Spec-R BARN FIND!Rare Geoff Woods Mk1 Hart Escort Special Saloon

[Aysedasi]

Marvelous!

[celes1]

Capturing an emotional provenance.

[davedarave]

Just found this , the advert for the car for sale in July 1977 sadly as part of the late Phil Winter's entire racing stock clearance.

[celes1]

A nice advert showing some good provenance for this rare Escort.

Looking at the image, the car still shows its front wing exit exhaust manifold and the front moulding shows air intakes to the valence and air exit holes at the top rear, under the front screen.

I cant make out if the car was painted in white or another light base colour, which is different to the pale blue when Geoff Wood raced it. The roof looks to be in another colour, which could be the dark yellow that Andrew Grover had when he raced it, with dark blue paint on the lower body as Pete of Spec-R shows in his images.

There could also be confirmation as to the use of a 1300 BDA unit for one event only in 1977, then the car returned to a full blown 1975cc BDA/BDG unit.

All very interesting stuff that can only add to the history of this very rare race car.

Looking at the advert image it also shows just how flat this car went through the corners at speed, especially when you look at the angle of the car behind the Escort. Could that have been Gerry Marshall.

[morninggents]

I doubt it was Gerry Marshall - more likely to be Tony Davies. I have a feeling his Mini was white so the car is probably that same colour.

[GCCheddaris]

Phil's Mini was white with a dark blue roof and I am fairly sure that on the one occasion I saw Phil in the Escort it was presented in the same colours . The driver of the Firenza is probably Geoff Janes , a regular in Thruxton and Castle Combe Special Saloon races in the late seventies .

[Andy Clegg]

Phil was at Oulton once (the only time I saw him race once) and the Mini was white then. I didn't think that it could be Gerry, as in 1975 he was racing Baby Bertha.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Andy Clegg

Phil was at Oulton once (the only time I saw him race once) and the Mini was white then. I didn't think that it could be Gerry, as in 1975 he was racing Baby Bertha.

Actually, the Firenza may be Mike Newman in his Burlington Wallcoverings/Newmans Shoes car which was (I think) brown & cream in colour?

[Andy Clegg]

Mike was racing a blue Viva HB at Oulton in 1975 I think.

[celes1]

Still, whoever it may have been behind the Low-line Escort, it shows the car leaning over at a far more extreme angle than the Escort. Proving that race suspension technology for that era was coming in leaps and bounds and acknowledging that weight transfer played an important part in car set-up.

The likes of Len Terry and Cyril Maylem recognised this and developed this Escort to a similar spec as the F1 race cars they worked on at the time.

[GCCheddaris]

Phil Winter ran the 1300 BDA in at least two races at the beginning of the 1977 season . As well as the class win in April '77 he raced at the March 13th meeting at Thruxton albeit without success as I remember .

Although the 1300 class was mainly populated by Minis , there were at least two 1300 BDA engined Escorts racing in Special Saloons in the mid seventies namely those driven by Graham Goode and Susan Tucker Peake . In 1975 Phil Winter won the Forward Trust Special Saloon championship but in 1976 it was Graham Goode who triumphed in his 1300 Escort .

So who knows maybe Phil decided he needed an RWD car to regain his title ? What better car than the ultra lightweight ex Geoff Woods car . I think Phil ran the first few races of the season with the 1300 engine , but as mentioned in the Autosport obituary it wasn't to prove as successful as Phil had hoped therefore he changed to the two litre BDG in time for the race at Thruxton on May 8th . Strangely while the Nicholson BDG , 1300 BDA and Richardson FVC are offered for sale in the above advert there is no mention of the 1850 Hart BDA that originally powered the car . I wonder if Phil only bought the rolling chassis and not the original engine ?

[morninggents]

Strange indeed, particularly as the car as found by SPEC-R seems to be powered by an 1850cc Hart BDA!

