BSCC/BTCC Ford Fiestas

[stevec427]

Am trying to find out info on the drivers/teams that ran Mk1 Fiestas in the early 1980s BSCC. Would be particularly interested in photos of the cars/liveries.
So far i know of the Longman/Curnow Datapost cars from 1980 and have recently discovered a photo online of David de Costa's Fiesta 1.3 from 1981. (was this the ex-curnow 1.3 from 1980?)

[KA]

As you say, the Longman/Curnow Datapost cars are probably the best known BSCC/BTCC Fiestas, but I think there were quite a few more- you've mentioned David da Costa's car (is this the pic you were talking about?)...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1678887...57624382877618

....and Guenda Eadie (who came from the Faberge Ladies Cup one-make Fiesta series- the same competition that discovered Louise Aitken-Walker) had one in 1980.

The other one that comes to mind is the red & gold Julian May/Pegasus Mouldings car, which appeared between about 1980-83, with a few different drivers, including Terry Nightingale and Jock Robertson.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1451/scan0016lm0.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j285/Co-L-d/lg_1239_1acd.jpg

As I remember, it raced in both 1.3 and 1.6 litre form and is still around- the current owner posted some pics of it on here a few months back
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....5&postcount=98

Think the last Fiesta seen in the BTCC was Alistair Davidson's 'Troy Ambisonics' car which did a few rounds in '86- IIRC it was actually a Fiesta Challenge car, and would have been a Mk2 by then? Don't think I've ever seen a pic of that one!

[chunterer]

I think KA's provided a superb account of Fiesta BSCC/BTCC activity there.

So did the model debut in 1979 or 1980, after the Mini programme had to end?

Longman may still have run the Mini 1275 if it wasn't for it running out of homologation or something like that I'm sure.

[Nick Ellis]

Hi folks,
Stuart McCrudden ran a Mk1 in the up to 1300cc class at various meetings during
1978.
I am sure i saw the car at the Brands GP support round that year,from what i remember the car was a metallic gold or brown colour with backing from a southern
Ford dealers.
The car at that time suffered from a lack of homologated parts to make it a
competitive tool against the Mini 1275 GT,Alfa-Sud,or even Avengers in the same
class.

[Nick Ellis]

After confirmation from programmes and Autosports of the period,the car
described in my last post was a class D (up to 1300cc) runner in 1978.
The car was a 1300S model,metallic Silver(not gold!),possibly owned or
supplied by Gandor Ford Colchester.
Preparation was by McCrudden himself,although lack of homologated goodies at that time left the car in fairly standard form and somewhat outgunned by the class opposition.
From what i recall the car was well turned out and attracted a lot of attention as it may have been the first Fiesta to race in the BSCC.
I used to have a picture of this car from 1978,but it`s been lost ,doh!

[SAMD]

This is an interesting wee thread 'cos we are intending to run a basic class next year at Kirkistown for the MK4 1.25 Zetec Fiestas. Bog standard Engine and gearboxes and very few basic mods to the cars. They will be slow but cheap.

[KA]

I took some time to run through the 80's BTCC results to try and find out exactly who appeared in Fiestas and when- So far, I've got this...

Originally Posted by Nick Ellis

Hi folks,
Stuart McCrudden ran a Mk1 in the up to 1300cc class at various meetings during
1978.
I am sure i saw the car at the Brands GP support round that year,from what i remember the car was a metallic gold or brown colour with backing from a southern
Ford dealers.
The car at that time suffered from a lack of homologated parts to make it a
competitive tool against the Mini 1275 GT,Alfa-Sud,or even Avengers in the same
class.

The Ford dealer backing the car seems to have been Candor Motors, from Colchester, and as you suggest, it only seems to have appeared at a handful of rounds
http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...78%20BSCC.html

Was this the first BTCC Fiesta? I can't find any trace of one before McCrudden's handful of appearances (Fiesta was launched in 1976), and the next ones are the Longman/Datapost cars which came on the scene in 1980

Some nice Datapost pics and period ads here
http://www.fiesta-mk1.co.uk/press_re...acing_team.php

http://www.fiesta-mk1.co.uk/magazine...9_1980_pg5.php

Datapost started out with two cars in separate classes- Longman in a 1.6 and Curnow in a 1.3. As mentioned earlier, Guenda Eadie (winner of the 1979 Faberge Ladies Cup Fiesta race/rally series) also appeared in 1980... http://foxcraft.co.uk/biographies/biog2_geunda.html

...and more Fiestas joined in mid-season- Colin Hawker and Terry Nightingale (I think in Julian May's Pegasus car http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2..._1239_1acd.jpg )
. For some reason, Longman dropped down to the 1300 class towards the end of the year.

