RS Motorsport :: Classic Speed Restored

Hi all,

Just thought I would share some old photos I acquired recently of an original Holbay 275 headed Pinto motor setup with Lucas fuel injection for a Formula 2 March 742 back in 1974/75.
Holbay were given the designs for these heads by Ford back in the early 1970s when they no longer required them (it is unclear whether the designs for these heads were done in-house by Ford, or sub-contracted out by Ford), allowing Holbay to develop them for Formula 2. Holbay cast up about 10->15 of these heads and tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to develop a decent Formula 2 engine with it. Unfortunately they could not get enough reliability with these heads and dropped them midway through 1975. They found the cam carriers in the head would tend to flex when revved to 10,000 rpm, and later tried to brace these towers with studs to prevent the flexing.
Now these heads are BIG, much bigger than a Cosworth YB head and Warrior head. These heads are the original heads homologated for the RS2000 under Group 2 (ie. it appears in the FIA homologation papers). Some confusion exists between these heads and the Warrior head, however they are nothing alike. Holbay only became linked to the Warrior head in the early 1990s when they acquired 25 heads from Warrior for a one-off series. Apparently the Warrior heads they received were so poorly made Holbay had troubles getting the engines together for the series.
Just thought I would share this information with anyone else who appreciates these engines, I was recently lucky enough to talk with a former Holbay worker, and nephew of the late John Reid.
Enjoy

Justin

Some more photos with the engine in the car. Note the coolant take off out of the top of the head in the third picture, for people who were wondering this is the funny branch manifold/tube seen in the RS2000 FIA homologation papers next to the head.
All photos seen here are courtesy of Paul Dunnell of Dunnell Racing Engines in the UK
Enjoy
Justin

Justin,

Some great pictures and good info on the history of these heads. I found the info on the connection (or rather no connection) with Warrior interesting. So where did all the moulds for the original head end up?

Nev,
It is unclear what happened to the original moulds for the head (and other parts for that matter), however interesting to note that the heads were cast with a Ford part number on them, 73JF6090BA. Holbay as a company went into decline in the early to mid 1990s, with the late John Reid (founder) being killed in a plane crash. Apparently a lot of the stock was sold off and the company (by the sounds of it in name only) recently became Coltec Racing. Coltec Racing apparently do have some original Holbay parts, but a lot of the gear has been scattered to the wind.
Cheers
Justin

Can I have one? How much would they be worth? Classic Ford magazine from the UK had a great story on the RS1300. They were a weapon and I bet they cannot be replaced.

John,

That may be the case, but by default it means you have to have one to copy off. An therein lies the problem.

Justin,

I heard there were 9 heads, all with the Ford logo cast into them. There was one for sale in the UK a few years ago (complete 2.2 Holbay engine + head) - heard it went for about 10000 UK Pounds. I know of another one in the Netherlands.

And Ross MsIntosh of Holbay Australia had one in 1983/4 when my mate bought the turbo engine. Ross offered us the complete conversion for about $8000. Who knows where that ended up.

Like finding a needle in a haystack, but what a find it would be.

If only I'd invested $19,500 in 1983......

Interesting letter there Nev. $20K back in 1983 would have got you a nice new car

I did hear about 9 heads only being made, however the gentleman from Holbay I talked to thought it was between 10 and 15. Interesting to note (which I didn't include above) he told me Holbay also made up a couple of alloy blocks for these engines! It virtually identical to the original block (rather than modified like a Millington block) and by all accounts was an expensive thing to have made up.

Cheers

Justin

Here are some photos of the Holbay head sold in the UK some time ago you speak of. Note that it is setup for a wet sump.
Photos courtesy of Charlie Chisholm, who owned this engine before he sold it

Cheers

Justin

Justin,

and your latest stuff ........................

Sorry Roger, not much has changed for me at the moment (too busy paying off my wife's student loans). I'm currently in the process of lining up a slide injection manifold and work out how I'm going to mount a metering unit to the engine (won't be able to do the usual BD cam cover mounting trick as the head is too high), thinking something like the way they used to mount Lucas metering units on a Twink or FVC (see attached). Otherwise still tracking down odds and ends.

Cheers

Justin

I realise this is a very old post but could someone put me in touch with anyone who owns one of these engines? There is a project for reproducing these heads for historic rallying under consideration but an inlet manifold and valve cover needs to be located to reverse engineer.

http://www.connaughtengines.co.uk/warrior.asp

Would also be worth speaking to Paul Dunnell.