Mk1 Escort Tarmac Rally Car

[MK1_Oz]

will see if I can post some in car and pics soon.

[gen mk 1rs2000]

classic 1st pic
in action
getting its 1st wash
& nothing like driving on wet bitumen
nearly as good as driving on forest type gravel roads

[MK1_Oz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvjJ_Pf ... ata_player

My overshoot and handbrake spin!!

You can hear I am not revving it at all

[Damion Parkin]

Wow, what an effort!

Car looks great, hope you enjoy the event.

Cheers,

Damion

[Peter Hackney]

The car looks fantastic. And it must be going ok too. Looking here it looks like you've broken into the top 10 in the Late Classics.



I hope the weather gets a bit better for you too. It's been pretty ordinary so far.

[MK1_Oz]

Terrible news with a death this afternoon. I have only just found out. Devastating

[MOOSE]

[MK1_Oz]

Tough day at the office today. At the end of the second last stage I noticed the oil pressure was low so shut down immediately. Turns out the oil line into the pump had vibrated loose and was leaking. We did it up and thought all should be good seeing as I did not notice low oil pressure during the stage.

Half way through the following stage the engine started to loose power and by the end was making some nasty ticking/clicking noises. We missed the final stage (where my family was waiting to see me ) and towed her home. Diagnosis....most likely a bearing.

The boys are currently in teh shed putting in a fresh motor. This one should be super quick as it came straight out of a Cortina!!! Will be enough to finish the last three stages and be able to drive over the finishing ramp. No Targa Trophy though and all hopes of making the top 10 in Late Classic Handicap are gone. So upset but in light of yesterdays tragedy it is nothing.

[SportsSedanSteve]

I've crossed paths with Adam Plate(Platty) many times over the years working around Oodnadatta. Very nice bloke and always helpful when you had a problem. He definitely would have been due for some fun in his later years after living in the bush most of his life. Condolences to his wife Lynn.

[MK1_Oz]

Well it's been run and won....but not by me :(

The stock engine that the service crew put in during the night (and I mean the WHOLE night) ran well and quite strong. It lost a little oil pressure over today's three stages so I expect it isn't liking being thrashed after sitting unused for a few years. Still, it got us to the end of the event and we were able to roll under the finishing arch. So very happy and elated!!

Was a top event for us. Our best was a 7th on one stage and looking at the results we most likely would have finished in 11th if the engine hadn't failed.

The car was a little under-steery and I need to lean on the brakes alot more but I now have a baseline to work from.

Well happy and beat my expectations by far.

A mahoosive thank you to Lawrence, Harry, Fordy, Ryan, Dale and Benno for their assistance during the last few weeks of the build (and all the others that popped in and I forgot their names!!). Also a big thank you to Damian for being such a great nav!!

Keen As........

A nice blog with stuff on our team here... http://anygivenreason.com/2012/08/26/ta ... #more-3881

Some YouTube bits here...

(day 1 with 5.5K rev limit) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvjJ_Pf ... ata_player
(day 2 higher revs) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtY2Lzr ... ata_player

Will post better pics and vid as I get them

Paul, your wiper adaptors will be on their way in the next few days I hope.

[PaulMK1]

There's no rush on the wipers, mines still in primer.

Whats your next event? Now it's running the fun development starts

[Simon]

What an incredible effort! A big congrats just for getting the car (and yourself for that matter) to the starting line! Save for the oil pressure issue, it all looked very promising and it's a real credit to you and your crew for making the car as reliable as it was in such a short amount of time, not to mention being so beautifully presented as well! Hat's off!

So what's the overall verdict then - tarmac rallying's not for you? Putting the car up for sale?

[jpayne]

well done OZ, a real credit to you all, as has been said before.
Im guessing the performance superlights didnt fail after all!!!!

Well done and we look forward to the next installment.

JP

[MK1_Oz]

Thank you everybody. My beautiful wife is being as supportive as ever and has said I should do it again next year!!!!!

Hopefully by next year the engine will be rebuilt, the bugs found and destroyed and we can run even better. 363 days to go.

Ended up using Minilites from the UK. Not an issue

[bmw02rally]

[MK1_Oz]

Must say I do have a glow at the moment. Very proud of myself and the boys.

[gen mk 1rs2000]

whadyamean 363 days to go ??
there is heaps of events between now & then
you could always bolt a sumpgaurd & lights on it ??
as the heading of this thread says
mk1 escort "RALLY CAR" !!!!!

[MK1_Oz]

hmmm I forgot the important word TARMAC

Once I unravel myself from financial ruin I may try to do some hillclimbs and/or track days. Need to understand the car more.

[Peter Knight]

Escort's were made for dirt!

Top Job getting the car to the start and to the finish.
Now use it.

[MK1_Oz]

I have received my official photos so am adding a couple here.

I noticed when we changed the clutch slave cylinder before the event that the flywheel has hairline cracks all over the friction surface and a slight discolourisation of the metal. Would that be considered normal?

Also, the car was very fixed in the rear end and it was not easy to get the tail out. Part of that was being so down on power the whole event but it could be the rear roll centre setting I used? I need to read up on suspension setup again. On fast corners it felt pretty glued to the road apart from the few times were it was warm and dry when the car seemed to squirm front-rear-front-rear (tyre pressures, too soft spension?) but into slow 2 and 3 corners it wanted to plough straight on (partly due to an over excited driving speed).

I have also found out that I had the bias about 40/60 to the rear! Being wet most of the time I never got to give the pedal a huge heave and never felt the rear end get out of shape. After the event on the transport stage (with nobody around) I stompted as hard as I could on the pedal twice. The first time the rear did start to come around a little but the second everything stayed straight. Wierd. Amazing stopping power!!!!

Lots to investigate out at Mallala one day!