The Datapost Fiestas turned out to be a one-season wonder, with Longman turning to the Metro for 1981, however Nightingale returned in the Pegasus car,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richard...in/photostream
joined by da Costa's white Haynes car
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richard...in/photostream

...and Colin Hawker- all in 1.3s initially.
Julian May (a DNS at Donington), Alex Moss, David Grimshaw and Stuart Fowler also turn up in the BTCC results in Fiestas- Terry Nightingale apparently split with the May/Pegasus team mid-season, so apart from team owner May, were Moss, Grimshaw and Fowler the other drivers who appeared in the car that year, or did they drive some other Fiesta(s)?

The Metro seems to have become the weapon of choice in the 1300 class for 1982 (although there were Alfasuds from ARDT, and David da Costa tried an Astra), but Stuart Fowler's Fiesta appeared a few times. The May/Pegasus car came back, but now in 1.6 form for Jock Robertson,
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1451/scan0016lm0.jpg
and Tony Crudgington appeared occasionally with another 1.6.

Robertson and the Pegasus Fiesta returned for 1983, until the team's new RS1600i was ready.
Incidentally there's a fair bit on the post-BTCC history of the Julian May car in the '1984 BTCC' thread- it's still around, and still in the original red/gold colours.
http://tentenths.com/forum/attachmen...5&d=1313793161
(Start here http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...=120490&page=6 and it continues over the next page or two)

The Crudgington car appeared at least once as well, but that was it for Fiestas in the BTCC, until 1986, when Alastair Davidson appeared a few times in a 'Troy Ambisonics'-backed car. I think this was basically a Fiesta Challenge car, but there might have been some suggestion of it being upgraded into something more like a 'proper' Group A car?

Anybody got any more, or even better, some pics of those cars we don't have pics for?

[historic racer]

I looked after Stuart Fowlers car it being ex Colin Hawker , came to us with blown engine and soon found out why. They suffered from chronic oil surge in right hand bends and no matter what baffles we welded in the sump could not cure it. Really needed a deeper sump but under the GP1 rules couldn't do that, so the inevitable happened, so broke the car up and sold it off.

[Malcolm Smith]

A re-creation of the Curnow 1300cc car is due to appear in next season's Scottish Classic Sports and Saloons Champioship - picture is from static display at Sept. 2011 Bo'ness Hill Climb.

[KA]

That's really nice- Comparing it with a period pic of the Curnow car, it definitely looks the part!

http://www.fiesta-mk1.co.uk/press_re...curnow_001.php
http://www.fiesta-mk1.co.uk/press_re...curnow_003.php

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by historic racer

I looked after Stuart Fowlers car it being ex Colin Hawker , came to us with blown engine and soon found out why. They suffered from chronic oil surge in right hand bends and no matter what baffles we welded in the sump could not cure it. Really needed a deeper sump but under the GP1 rules couldn't do that, so the inevitable happened, so broke the car up and sold it off.

Brilliant post! Many thanks for the contribution. That car, or at least its engine must've been a severe headache?

[KA]

Certainly explains why only a fairly small number of Fiestas were seen in the BTCC, and maybe why the Longman/Datapost team returned to Austin Rover and the Metro pretty quickly after a single season with the Fiesta...

[stevec427]

This is filling in lots of gaps in my basic Fiesta BTCC plot - thanks guys! My passion is the mk1 Fiesta and kinda stumbled onto the BTCC element almost by accident! Would love to see more pics still; any othe rinfo on the da Costa car? It looks very similar to Curnow's car from the previous year - is this coincidence?

[stevec427]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Smith

A re-creation of the Curnow 1300cc car is due to appear in next season's Scottish Classic Sports and Saloons Champioship - picture is from static display at Sept. 2011 Bo'ness Hill Climb.

I heard about this car from a chap at Corgi. The owner used the decals from Corgi's forthcoming Vanguards Curnow Fiesta but scaled up to 1:1. Looks good! Thanks for posting this!

[JH1800]

Would i be out of order by posting the Alan Curnow Fiesta 1300 replica's build description here with pics? Straight from Mk1 Fiesta Forum ..but only the builders postings, and pics ...It's interesting. The owner /builder is agreeable to having it here , ok with the mods?

[chunterer]

Yes please go ahead!

