|
We have owned the Escort since December
1998. Originally the pieces were purchased by Julian Swayland with the idea
that we would rebuild it in return for using it to race, get it up the front
of the grid and then Julian would sell it having made a nice profit.
On day one the shell arrived in the back
of an enclosed trailer along with rest of the car in various pieces in lots
of boxes in the back of the van. The advert stated that a rolling shell was
for sale, except as we found out there are different interpretations of the
word "rolling". In our case it meant the castors that the shell was
bolted to ! As the boxes were unpacked one by one it slowly dawned that many
of the parts were not very useful, as they were either way past their prime,
or for a different car all together.
However, after spending more money on
silly parts and many hours adapting others, the car was in one piece by
early March 1999. The car was taken across the road to Brands Hatch for what
was to be a shakedown but we have never been so embarrassed. The noise was
unbearable and Rod could not get any drive unless in first gear with
extremely high rev's ! Our friend Simon from Sileck investigated the problem
only to advise us of an electrical fault as well as an engine management
gremlin. Yet more money and appreciated help from the experts the car was
ready for it's first race at Lydden on April 10th, a few weeks later.
After 18 months or so of development, we
decided that the amount of work we had put into the development we could not
simply let it go, so we bought it from Julian and have been running and
developing it ever since.
Today we enjoy this car immensely. It is
reliable safe and quick. There is very little out there that can beat it and
in some ways that is a shame because we also enjoy a challenging race. But
let's not forget the car is only as good as the driver in it.
|
Weight. 1147 kilos
1998cc Turbo charged Ford Cosworth
Engine
Garrett T4 Turbo
Eight injectors / water injection
541 b.h.p
403lb ft of torque ( 350lb @ 4000rpm )
1 litre of Unleaded fuel to 1 mile
Four Wheel Drive
Ford Motorsport six-speed gearbox
0 to 60 mph time of 3.4 seconds
Top speed estimated at 160 mph
330mm Front Brake Discs / 315mm Rear
10 x 17 inch wheel rims with 265/30
Dunlop Tyres
Engine Builder. Harvey Gibb Specialist
Car Services
|
