Escort Cosworth Rally car info

[Gavin RS]

Hi everyone

Hope I am posting in the right section.

I am trying to trace some history on what is believed to be an ex Malcolm Wilson Ford Escort Cosworth Rally car that a friend of mine owns in South Africa. I have tried to send some e-mails to M-Sport but they dont seem to go through.

Any idea's or recommendations that I can use to track the history as I want to put the car up for sale. It was previously in the Ford colours but has now been put into the Martini Colours as a replica of the Franco Cunica car.

Thanks

[johnh875]

Why not email the info & numbers to the Ford rally team - they ought to know

[Gavin RS]

Hi John.

I have sent a mail to M-Sport again, Malcolm Wilsons business

thaks

[Guffy]

Whats the age of the car, that'll help a lot...............

[Phillip rallycross]

I know maybe its a silly question but was this the same one JAN HABBIG
used in britian?I think in 1993? Im also from South africa and read the story in WIEL

[Gavin RS]

Hi

The car is registered as a 1992.

You could be right I think Jannie Habbig might have driven it as well, the current owner also owns the Ex Jannie Habbig class A rally Golf

[Phillip rallycross]

Maybe he will know? I think there is a contact Mail on the VW South africa Rally Website.

[Guffy]

there is a picture of an Escort cossie on the front of the 1992 british rally championship & the Reg is J113BPU, now this one has a headlight conversion on it, now i'm not saying it's the same car...................but you never know......!

[rx-guru]

Seems that the car has some kind of German roots:
TEILMONTIERT = partly manufactured

[BertMk2]

Our Mk2 was originally built in Germany according to the data plate so it's quite likely the factories continued to produce Escorts (and onto the Focus?). I guess the shell used to build this car was taken from the line in Germany and then shipped to M-sport for build into a rally car (if indeed it is an M-sport car).

[FordNut]

If I remember correctly, all the Escort Cosworth shells were effectively handbuilt in Germany by Karmann under contract to Ford (they productionised the Sapphire 4x4 floorpan conversion and other alterations). The Motorsport shells will have all come from there too - as they were handbuilt it would have been easy to do customised batches for the works team and Motorsport customers (Ford did sell 'Motorsport'-spec cars at first too, to be built by customers, with no sunroof or soundproofing, poverty-spec interiors and all the electric goodies left out, and the first 2500 cars had the Group A homologation water injection kit in the boot) .

Regarding J113 BPU - this was one of the first prototype works-spec Escort Cosworths (I think the first was H930 JHJ, which won the Talavera Rally in Spain and is owned by the Cathcarts in Ireland), and was used by Malcolm Wilson in 1992 on a number of national-level events where it didn't need homlogation, sometimes as a course car (in the original 'full' tiger stripe livery with Mobil 1 and Ford Mobile Phone sponsorship). In this guise it also became the subject of the excellent Tamiya 1/10th scale RC model.

It was then rebuilt to the homologated gravel spec for their first WRC season in 1993 and used by Delecour in a number of events (Argentina, NZ and Australia I think?), in the 'reduced' dark tiger stripe livery like the one above. Provided it wasn't destroyed, I would have thought Ford would have kept hold of it for their Museum (especially if they didn't keep H930 JHJ)?

There was 1 other 1992 'converted prototype' car used by the works team in the 1993 season (J352 BPU), which was used by Biasion for New Zealand at least. The other works cars that year were usually 1993 Kxxx xOO-reg cars (apart from on the RAC where at least one was an L-reg). If this car does turn out to be eith

[Kevin McCann]

Originally Posted by FordNut

If I remember correctly, all the Escort Cosworth shells were effectively handbuilt in Germany by Karmann under contract to Ford (they productionised the Sapphire 4x4 floorpan conversion and other alterations). The Motorsport shells will have all come from there too - as they were handbuilt it would have been easy to do customised batches for the works team and Motorsport customers (Ford did sell 'Motorsport'-spec cars at first too, to be built by customers, with no sunroof or soundproofing, poverty-spec interiors and all the electric goodies left out, and the first 2500 cars had the Group A homologation water injection kit in the boot) .

Regarding J113 BPU - this was one of the first prototype works-spec Escort Cosworths (I think the first was H930 JHJ, which won the Talavera Rally in Spain and is owned by the Cathcarts in Ireland), and was used by Malcolm Wilson in 1992 on a number of national-level events where it didn't need homlogation, sometimes as a course car (in the original 'full' tiger stripe livery with Mobil 1 and Ford Mobile Phone sponsorship). In this guise it also became the subject of the excellent Tamiya 1/10th scale RC model.

It was then rebuilt to the homologated gravel spec for their first WRC season in 1993 and used by Delecour in a number of events (Argentina, NZ and Australia I think?), in the 'reduced' dark tiger stripe livery like the one above. Provided it wasn't destroyed, I would have thought Ford would have kept hold of it for their Museum (especially if they didn't keep H930 JHJ)?