[JH1800]

Here we go then. Copied and pasted from Mk1 Fiesta Forum thread,with replies edited out to save space.If some text appears a bit disjointed,that's the reason also i'm a div at computering Any blatant errors i'll edit later or a mod can !-------so---Enjoy ..

About a year ago I had a mid-life crisis (according to the other half!) and decided I fancied racing a car in the Scottish Classic and Sports Saloons Championship. I've watched it for a while and a mate runs an Alfasud Sprint in the series but I wanted something different.

Always a petrolhead, my memories of just starting high school were always linked with a local chap called Richard Longman winning the British Saloon Car Championship (now BTCC) in both '78 an '79 in his mini clubman. The Scottish Classics must be pre 1980 cars and at nearly 6'3" a mini is not my best option so I looked at the 1980 Fiestas that Longman ran.

In 1980 the 1600 was available in US spec but would not produce much power and because of our race classes would pitch me against Mk1/Mk2 Escorts, Lotus Europas etc so no chance! The obvious choice was the (more successful) 1300 as driven by Alan Curnow. Even under BSCC regs he had about 130bhp and was runner-up overall and easily won his class.

The decsion was made: it was to be a faithful repro (no x-pack arches) with a little mechanical licence allowed by our regs. The most important thing to me was the Longman/Curnow connection to my childhood so the process began
First a history lesson - those of you that buy the Corgi Vanguard model in December will recognise the script (I'll get to that later).........

Ford Fiesta Mk1 1300 - 1980 Tricentrol British Saloon Car Championship, 1.3-litre Class Winner and Overall Championship Runner up - Alan Curnow

The Fiesta had been launched in 1976 at a time when Ford’s competition efforts had been focused on the Escort. However, by 1979 all that had changed and Ford wanted a competition programme for the Fiesta. Concurrently 1979 BSCC Champion Richard Longman realised he needed to field a different car as his all conquering Mini was going to be rendered uncompetitive by new weight limits so Ford engaged Longman’s team to develop the Fiesta. Longman raced a US spec 1.6-litre and Alan Curnow the 1.3-litre modelled here. Curnow won his class in seven of the ten races, taking the Class title with ease and finishing second overall. Did you know? Longman’s larger engined car was hampered by gas flow issues with its US specification small valve engine and never produced the power needed to be competitive in its class. However, by mid-season Curnow’s 1300cc pushrod engine was, impressively, producing a reliable 130bhp using Hepolite pistons, a bespoke cam and two 45mm single choke Weber carburettors. The major technical advance of Longman’s cars was their use of Ferguson’s viscous differential, something which had not been used on front-wheel-drive racing cars before but which is now common on high performance road and race cars. Longman’s team was sponsored by Datapost for eight seasons and this arrangement had come about because Curnow worked for the post office in their telecommunications department.
First I had to find a car - it really needed to be pre 31/12/79 and a 1300 to get the ball rolling. I discovered this forum and the search began, living near Edinburgh logistics were always going to be fun!

I eventually found what had originally been posted as a 1300s but was originally an 1100s. The lad who owned it had started a restore and the shell and all panels were solid (1 plate in the boot floor and a ding to the rear NS.

A price was agreed and a long overnight trip south (450 miles each way) with a trailer was made. My mate's Sprint was being fettled near Cambridge so a visit was planned to split the driving. Ill now attempt my first photo upload!





Last winter put paid to any plans of a quick build - we had over 3foot of snow an a car port is no place to work at -10.





I left him to it a started on the shell....

　

Got the shell stripped out an a roll cage fitted. All the floor/rear plates are right angled (L shaped) to give strength in 2 planes and the cage is bolted in with high tensile bolts.

The fit of the top windscreen tube wasn't right so Willie fabricated a new tube and welded it in so effectively the car has two half cages bolted at the main hoop. The bolt-in rear diagonal is also rubbish so a new tube will be weled in soon.

Another piece of good old CDS was welded and plated between the rear arches (no strut mounts-they don't stiffen anything).





The biggest problem was getting the look. Both Richard and Alan had some old photos and a few exist on this forum/the web.

Photos are only 2D and the Fiesta certainly isn't! I wanted to paint the white/orange/blue for a longer life and then get the decals over the paint. Some are easy to come by (dunlop, champion etc) but there aren't many datapost logos on eBay!

About the same time as I was pondoring this a chap called mark was persuding Corgi to build a Vanguard model of the 1300 datapost car. We were introduced through Richard and as he developed the measurements for the Corgi model we blew them up a guide for my painter. Mark also needed to do the artwork for all the logos on the Corgi car and agreed to produce a somewhat larger set.

