1974 Ford Escort Mkl 2000

Although most frequently féted for their success in International Rallying, Mk1 Escorts were equally at home on the circuits. Most familiar in the colours of Broadspeed, Zakspeed and Alan Mann Racing, they would also feature strongly in a series of one-make celebrity races and of course the Escort Mexico Challenge.

This 1974 Mk1 Escort has been specifically developed to pay homage to the Red and Gold Group '1'' cars run by the much respected and much missed Alan Mann. It has been a competitive participant for the last 10 years with the same owner in the BARC Classic Touring Cars Championship and could do likewise with the CSCC. The basis of the car is a clean 1974 shell which was fully prepared (seam-welded and Waxoyled) in 2006 by "Prepfab Motorsport Engineering" with a multi-point welded-in roll cage. The engine is a full-race spec 2.0-litre Pinto which in September 2016 was built by a former BRM engineer at Paul Fisher Engineering at a cost of £10,000. The engine has only done 1.5 hours of racing since this build. Many new parts were used including a Farndon steel crank, steel rods, Accralite forged pistons, a large valve head, Tony Law exhaust, and a Titan dry sump kit. The engine produces over 200 bhp as tested on a dyno (print-out in the history file). Also fitted are, a steel flywheel, twin 45 Webers, an H&H distributor and coil, an electric cooling fan and a high-torque starter. Power is fed through a Quaife 4-speed, dog-leg box, a twin-plate hydraulic racing clutch, and a single-piece prop-shaft, to a 3.9 limited-slip differential with 'Group 4' half-shafts. The steering uses fully adjustable electronic power-assistance. The brakes utilise Princess 4-pot callipers with a rear disc brake conversion and a hydraulic handbrake. The suspension set-up is Bilstein front shock-absorbers with an AVO rear with adjustable track control arms, a Panhard rod and anti-tramp bars. Also fitted is a 10-gallon, stainless steel, fuel tank with twin pumps and the catch-tank and battery are securely boot-mounted. In terms of safety, all the wiring and fluid pipes are run internally with a 'Lifeline 2000' plumbed-in fire extinguisher and internal switch-box. The car comes with a spare set of wheels and tyres.

The door cards and door handles are still in place, presumably to comply with the regs, but otherwise, the car is a pure racer. The standard of preparation seems superb and I don't know many racing drivers who wouldn't be happy to jump in this evocative little red and gold Escort.