Ford Escort RS1600i/RST Grp A/N

[Moza]

Hi im new to the site and may just be a flying visit, im a member of the RS owner's club and i am seeking information on these cars the RS16i and the S1 Turbo the Datapost cars raced by Richard longman, i sort of know the current owner of car 44 S1 Turbo.
What id like to know is everything anyone knows about these cars and how many they were of each id also like photo's if possible or links to website's where i can find info, id also like to know about promotion cars that were used alongside the race cars, all of this will be used to do a feature in the RSOC mag Rallye news.

Also i know this is the wrong section but id also like to know about the rally S1 Turbo mainly the Mark lovell car



thanks

Lee

[Moza]

Hi im new here and probably wont post much im a member of the RS owner's club and im trying to find info on the Escort Series one Rs Turbo's that were used in Rallying in the 80's i know these car's were terrible as a rally car but i need info on them and pic's would be great for a feature that im doing for the club mag rallye news, i do know Mark Lovell raced one, and a magazine called Performance Ford featured the car many years ago, so chaps info, pics links to website's anything please the where abouts of the car and owners name would be great aswell, you never know someone on here may know him.

[M.Lowe]

Myself and a friend done a tribute to Mark for an issue of Pacenotes irelands rally paper and i have some pics, my friend Gus McAnallen has a hell of a lot you can get in touch with Gus by getting the email address off his website www.rallyretro.co.uk also the latest issue of Fast ford has an article on the championship

[Moza]

Originally posted by M.Lowe
Myself and a friend done a tribute to Mark for an issue of Pacenotes irelands rally paper and i have some pics, my friend Gus McAnallen has a hell of a lot you can get in touch with Gus by getting the email address off his website www.rallyretro.co.uk also the latest issue of Fast ford has an article on the championship

Many thanks for your help i will contact Gus for some info, i have Fast Ford and that is the early stages of the S1 its the XR3 Turbo, Mark went on to race the S1 at a later stage.

thanks

Lee

[Scott R]

Hi i am looking at finding information on any of the following cars, including any pictures, etc..
The cars are

Escort MK3 RS1600i, Richard Longman and Alan Curnow, DATAPOST sponsors
Escort MK3 RS1600i, Chris Hodgetts and ????, Brooklyn Ford sponsors
Escort MK3 RS1600i, Patrick watts, unsure on colours or sponsorship.
Escort MK3 RS1600i, Julian May, pre 85 unsure of coulours or sponsors but post 85 North Essex racing with Richard Belcher as driver
Escort MK3 RS1600i, Richard Belcher, John Jefferson Engineering.

I own the post 85 Touring car of Julian may and Richard Belcher and want to find out more about my car, as what i know already is,

It started life as a Richard Longman RS61i datapost car, that was then Sold to the John Jefferson engineering team, then moved on to being owned by Julian May, ( as JJ engineering moved away form RS16i escorts Julian May bought there old race cars etc..) and raced by Richard Belcher.

Many thanks in any information provided

If anyone would like to contact me direct here is my e-mail address

[Peter Mallett]

Didn't you post this under another name?

[d-b]

SCOTT R
CHECK OUT YOUR E MAIL
HOPE THIS HELPS

d-b

[Chris Griffin]

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...hlight=rs1600i

[redshoes]

Originally posted by Peter Mallett
Didn't you post this under another name?

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=47148

[stuart05]

Patrick Watts raced the Julian May car at Snetterton in 1987 as (I think) a one off. What I do remember is that he made it do things through the "proper" Russell Chicane that it really shouldn't have been capable of...

[KA]

According to a 1986 Bathurst yearbook I've got, one of the Longman cars went to Australia- an RS1600i described as a 1984 ex-Longman car was entered by Kiwis Andrew Bagnall & Ted Jarvis under the Motorsport Pacific banner but retired early on- (Motorsport Pacific also owned an ex-Rouse Sierra which was fielded at Bathurst that year by the Mark Petch team). The book suggests the car ran in the 1984 and 85 BTCC before being bought by Motorsport Pacific.

There's a photo of the back of the grid which shows a rear view of the car and it's in a red white and blue livery- my memory's a bit hazy on this after nearly 20 years, but I think they were the colours of Richard Belcher's 1985 car

[KA]

Originally posted by stuart05
Patrick Watts raced the Julian May car at Snetterton in 1987 as (I think) a one off. What I do remember is that he made it do things through the "proper" Russell Chicane that it really shouldn't have been capable of...