There was 1 other 1992 'converted prototype' car used by the works team in the 1993 season (J352 BPU), which was used by Biasion for New Zealand at least. The other works cars that year were usually 1993 Kxxx xOO-reg cars (apart from on the RAC where at least one was an L-reg). If this car does turn out to be eith

Intriguing thread this one! I know of this car or one with the same reg number.!!! Richard Hills escort supercar was purchased from a firm called WARS, this had the said reg no and was a prototype shell built in Essex by a firm we believe called Ash Developments? The shell was sporting a title and chassis number of ACE try out number 6 and was converted to right hand drive by WARS as part of Richards deal to buy it. After its life in Rallycross the shell was sold to someone in Yorkshire who was going to convert it back to a rally car? I also think Pat Dorans Escort was also a development shell And maybe another in Rallycross.

[FordNut]

Originally Posted by Kevin McCann

Intriguing thread this one! I know of this car or one with the same reg number.!!! Richard Hills escort supercar was purchased from a firm called WARS, this had the said reg no and was a prototype shell built in Essex by a firm we believe called Ash Developments? The shell was sporting a title and chassis number of ACE try out number 6 and was converted to right hand drive by WARS as part of Richards deal to buy it. After its life in Rallycross the shell was sold to someone in Yorkshire who was going to convert it back to a rally car? I also think Pat Dorans Escort was also a development shell And maybe another in Rallycross.

Which reg number was it of the ones I mentioned - J113 BPU? If so, it is probably the most famous of the prototypes thanks to the aforementioned Tamiya model and it's appearance in press material prior to the car's launch. The prototype shells would probably have been built by local subcontractors as 3dr Escort/Sapphire 4x4 cut & shuts (though I think the first was built by Boreham). I imagine that converting them for rallycross was a handy way of disposing of a non-standard old spec shell that wouldn't be much use for rallying. Pat's car was almost certainly derived from a Works car of some description, and even had the same 'reduced' tiger stripe livery (in black though, I think?).

It should be noted however that transferring registration and chassis numbers between cars is not an uncommon practice for rally teams. It is also not unusual to find ex-works Escort Cosworths that have chassis numbers belonging to normal Ford Escorts, rather than Karmann-built Cosworth shells or procduction cars.

[Gavin RS]

Some interesrting stuff guys. Just wish I could find the details of this car of how it came to South Africa, I have just got hold of the registration papers and it is registered in South Africa in 1998 for the first time. Build year is 1992.

I am trying to see if anyone over here has records from those days as rallying is big over here especially from the days when the manufacturers were involved, Malcolm Wilson was involved a lot in South Africa with Ford in those days

[M.Lowe]

Originally Posted by Guffy

there is a picture of an Escort cossie on the front of the 1992 british rally championship & the Reg is J113BPU, now this one has a headlight conversion on it, now i'm not saying it's the same car...................but you never know......!

This car first appeared on the 1992 Centurian Stages rally in kielder as I have video of the car plus interviews from malcolm#

part of it was used in a few minutes slot on the local news but the rest was never shown on tv

It was then used on the scottish of the same year where it ran with A on the door.

The first Malcolm Wilson Motorsport Escort Cosworth to be built in RHD was Eammon Bolands Hertz Escort in Yellow but this ran an unhomologated gearbox as opposed to the works 7 speed one.

I remember the SA Car on the RAC in 94 95 ish as i have some pics of it somewhere in Orange with graphics on it.

Looking at that plate at the top it says RHD and I don't think MWM built more than two unhomologated RHD Escort Cosworths

[M.Lowe]

Originally Posted by Guffy

there is a picture of an Escort cossie on the front of the 1992 british rally championship & the Reg is J113BPU, now this one has a headlight conversion on it, now i'm not saying it's the same car...................but you never know......!

This car first appeared on the 1992 Centurian Stages rally in kielder as I have video of the car plus interviews from malcolm#

part of it was used in a few minutes slot on the local news but the rest was never shown on tv

It was then used on the scottish of the same year where it ran with A on the door.

The first Malcolm Wilson Motorsport Escort Cosworth to be built in RHD was Eammon Bolands Hertz Escort in Yellow but this ran an unhomologated gearbox as opposed to the works 7 speed one.

I remember the SA Car on the RAC in 94 95 ish as i have some pics of it somewhere in Orange with graphics on it.

Looking at that plate at the top it says RHD and I don't think MWM built more than two unhomologated RHD Escort Cosworths

That pic of the car has the standard group N lights in it

[shhh]

J113 BPU Here is the car making it's BRC debut on the 1992 Scottish Rally with Malcolm at the wheel...

http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/37...scort-cosworth

[Chris Eyre]

I stumbled over this thread by accident, but thought I'd add to the original question.

The car in South Africa pictured appears to be a GpN car. A lack of sill jacking holes, and roof vents point towards it, panel replacements notwithstanding.





If the cage lacks an 'X' bar between the turrets and scuttle, that from memory, confirms it's not a works GpA car.

As already mentioned, there was H930 JHJ to start with. At the same time as H930, there was a lesser spec car doing the motorshow rounds, but I never saw it with an identity. It hadn't got H930's lairy tiger stripes and was much more like the '93 GpA car stripes. It may have even been a road car.

