’
Back in New Zealand, I asked Mal Clark at By’Gone Autos in Beachhaven to build a Capri that could be used for Targa and classic circuit racing. After a bit more research, we found out about the South African Peranas. Wow! A V8 in a Capri! What a lovely recipe. Light weight, good handling, tons of torque and power, and reliability.
I found a rusty 1970 Capri V6 for $900 and gave it to Mal. Ten months later, and after spending as much as a new car would have cost, I drove out of By’Gone in a recreated Perana Capri. It had a new four-bolt 4949cc (302ci) Windsor V8, race suspension with adjustable struts and shocks, a five speed, race-prepped Borg Warner gearbox, Wilwood disc brakes all round, and a fibreglass bonnet. Wheels and tyres were 15-inch Minilites fitted with 225/50×15 Dunlop Rs.
Everything mechanical was new except the reworked limited slip differential donated by a Jaguar 3.8. Remarkably, the weight over the front wheels was 25kg less than with the old V6 in place. All-up weight was 1360kg with two crew and fuel on board. Expensive, yes. Worth it? Yes, every cent!
Out of the box, the Perana was quicker than any standard WRX, XR8 or Evo. Despite its high riding Targa suspension, I found the Capri capable of lapping Pukekohe in one minute, 10 seconds – as quickly as my then new E46 BMW M3. One week after completion, the blood orange Capri (similar in colour to the Gunston Capris) started the 2003 Dunlop Targa. After one week on the road, the lazy 268kW (360bhp) engine had propelled the Capri to first in class, and 28th overall out of 200 cars.
Weak links
For the 2004 Targa event, along with new navigator, Alan Henderson, I was full of confidence. A year of ownership and racing had identified any weak links – or so I thought. The car was very quick, stable and with great rear-end traction despite the power and torque. It was geared to pull 220kph at the rev limiter’s 6400rpm. I drove hard from the start, presuming that the ‘near new’ car would survive the abuse. The second day on a stage near new Plymouth we were seeded 184th out of 205 cars (fastest cars at the back of the field). Right behind was Aussie Touring Car racer, Stephen Richards, in his new Group A Subaru WRX rally car. A few cars further back was his dad, Jim Richards, in his winning Porsche GT3. Just before the start Jim walked up to the Perana and said that he had bought a genuine one from South Africa for classic rallying. Son Stephen joined in and said he ran a BDA Escort in classic rallies in Australia.
What followed was a great day of rallying and, at the end of the first stage, the Aussie aces had only gained 10 seconds on us. Afterwards Stephen Richards’s co-driver came up and congratulated us. They had expected to catch up pretty early in the stage, and when they finally did see our orange rump in the distance they couldn’t make any gains. That was a huge buzz for Alan and me, and the Perana’s real potential was starting to show.
Alas, the next day the diff broke! It took a day to locate a replacement (from an E-Type at Beacham Jaguar in Hastings) and get it delivered and fitted overnight in Palmertson North. So we were out of contention for any placings, but still finished in Wellington a few days later without a scratch on the car.
In the 2005 and 2006 Targa, the Perana had ongoing successes with class placings and strong finishes –14th overall behind Steve Millen’s new Ford GT in 2006. Mike Sexton navigated for me on the 2006 event, and his analytical approach soon had me thinking about how I could make the old girl faster without increasing power and upsetting its fine balance. The answer became obvious midway through the 2006 Targa. Starting a long stage 30 seconds behind Paul Halford’s beautiful Maserati Trofeo, I was keen to catch and pass Halford. Sure enough, after about 15km we were within 10 seconds of the Maser when the tight twisting road opened up to a high speed undulating blast. The Perana sat with the Maser in a straight line until the first series of 180kph bends.
After those, the Maserati had gained 200 metres and after a few more corners it was gone. It looked like a slot car ducking and diving in front. The Capri, by comparison, was using the whole road to try to keep up. Its old aerodynamics weren’t designed for that sort of competition.
Sorting out the aerodynamics
On the race track, in both the Tracer and Arrows series, the Capri’s high, softish suspension was now also holding the car back with dramatic wheel lifting becoming a feature. We won some races, but it was struggling to fend off purely track-focused cars. So, back at By’Gone Autos the car was lowered (it still sits higher than track cars) and had period Capri RS spoilers fitted front and rear. The result was truly dramatic.
My best previous lap time at Pukekohe had been one minute, 8.2 seconds. With the lowering and aerodynamic mods, the car was almost 1.5 seconds a lap quicker. No weaving at high speed braking for the hairpin, no sliding over the top of Mobil Mountain. The engine and brakes were untouched. The car was tested and rested during 2007 with no Targa events.
For the 2008 Targa Rotorua, I needed another navigator and enlisted Groundsky Photography lens-man, Cully Paterson. His first stage was in thick fog out of Rotorua – no fun for anyone, let alone a new boy. Eight cars came to grief in that first stage. The rest of the weekend was fast and furious with roads often wet.
However, Cully never missed a call, and the service crew of Bruce James and Rod Leonard-Rogers kept the oil leaks and exhaust rattles at bay. Grip from the Dunlop Direzza 03s was fantastic but, most of all, it was the Capri’s newfound high speed stability that transformed the car. Those 180kph swoops and dives now saw the Capri firmly planted on terra firma just like a modern Porsche.
And so the event proved to be the Capri’s biggest success to date – scoring the Classic Competition outright win, winning in its category and, just for good measure, earning the Peter Hanna trophy for first V8 home.
Perhaps most significantly, the Capri was second overall behind the winning, state-of-the art rally Subaru WRX. The Perana beat all other modern cars including Mitsubishi Evos, Porsche GT3s and many other very fast, if not as reliable, competitors.
The neat thing about all this is helping make a 38-year-old car show off in front of all those modern upstarts. Sure, for the money I have spent, I could be running a GT3. But I reckon most people just love seeing the orange Perana sitting in line, at the start of a stage, amongst the Evos, WRXs, 911s, BMWs, HSVs and all the rest. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Words: Neil Tolich Photos: Adam Croy
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