Just dug out some 80'S BTCC results, and I'm sure you're right about it being a one-off- Phil Dowsett was the cars most regular driver that year. Watts had driven for the team regularly in 1985

The 1985 Brooklyn cars were driven by Hodgetts and John Morris, with an occasional third car for Alex Moss. In 86, after Hodgetts moved on to race Toyota Corollas, they ran a single-car for Paul Taft

[Scott R]

No i havent posted this before under a different name.

I have since discovered that the car i own is the Julian May car, and that it has had a few drivers, Phil Dowsett drove the car in 85, in 86 the car only entered a handfull of events due to Julian May's very limited budget, and was driven by Patrick watts, in 87 the car was driven in nearly a full season by Richard Belcher.

History of the car itself is still very sketchy, i know the shell was given to Julian May by Ford Motor Company, its the rest of the car that i know very little about. From the looks of most of the parts they are the same as Richard Longmans car. I have a telephone number for Julian May but as of yet i cannot get hold of him.

[terryobeirne]

I realise this is an old post, but do any of you know how to contact Phil Dowsett. I have his BTCC winning Corolla and am desperately searching for early history to get a historic log book.

[Al Weyman]

PM Dennis Bassom he is the 10/10ths Corolla King!

[chunterer]

Interesting little thread Scott!

I recall the one entrant being called John Jeffries Engineering that Belcher drove for. I'm sure he drove one in 1985 (Red and Blue two tone paint job) and then either leased or pedalled a GT16 Corolla in 1986/87?

My recollection is 3 cars in 1983, 2 x Datapost/Longman and 1 x Brooklyn/Hodgetts.

6 in 1984; 2 x Datapost, 1 x Hodgetts, 1 x Julian May (driven by Jock Robertson mainly white car), 1 x John Maguire (driven by Rob Hall, Universal Grinding Wheels backed decked out in White and blue stripes) and then there was Barry Lee's Total car which never ran properly thus scuppering a very handy driver's efforts.

2 Datapost cars started 1985 and then one continued when Longman introduced the RST, Brooklyn/Hodgetts ran 2 cars and there was Jeffries/Belcher car as stated at the top.

Can't quite remember who drove them in 1986/7/8/9 but with what he's posted KA seems on the money there.

The Julian May car ended up a sort of Scalextric Westwood Racing beige in it's latter couple of years didn't it??!!!

[Scott R]

as a bit of an update,

The car i have is the Beige coloured one of Julian May.
The original White car was destroyed in an accident at thruxton, sheene spun in the wet and the rest of the pack ran into him.
Ford MOCO gave Julian a new shell and was rebuilt with the interesting beige colour.

Jock Robertson drove the car in 84, but had other commitments occasionally so another driver was found, Patrick Watts. Another driver looked at driving for Julian but the money asked for the drive was too much so declined the offer. This driver was Bob Murray, who raced Alfa suds.

In 1985 Jock Robertson was due to drive the car again, except he had problems with medical's so Patrick was given the drive. The car was at every meeting despite finances being tight, it started this season as a white car.

In 1986 the car was again only used on odd occasions, this time it was driven by ????, but up against the golf's and toyota's it never treally stood a chance.

In 1987 the car was driven by Dowsett and Barbara Cowell. but only raced a few times and never really showed any real form.

Thats about all i have as far as history of the car goes. I desperatly need pictures of the car in 1984,85 colours as i am in the process of re-building/restoring the car.
Patrick Watts has been a BIG help, but unfortunatly he wasnt one to keep souveniers (spl) so has no photos of the car. And i have had no luck in contacting any of the cars other old drivers, Robertson, Dowsett, Cowell.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Scott R

as a bit of an update,

The car i have is the Beige coloured one of Julian May.
The original White car was destroyed in an accident at thruxton, sheene spun in the wet and the rest of the pack ran into him.
Ford MOCO gave Julian a new shell and was rebuilt with the interesting beige colour.

Jock Robertson drove the car in 84, but had other commitments occasionally so another driver was found, Patrick Watts.

I desperatly need pictures of the car in 1984,85 colours as i am in the process of re-building/restoring the car.

Scott, I thought I had a couple of the Class C (in which it ran) cars from the period. The only one i've got (that I could find) is a shot of it following the two datapost cars and Alan Minshaw's MK11 Golf GTi entering Woodcote in the last round of the '84 BTCC at Silverstone. Unfortunately it was taken from the grandstand with a very basic camera and the image of the car (white with black bumpers like the road version) is too small for posting on here - if you cropped it it would just blur out of all recognition. That is a shame.

