Quote:
Originally Posted by GCCheddaris
Unfortunately I don't have any timesheets for that day, 13th March 1977 , but according to the programme Phil Winter was entered in car number 25 , a Ford Escort BDA of 1298 cc . Phil qualified 19th out of 24 , didn't trouble the top ten according to my programme lap chart and I think made a couple of pit stops during the race .
As mentioned in the Autosport tribute , presumably he had upgraded to a 2 litre engine by the May meeting . Poignantly he was entered in the Escort BDA in the Special Saloon car race at the 19th June meeting , this time in the 1301-2500 cc class , the capacity being shown as 1998 cc . Sadly I think Phil died before this meeting took place .
The reason I mentioned that Phil was from Wimborne was because Wimborne is only three or four miles from Cyril Malem's base at Ferndown , and that Cyril might be able to fill in some gaps in the car's history .
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It looks as though Phil Winters purchased the Escort off Geoff Woods with the 1840 Hart engine in, took this engine out and sent it off to be developed and rebuilt at an engine builder, who is unknown at the moment. Then while waiting, Phil may have put his 1300 BDA unit in and entered a race until his Hart engine came back, it's possible ?
From what I can see in the pics, the engine looks to be the original 1840 Hart engine, with the block painted in Hart blue that Geoff Woods used in 1974. So the engine must have come back from the rebuild to 1975cc spec, put back in ready for the later meeting, but Phil was killed before the race. This Escort ended up with the original Hart engine in and sold to the racing driver Andrew Grover who won a few races in it, then 40 years later to Pete at Spec-R.
I wonder what happened to the 1300 BDA unit, did he put it back into the Mini, and if he did, where did that car go to.
Who would have rebuilt the Hart engine to 1975cc spec in 1977, very few could handle that.