Gordon Spice Racing Ford Capri driven at Goodwood

“Originally Martin was going to get it ready for last year’s Members’ Meeting, but he didn’t make it,” adds Whitaker. “He’d got two Rovers as well and decided the Spice Capri would sell. But he returned it to its Group 1 glory.”

Nevertheless, Whitaker decided to get CC10 taken apart and put back together by Nigel Reuben Racing, complete with Ric Wood-prepared V6: “Despite buying a restored car, I handed it to Nigel and got him to strip it down and completely rebuild it because I want 10 years out of it.”

The Spice cars were always a little special and there were a few giveaways – like the non-standard centre console – that confirmed it was genuine and the end result is spectacular. “It’s lovely to see it,” says Spice as he arrives at an early March Goodwood test day to be reunited with his old racer.

But it’s not Spice who is going to drive it. Andrew Jordan, 2013 BTCC champion and active historic racer, is on hand to give Autocar an insight into what a 35-year-old touring car feels like. He’ll be campaigning a front-wheel-drive Motorbase Ford Focus in the BTCC this year, a car quite removed from the rear-wheel-drive Capri, but he appreciates the history.

“I knew about Gordon Spice and his cars,” says the 26-year-old. “For me, you’ve got Super Touring [of the 1990s] and the other iconic touring car era is the Capris and Rovers – Group 1. They look amazing and sound awesome.”

Before he gets his chance, though, father and experienced racer Mike Jordan, who is sharing the car at the Members’ Meeting with Whitaker, takes it out for a brief shake down. “Do you want to sell it? It’s a delight to drive,” are Jordan Sr’s encouraging words as he brings the car back. And then the heavens open.

It’s probably just as well the 290bhp, 1035kg Capri is on Goodwood-specified treaded historic Dunlop tyres, rather than slicks, as Andy climbs in.

“It’s quite basic inside in comparison to touring cars these days, but I don’t think you should modernise cars like this,” says Jordan Jr, who has also raced a Lotus Cortina and Group 1 Mini at Goodwood. “I agree with increasing safety, but you want everything to look period. With a Gordon Spice car you don’t want to get rid of what it was.”

Once out on track, Jordan quickly gets into the swing of things and thoroughly enjoys hurling the Capri around.

“It’s a hoot driving a car like this in these conditions and the V6 sounds awesome in the car,” he beams on his return. “It feels strong and torquey.

“Compared to this, the new cars feel claustrophobic. And the biggest difference is grip level. The grip of a modern-day car compared to these sorts of cars is massive. But you can steer the Capri on the throttle and it’s very easy to handle.”