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Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Fri 13 Jan 2017, 12:20
by ant
Dear All

After the completion of the recent restoration of A2, as per my previous topic on this forum, I have decided to retire the car from active duty. Actually the decision was made before the last race about 2 years ago.
There are many reasons, but suffice to say:
1. The car is too valuable
2. The car would need major mods to be competitive in historic racing as it is today ( Obviously not an option)
3. The car needs to be preserved for future generations in its current form, so I will still demonstrate and show the car at times.

More to the point, since that decision was made, i have been toying with the idea if building a replica if A2 to continue racing.
I am in the process of procuring another racing capri , which being far more modified than A2 ever was, is quite suitable for the task at hand.

I am thinking to present the car in one of the later spec and livery as when the car (A2)was raced in then Rhodesia, in the capable hands of Ray Yeo (among others), winning several championships in the late 70's and perhaps even into the early 80's.
Thanks to Nick Sheward's passion and thorough research at the time of the first restoration, I at least have the attached 2 pics of the car, as it raced in 1976, or thereabouts.

Can anyone shed any more light or perhaps have more pictures showing the car as it was at this time ?
Any help comments on colour ( as I suspect that the kodak film does not accurately show the reddish/black combination), decals, or anything else would be most helpful.

Also opinions about my idea would be welcomed. Obviously A2 is and will remain in the Gunston Team colours, so it may be good to have a replica showing it as it raced in later years ?

Look forward to everyone's views, comments and suggestions.

Kind Regards
Anthony Corin

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Fri 13 Jan 2017, 12:27
by ant
Not sure if the second pic uploaded properly, so attempt 2

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Fri 13 Jan 2017, 13:03
by KSF
You have the second pic as a .pdf instead of .jpg. I copied it to .jpg, see below.
CapriA2.jpg
CapriA2.jpg (140.81 KiB) Viewed 9429 times
Killarney Racer might also have some pictures, he has quite an extensive library.

I like your idea, the original A2 should be preserved as it is/was. It would be nice to see it race too, but I fully understand your reasoning for not doing so. You could also do as Louis Powell did with Y151 and build a lookalike replica to race with in higher modified form, but that has been done for Gunston Capri's, so the idea of building a replica of a later version of A2 sounds quite good.

There is the potential problem of building the later version to our current rules. It does not allow front spoilers and the big lip spoiler on the boot as in these pics. If you do stray outside the regs, you end up with the "exact replica" rules that you have to comply with. Last I looked at them (about 2yrs ago now, might have changed again) they required one to have a lot of detailed info of the car you are replicating and also did put some constraints on how much you can modify the car. It was for me a problem as it is tough enough just finding a color photograph of the cars, never mind technical details of what was going on under the skin.

But as I say, it might all have changed again, Sandro is probably the guy to ask about this. I know they have worked hard at getting more cars in, so some leeway may well be forthcoming for a car like this.

I hope you do build it!

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Sat 14 Jan 2017, 02:00
by peranaman
I know of a millimetre perfect A2 replica........

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Sat 14 Jan 2017, 02:06
by peranaman
Image

Image

Image

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Sat 14 Jan 2017, 08:05
by ant
Thanks KSF.

Indeed, there would be some challenges in classifying the car with the local historic committee, but I also understand that the current perspective leans more to getting cars on the grid, rather than being overly pedantic with the rule book.

The car is already built and race ready, so it is the additional refinement of body work appendages and livery which I want to finalise in due course.

@Peranaman, your dedication and efforts in building the A2 tribute car is to be applauded. It is however a road car, and would be woefully uncompetitive against the front runners without open heart surgery, which I don't think was ever your intention with the car. It would therefore be inadequate for the objective at hand, and as KSF has pointed out, there are enough A2 (Team Gunston and other Group 2) look alikes around already, and I don't really want to go that route.

As mentioned above, the car I have in mind is already fully race ready, so mods required would be mostly superficial.

Anyone else that can help with pics from the Rhodesia days, or has comments or suggestions. I would welcome any input.

Regards
Anthony Corin

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Sat 14 Jan 2017, 08:33
by peranaman
Ant, my posting was tongue in cheek, but couldn't resist some pics. Ironically, my A2 now belongs to Wengler Racing in Luxembourg. Part of a big stable of Mustangs, GT40s etc.
Cheers Chris

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Sat 14 Jan 2017, 09:13
by ant
Apologies KSF, I forgot to thank you for fixing my pic upload misstep.

BTW, for the reasons of searching for potential compromise with the classification of the car in historics, I chose to go with the "slightly" modified mid-70's version of A2 , rather than the more extreme version of later years "circa 1980" as per the attached pic. !

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Sat 14 Jan 2017, 09:24
by ant
It is however also an option, particularly if the car has to run in a different class.

There are also other possibilities, especially the V8 Capri's that ran in the super saloon class in the UK in the late 70's.
One example attached, may there were several others.

Not sure if and how it can be done, but would appreciate if one of the administrators could even structure a voting pole, so I can get an idea of the majority view of members on this forum ?

Options I could consider for the car would be:

1. A2 in mid-70's Rhodesia spec
2. A2 in 1980 Rhodesia spec
3. V8 Super Saloon spec (closest to the way the car is currently configured)
4. A2 in 1972 Koos Swanepoel spec ( my least favoured option)

Thanks
Anthony Corin

Re: Can anyone help with A2 2.0 ?

Posted: Sat 14 Jan 2017, 09:44
by IndianaJones
Hi

Is it the same car at the bottom of the following page?
https://www.classiccarsinrhodesia.co.za ... wards.html
References are made as to whom supplied the photos.

Have you talked to Dave Pearson?