New to 10tenths and after advice please.

[mk1mart]

Hi to everyone.
Now i might be quite young but i wish i was stuck in the 70s as that is my favorite period of motor racing cars.
My problem i need advice for is my 1972 mk1 ford escort 1.3 xl. I have owned it twice now in the last 7 years and dont want to let it go again and now find myself bord of having a fast fun road car and now want the car to have a purpose.
The car is now a shell in my garage needing the usuall welding and panels etc and i would like to find a race series i can duild the ar for befor i go to far and have to go back and change things.

My idea was to run the car with the wide wheels and bubble arches althoe i do have a mk2 zakspeed arch kit and front valance (will rules alow me to use this if it is from a newer car?)

I also have a cosworth yb engine that will be normaly asparated but again this engine is to new.

Im on a tight budget and am doing all the work myself and would strongly appriciate any help and advice you can give me.

Ps sorry if my babaling has bored you.

Thanks.

[GORDON STREETER]

Hi there Mart
You really have two choices, either you butcher the car up and do what you say or make it into a Mexico/RS2000 type .
Whatever you do it will cost more than what you budget for, but I would plug for the latter as it will be worth more money if you sell it.
Also you will find that there are more race series that the car will be eligible for and be reasonably competitive.
The choice is yours, the best of luck whatever you do.

[Peter Mallett]

Welcome to our forum. As Gordon suggests you may wish to prepare your shell to less radical but more powerful specifications. You could go Group 1 pre 74, with a standard shell and a RS2000 (Pinto) set up. Or you could be more modified and run with the modified saloons, both with the CTCRC. The CTCRC Also runs a Blue Oval series but I'm not familiar with the regs for that. I'm not sure if you could run the YB engine in the modified saloons.

Info here: http://www.classictouringcars.com/pages/techregs.asp

Again if you stick to the standard shell and prepare it as a Mexico you can run with the CSCC in Future Classics or (I think) Tin Tops.

http://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk/ourseries.htm

Sticking the Zakspeed or other arches etc. on it will mean you need to run as a Twin Cam or RS 1600 both used the BDA engine(?) which is somewhat expensive in the extreme but would get you into the Masters Touring 70's series for Group 2 cars.

Info here: http://www.themastersseries.com/race...uring-70s.html

Although as a Group 1 car you can run with them in the Stars of the Seventies series.

There is also the DMN championship run by the BARC South East centre. Rod Birley is your man for info on that.

Just a few thoughts but whatever you decide, keep us informed and good luck.

[Mike Bell]

Hi Mart, welcome to another Mk1 Escort owner using the forum!

You need to look at the CTCRC website (Classic Touring Car Racing Club) who probably have 2 race series you could build for without needing a lottery win- although that will help! The first is Classic Modified Saloons, also the BOSS series which is Ford only. You could also think about 'creating' as RS2000 for Post Historic touring cars, but this would need standard arches and correct running gear. What you definitely need to do is decide what motorsport / race series interests you and check regulations to see if your car 'fits'. Then go to races, check out cars and ask questions!

Oh and if you do win the lottery, send me a pm and I'll quote you to build an FIA Gp2 car like mine

[mk1mart]

Thanks for the info guys.

Mike i saw you racing at brans and was looking round your car and can i say what a beiutifull example it is to. Your car is the style i want to run but the bda engine is out of my leage im afraid. Could i run the kent engine and have the car like the brodspeed 1300gt's thay used to race? Apart from thay look strainge with only bubble arches on the front.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

There is also the DMN championship run by the BARC South East centre. Rod Birley is your man for info on that.

Ray Barrow runs a bubble arched Mk1 with a Cosworth YB in the BARC DMN Saloon championship (there are also a few - 4? that run in a less modified state).

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by mk1mart

Thanks for the info guys. Could i run the kent engine and have the car like the brodspeed 1300gt's thay used to race? Apart from thay look strainge with only bubble arches on the front.

The Broadspeed 1300s were I suspect 1600cc, due to the Group 2 regs. However as Bert points out you could run a wide arched YB engined car in the DMN championship.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by mk1mart

Thanks for the info guys.
Could i run the kent engine and have the car like the brodspeed 1300gt's thay used to race? Apart from thay look strainge with only bubble arches on the front.

Thanks Mart! The Broadspeed GTs were 1300 and I know someone who is trying to make a close replica. They used a downdraft injection set up which was very trick! They did have bubble arches all round eventually, I think the early cars had a narrower 105E rear axle as that was what Broadspeed had raced previously so didn't need bubbles. I think going the n/a YB route would be fun and probably cheaper. A 1300cc Escort would struggle to be competitive without a very expensive engine!

Good luck with whatever you finish up building!

[Cliff Ryan]

Hi, my son & I race a very standard Mk1 Mexico in the CSCC Swinging Sixties (no 41) which would be a good place to start, as it is basically a 1600 Kent in a standard shell.
I agree with Mike that you should identify what series you want to run in, talk to the drivers and build the car to their regs.

[Al Weyman]

You would not be able to run a Mk 1 in CTCRC Classics as they are Pre66, you would be able to run it in our Post Historics (Pre 74), our Group 1 (Pre 84), alos Pre 93 Touring cars and finally Boss Saloons or Classic Thunder so in the one club you have many options. If you entered it in Classic Thunder or Boss you could put virtually any engine you wanted in it including a Cossie (Ford unit only in Boss) however if it was me I would leave arches standard and fit a easy tunable and cheap Pinto engine on downdraught carbs within the regs, fit the bullet type gearbox and go for it. You will be restricted on wheels and tyres both which will save fortunes, you wont go out and win far from it but you will go out and have some fun on a reasonable budget and at the end of it have a very saleable item as I have seen these shells alone making big bucks. I have known guys try to go the Twin Cam and BDA route and it has broke their hearts and wallets, you sound like you are on a budget so stick to Pinto and standard arches.

[mk1mart]

waw amazng feed back. Thanks guys. I think i wil have a look in to BARC DMN Saloon championship.
Thanks again all.

[Eddy V]

Hi Martin, good to see you at Spa. Hope you got home alright because of the early start.

[mk1mart]

Hi eddy. Yeah it was a grate weekend i just wish i could of stayed a bit longer. We got back with no problems and like you said it was a bit early leaving at 2am because we ended up waiting two hours at the port.
It was good to meet you and hope to see you again soon.

[Eddy V]

See, I told you so you were leaving too early.
Only "postive" thing about you leaving early was you didn't miss much as Iain was punted off after 1 lap.

[mk1mart]

Yeah he txt me and said. Hope it didnt do much damage.

[Eddy V]

No, just the nosecone and some steering problems. Enough to end his race there. Although he ended in the middle of the track at Blanchimont for a short while. He wasn't too pleased about that.

[terence]

I hope the meal in the Beau Site made up for it Eddy.

[Eddy V]

Yes it did. We had some great fun there. Iain was getting a bit tired at that time, stress falling off he said.

As if we didn't know it was something else (drinkable) that did the job.

He let me know yesterday that a wheel bearing had gone bust as well in that contact, so a "good" thing he had to retire there on the spot. Could have been dodgy otherwise.