Ford Escort RS1600i/RST Grp A/N

[KA]

Originally Posted by Scott R

As for 1988, i didnt think the car was still being used then? All the information i have with the car, scrutineering stickers etc.. show only upto september 1987. Unfortunatly i do not have the race log book for the car, it was with the car but the previous owner lost it and has since believed to have been burnt

I've just dug out some Autosports and can confirm Barbara Cowell in the car in 1988- in the report for Round 9 at Snetterton at the end of July 88, your car appears in a photo with Andrew Jeffrey's Golf and John Llewellyn's Corolla- the caption is 'Jeffrey, Cowell (74) and Llewellyn head for the Bombhole'

From the report, Barbara briefly led the class on the first lap, but retired with engine problems on the same lap. This is the race best known for Mike Smith getting invoved in a shunt on lap 1, then rejoining 3 laps down, now running slicks on a drying track, and nicking the point for fastest lap from BMW team-mate Sytner- Frank famously wasn't amused....


From the notes I've got, she also appeared at:

Round 8- Brands (the support race at the Group C meeting, best known for the Rouse/Soper battle for the lead)- finished 19th and 2nd in class behind Dowsett's Corolla

Round 9- Snetterton, retired, as mentioned above

'Round 11'- Birmingham- the race that never was... Didn't qualify

and the final round at Silverstone- 18th overall, 5th in class D

There might have been more appearances- I've got a few races missing from my notes for 88

[Scott R]

KA

what can i say, thanks with the history

Its good to finally get somewhere with the cars race history, and to fill in a few blank areas.

Tim, yes i did have the car up for sale last year, and yes it does have an alloy roll cage. The only reason the car was up for sale is because i also have a S1 RS turbo that i have built for track days etc.. and it wasnt getting finished due to my time (and money) going on the race car!!
Have since got round to finishing the S1 and have now got time to restore the race car fully and hopefully get to use it at various track days/events when i can.

My main area that i want to get sorted is reliability, as you can tell from the results that the car had, it could have won a few times if it wasnt for failures, which after speaking to the team owner and one of its former drivers (watts) the main problem with the car was lack of money spent on preparing and testing. Now its only to be used for occasional days it can hopefully become the car it should be.

[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.

[Moza]

This was given to me by Alan Curnow we met at a special event at Donnington.

[KA]

Originally Posted by Moza

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.

The John Jeffreys car definitely went 'down under'- from memory it was bought by an outfit called 'Motorsport Pacific' in NZ and raced by them at Wellington- it also appeared at Bathurst in '86, driven by Andrew Bagnall, who later appeared in Chris Hodgetts Corollas in the WTCC and later raced RS500s in Australia and NZ

[tallguy_2]

hi,

i've got some old pics from the '86 willhire tucked away if they are any good? as we finished runner up to the RS Turbo that year, i myself also had an RS Turbo in '86 in the uniroyal and monroe prod saloons championship.

Kind Regards

[chunterer]

Guys there was quite a good thread about these sorts of cars not all that long ago. Would anyone object if I merged that in as well?

chunterer

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Guys there was quite a good thread about these sorts of cars not all that long ago. Would anyone object if I merged that in as well?

chunterer

Makes sense to me- like the other Group A threads, there were plenty of
Escorts around that we can talk about, and merging in any older threads saves going back over ground already covered

[Moza]

Originally Posted by tallguy_2

hi,

i've got some old pics from the '86 willhire tucked away if they are any good? as we finished runner up to the RS Turbo that year, i myself also had an RS Turbo in '86 in the uniroyal and monroe prod saloons championship.

Kind Regards

Yes please !!!!!!!!! your not Vaughan Richmond are you ???

regards

Lee

[Moza]

Originally Posted by KA

Makes sense to me- like the other Group A threads, there were plenty of
Escorts around that we can talk about, and merging in any older threads saves going back over ground already covered

Agreed

[tallguy_2]

lol, not quite,
this is david oates, lol

will post up some pics for you later.

cheers jamie

www.davidoates.co.uk

[Moza]

Originally Posted by tallguy_2

lol, not quite,
this is david oates, lol

will post up some pics for you later.

cheers jamie

www.davidoates.co.uk

Another famous racer Ive pm'd you David

regards

Lee

[tallguy_2]

here you go guys,
jamie

[rallycrosscraig]

great pictures, love the 4 capri's chasing the RST.

how close to standard were these productions saloons? what suspension did they run?

[GBRM]

Originally Posted by tallguy_2

hi,

i've got some old pics from the '86 willhire tucked away if they are any good? as we finished runner up to the RS Turbo that year, i myself also had an RS Turbo in '86 in the uniroyal and monroe prod saloons championship.

Kind Regards

David - was that with boost light on or off?

[tallguy_2]

always on!
now tell me whether the winning escort from the '86 willhire was still on at the finish, a much speculated answer. when we finished second in the capri!

as regards to the suspension it was very much production spec uprated rather than the Grp N saloons that came along later.

regards

[GBRM]

I'll take your word for it ( ), I remember they all had a very nasty habbit of going off until about mid-way through the season - Bob Sands' still went off when he rolled at Mallory though!!

Not sure about Smithy and Lionel Abbott's car; my late Dad had his RS Turbo a bit before Snetterton but decided to do it in the Monza for reliability and the thing blew up after 50ish laps and the a Turbo won - sod's law!!

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by tallguy_2

always on!
now tell me whether the winning escort from the '86 willhire was still on at the finish, a much speculated answer. when we finished second in the capri!

as regards to the suspension it was very much production spec uprated rather than the Grp N saloons that came along later.

regards

If I remember correctly the light came on very early in the race. Smithy used his broadcasting experience to explain (b/s, excuse, call it what you like) why this wasn't a problem when interviewed directly after the race...

[rallycrosscraig]

what was the turbo light?

[KA]

Originally Posted by rallycrosscraig

what was the turbo light?

an attempt to regulate boost levels on the turbo cars- I don't recall the prodsaloon regs in detail, but they were supposed to run standard boost settings, or thereabouts. A tell-tale light on the dashboard was fitted to indicate if that had been exceeded- not sure how this was controlled- pop-off valve or similar?