The only other clear shot of an RS1600i I have is a rather bent looking shot of the Brooklyn car in the Thruxton paddock from earlier that year after Chris had had a shunt in practice!

[KA]

Originally Posted by Scott R

In 1986 the car was again only used on odd occasions, this time it was driven by ????, but up against the golf's and toyota's it never treally stood a chance.

In 1987 the car was driven by Dowsett and Barbara Cowell. but only raced a few times and never really showed any real form.

Richard Belcher drove it a few times in 86- don't know if anyone else did, as I don't have full results for that season to hand right now.

1987 drivers included Dowsett, Watts, Keith Norman and possibly Barbara Cowell- she doesn't appear in any of the results I've got, but again they're not complete, I've got a couple of rounds missing at the moment- and she definitely drove it in 1988.

Another Escort appeared at least once in 88 under AJG Transport colours for Mark Goddard- it isn't yours, as it appeared at the same round as Barbara Cowell in the North Essex car at least once- Goddard also drove a Chris Hodgetts Corolla at least once, again with AJG backing. Any ideas?

[Moza]

Hi i wondered anyone can help me, im a huge MK3 Escort fan especially the Turbo. I have my own website www.seriesoneturbo.co.uk It has a good few members and special cars.

Princess Dianna's black car

Datapost turbo

Datapost 16i

Brooklyn 16i

Julian may 16i

Im also in contact with Alan Curnow,Richard Longman,Karl jones and Lionel Abbott.


can anyone help with any race pics or info??? Im looking for Stuart McCrudden ilford cars, Richard askwith Duckhams cars also anything else please, there are many pics and video clips on my site already.

regards


Lee

[snowen250]

Don't know if they have any photos of any Mk3 turbos, but try the ETCC section of www.racingsportscars.com its a class site even if it is no help....
Simon

[KA]

Originally Posted by snowen250

Don't know if they have any photos of any Mk3 turbos, but try the ETCC section of www.racingsportscars.com its a class site even if it is no help....
Simon

ETCC appearances by RS Turbos were fairly sporadic- from memory, the Richard Longman Datapost cars at the TT in 85/86, Karl Jones' Asquith-run Duckhams car at the 87 TT, and some of the German cars at the Ring and maybe Spa- you might find pics of some of those on Racingsportscars. RS1600is should be no problem- plenty of them ran in the ETCC . It would be worth a look at Frank de Jong's Touring Car History site for results and pics
http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jong/index.html

An ex-DTM RS Turbo was featured in one of the various Ford enthusiast magazines a couple of months back as I recall

[rallycrosscraig]

Mk1 escort; great car, both circuit and rally form
Mk2 escort; legend in rallying in RS1800 form
Mk3 escort; oh dear what happened to the Escort?
(at least it won the Willhire 24hr, once)

Mk4; beginning of then end.
Mk5: tried to fix things but too late.

Does the Willhire winning RS Turbo S1 still exist?

It deserves to be saved along-side the old Data Post cars (RS1600's?)

[KA]

Originally Posted by rallycrosscraig

Mk3 escort; oh dear what happened to the Escort?
(at least it won the Willhire 24hr, once)

Although to be fair, the RS1600i and RS Turbo were pretty effective cars in their respective BTCC classes until the 16v Corollas took over as the car to have in the 1600 class, and the M3 arrived on the scene.

The rally versions (Malcolm Wilson and Louise Aitken-Walker in MCD Services RS1600is and later Mark Lovell's BT Radiopaging RS Turbo) were certainly no great shakes though

[Moza]

Originally Posted by rallycrosscraig

Mk1 escort; great car, both circuit and rally form
Mk2 escort; legend in rallying in RS1800 form
Mk3 escort; oh dear what happened to the Escort?
(at least it won the Willhire 24hr, once)

Mk4; beginning of then end.
Mk5: tried to fix things but too late.

Does the Willhire winning RS Turbo S1 still exist?

It deserves to be saved along-side the old Data Post cars (RS1600's?)

One of the Ilford cars ended up as a Duckhams car, the other went to Ireland. The Datapost cars, car 44 is owned by a guy on my site car 33 ended up as a Duckhams car. The Datapost 16i's are alive and living in New Zealand, also we believe we have found the John Jefferies car there. These cars were used in the wellington street race and think they were left there.