The real likelihood is that, being RHD, that neither Boreham or Malcolm Wilson will have had any involvement with it (Malcolm Wilson Motorsport first built factory-spec GpA cars in 1993 anyway?).

It's not out of the question that it was built by Mike Taylor Developments (now closed), or Mike Little Preparations, who were all close on the coats tails of the Cosworth opportunity. Or possibly RED?

I've had a look around Google and am suprised how little there is, ref: proper works history. It might be worth checking one of Jeremy Walton's Ford books for some decent data.


On J113 BPU, after it did the Centurion rally in 1992 (May?), I believe it went out to Spain to do another rally. By the time it returned to run as the 'A' car on the '92 Scottish (early June), I head it had been rolled in Spain (Bardolet?) and was either fully repaired or reshelled. Anyway,the floorpan had holes in it after just a single a day in Kielder!

[rally247]

I also stumbled over this thread ,and I'm the previously mentioned Yorkshire man who bought the ex works development car from Richard Hill. Still own it and hope to be out in it in 2010 (been a slow rebuild !)
There's been alot of coments about Malcom wilsons cars,But I think he only drove the early works cars , GSE (Gordon Spooner) I think had more to do with the early development cars.
I did look into the early reg's and some where down as being exported and some still registered with DVLA, one as a 1.4 !
Best of look tracing history of yours.

[Chris Eyre]

Im not aware which car it is you're referring to. What is the original registration out of interest / which events had it done?

[rally247]

Which was a 1.4 ? Can't remember as I'd sat and watched alot of vids and looked at images to collect all the eary regs I could, and then checked them with DVLA. Unfortunatly they were only scribbled on some paper which has since been lost. I don't supose it was a 1.4 in reality.

[Phillip rallycross]

Hi


I got all the info from the Wiel Magazine Dec/jan 1994

The car was locally build by Johan prins


I cant suddenly post pics??

can someone help

[FordNut]

Originally Posted by rally247

Which was a 1.4 ? Can't remember as I'd sat and watched alot of vids and looked at images to collect all the eary regs I could, and then checked them with DVLA. Unfortunatly they were only scribbled on some paper which has since been lost. I don't supose it was a 1.4 in reality.

I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of the prototypes was derived from a 1.4 - in the early days of the Mk5 Escort the 1.4 LX was probably the most commonly available with the 3-door shell, and the prototypes were originally just standard Escort/Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 cut-and shuts.

I had a copy of CCC years ago (before the Cosworth was on sale) where someone had built their own clubman rally car by doing basically the same thing, except he was using XR4x4 running gear with the Cosworth engine (the gearboxes kept eating gears, unsurprisingly). He also used the Sierra front bumper and dashboard without requiring modification - there was some speculation that the CE14/Mk5 floorpan and outer bodywork having the same widths as the Sierra's was not a coincidence.

[Chris Eyre]

Originally Posted by rally247

I also stumbled over this thread ,and I'm the previously mentioned Yorkshire man who bought the ex works development car from Richard Hill. Still own it and hope to be out in it in 2010 (been a slow rebuild !)

Fantastic! Which reg plate does it run on?


I've done some digging around in my old photo albums over Christmas and found these, which may all to the Escort Cosworth prototype discussion:

1990 British Motorshow, NEC, Birmingham - J930 JHJ:

- Left hand drive
- plastic front windows / sliders (these were installed when it ran on the debut Talavera Rally)
- tricky to see, but I think it has a central roof vent



- 'Ford' badge in pre-production positon on bonnet, not in grille insert






1991 British Motorshow, Earls Court - no ID

- Left hand drive
- Glass fitted all round
- no roof vents & what looks like a factory radio aerial suggests this could be a mock up of some sort. It was immaculate if my memory serves me.
- GSE stickers on the doors
- 'Ford' badge in pre-production positon on bonnet, not in grille insert
- numberplate has got caught by the camera flash, but it's just a show plate, saying 'Escort'






1992 Centurion Rally, Kielder - J113 BPU

- Left hand drive
- Glass fitted all round
- twin roof vents
- 'Ford' badge in production positon in grille insert



Mike Taylor Developments Group N development car, used by Gwyndaf Evans - J799 BVW

- I think this is a 1993 Motorshow pic
- Left hand drive
- 'Ford' badge in production positon in grille insert (just visible on a zoom)



Hope this adds to an interesting discussion!

Originally Posted by FordNut

I think the first was H930 JHJ, which won the Talavera Rally in Spain and is owned by the Cathcarts in Ireland

I found a trace on this - David Greer was renting it out, circa 1999.

[VIVA GT]

Just a couple of (hopefully useful) points from me:
The GSE decals on the prototype (known as 'ACE') refer to Gordon Spooner Engineering who built the car for Ford.
Although they're believed to be very similar, in actual fact the floorpan of the Escort Cosworth (which was essentially a shortened Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 item) bears very little similarity to that of the 'normal' front-wheel-drive Escort. One major (but not so obvious until you see the two cars side-by-side) difference being a longer wheelbase, with the Cosworth front wheel being about 2" - 3" further forward...