[celes1]

Originally Posted by morninggents

Strange indeed, particularly as the car as found by SPEC-R seems to be powered by an 1850cc Hart BDA!

I think you will find that the Phil Winter advert advertised the 1975cc engine that had been the original Geoff Wood 1850cc engine built by Hart.

After Phil Winter died, all of his race cars and engines were put on the market and it would have been a simple advert mistake by a family member to miss-describe an engine and it looks as though Phil Winter had several engines BDG/FVC and 1300 BDA's which he had also used in his Special Saloon Mini's.

It has been indicated that the original 1850cc Hart unit had been enlarged to over 1900cc, who did that I am not sure, but at present all of this Escorts engine numbers have been authenticated as being of the original Geoff Wood Hart engine.

I for one have had several engine rebuilds done by several different engine builders on the same engine. This is quite normal and of common practice among competitors.

[GCCheddaris]

I take your point celes1 . The advert even states that the Nicholson BDG had just been rebuilt by Swindon .

[GWOOD1170]

Maybe this is where the engine came from,or went to ?

[morninggents]

Interesting, Graham. Is this your dad's mini from around 1972, judging by the spoiler?

[celes1]

These BDA and 16v Mini's were certainly quick. I remember competing against Trevor Reeves Rallycross 16v Mini in the 1970's. Because it was so light, it was always a sod to beat on sealed or loose surface.

Still the big engine Escorts usually had the edge.

[GWOOD1170]

Originally Posted by morninggents

Interesting, Graham. Is this your dad's mini from around 1972, judging by the spoiler?

Hi Peter, no this was my dads car from 72/73.....the Clubman fronted car was a whole different ball game !

[celes1]

Originally Posted by GWOOD1170

Hi Peter, no this was my dads car from 72/73.....the Clubman fronted car was a whole different ball game !

I would place this Mini at Lydden going into the entry to Paddock,( I hope ).

In the early 1970's if any of us got under 50s a lap, it was good at the time. Now we are in the 44-45s.

[GWOOD1170]

Dad never went to lydden, this is Mallory Park coming into the hairpin

[celes1]

My mistake, as it certainly looks like Paddock entry at Lydden. But yeah, the Mallory hairpin is it's image twin in this shot.

For interest, what engine was Geoff using at this event.

[GWOOD1170]

Originally Posted by celes1

My mistake, as it certainly looks like Paddock entry at Lydden. But yeah, the Mallory hairpin is it's image twin in this shot.

For interest, what engine was Geoff using at this event.

The engine in the purple mini was a short crank 1300cc holbay ford (too short as it was a regular conrod wrecker !)

[celes1]

I remember developing with a sponsor a dry sump 1725 Maxi engine one season in Rallycross to see how it performed with carbs. It had quite a bit of torque, hardly any BHP, low revving and far to heavy, although it did achieve some promising results.

I heard you went to see Pete at Spec-R and spent the day perusing around your Dad's old Escort. Nice eh !!!

The memories must have come flooding back to you. Still when the car is fully restored after being stored in a barn, unloved and forgotten for 40 years, the memories will sharpen when you see it as your dad had it.

[GWOOD1170]

I feel very privileged to have been lucky enough to be around the car racing of that period, it was a wonderful time full of invention and excitement that leaves great memories for us all

[celes1]

Originally Posted by GWOOD1170

I feel very privileged to have been lucky enough to be around the car racing of that period, it was a wonderful time full of invention and excitement that leaves great memories for us all

When you consider that many of us racers came into possession of ex-works cars and treated them as purely, tools of the trade and although lovingly looked after, they in the main suffered appalling injuries which left them stripped or left abandoned. At the time it was rare to believe they would become valuable.

Your dad's old Special Saloon Escort is one of the rare cars that survived, fully intact and in a condition that is the envy of many. Hand on heart, this Escort is a stunner and I believe because of its 1970's technological F1 build provenance this car is more valuable than many of the works cars.