A combination of the photos, Marks printouts and a lot of headscrtching with my painter - Paul at California Classics in Caldercruix - led to a base coat of Ford Diamond white. The big question was the orange and blue. Lots of debate and research led to nothing so we went with the theory that the datapost colours would be advert based and so we used graphics pantone colours.

A good rubdown and plenty of barcoat should keep it good






Not only was choosing the colours difficult - the pattern was a nightmare!

The way the blue curves around the rear pillar and over the roof was really tough (for Paul!)

After a lot of effort and over 100 pieces of line tape.......





time to paint.....




The week before last I went to meet Richard a look at his handywork....






Paul in action!

The exhaust is being made from the original jigs by the original maker. Dave Dorrington is MD of Maniflow, they supplied all Longman racing exhausts since the two trained together at Downton Engineering (Mini gods) along with Jan Odor of Janspeed fame.

Once Dave has finished the pipework - the bore is a bit bigger and our noise regs are tougher than their day, especially for a side exit! - the whole lot will be shipped back to Scotland.











Nect the paint lines will be tidied and 2 coats of lacquer put on.

The graphics arrive on Tuesday and I hope to have a rolling shell on display at Knockhill for the BTCC Touring Car weekend (3/4 Sept)

Fingers crossed
Spot on mate - you saved the day. The engine hasn't been run yet but Mr Longman is happy!

For others - the original block that was sent had liners in it so Mr Longman wasn't happy just to bore through. Put out a request for a block and Joe (Logsdon) had a clean one - even crack tested it for me. He was even good enough to put up with my logistics system (my uncle from down south tried to fit in collection with his HGV load scheduling!)
Graphics going on
Also have tacked on bumpers/door handles/lights as the rolling shell will be on display in 9 days.

Might get some more pics up next week but if you want a proper look it will be at Knockhill for BTCC weekend 3rd/4th September



All the graphics are on and its off the axle stands
Lexan going in tomorrow and will get rolled out of the booth for some really good photos
Rolled it out of the booth today to bring it home. Struggling to get the lexan in but will have another go. Here's the daylight pics (there's lots!!!!)





Not sure on the port sizes or the valves or much really - all deceisions left to RL.
I've asked him to write up the spec, all I know is that its 1380cc so he could fit 83.5mm pistons (happened to have a set hanging around from a twin-cam!). The crank has been replaced with his own, balanced and turftrided. all steel bolts, double springs, hand done head and I know he cut the combustion chambers in the piston crowns himself. All 70's/80s black magic
It will rev to around 8k and he managed to get 130bhp out of a similar build with split weber 40s, he now has a few more cc and twin 45s to play with so we're exepcting something like 135/140.
I'm sure the engine will take it but I'd dont want it to break and cant afford to get it rebuilt every 5 minutes.
Richard has promised me something competitive that can be built on in future years. Thats why we settled on small choke 45s so that when the engine is ready for more its a rejet not new carbs!

As for your engineering prowess, I read your suspension geometry discussions if you dont do cars it certainly read well
My mate took a vid of the Fiesta emerging from the barn....
Y
My 9 yearold driving (well steering!) might make you smile. Also some good vids on his user site of our Scottish Classics series - he runs the orange Alfa Sprint.
Got its first visit to a race track! BTCC meet no less - The Team Aon guys loved it but I wouldn't swap for their Global Focus thing
As the pics show I had to keep it tied up on the trailer to prevent it trying to challenge Ian's (Racing 22) Fiesta.



Had to keep telling it.. soon, soon - after the heart transplant !

[stevec427]

I'm still a bit of a newbie on here; but i'm happy for it to go here as its relevant to this BTCC Fiesta thread.

Incidentally and parallel to this; i bought the Corgi Vanguards Cunrow Fiesta this week. And a damn fine model it is too so would be great to see the full size replica here too! Cheers!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by stevec427

I'm still a bit of a newbie on here; but i'm happy for it to go here as its relevant to this BTCC Fiesta thread.

Incidentally and parallel to this; i bought the Corgi Vanguards Cunrow Fiesta this week. And a damn fine model it is too so would be great to see the full size replica here too! Cheers!

Ditto, it's not bad at all is it?

I hope they continue to produce other BSCC/BTCC replicas in the coming years.

I bet they'll do a Datapost RS Turbo as well.

Back fully on topic, lovely to see the passage and accompanying pics about the Fiesta build, it looks like a really thorough and satisfying undertaking as I look forward to hearing about further developments.

[stevec427]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Ditto, it's not bad at all is it?

I hope they continue to produce other BSCC/BTCC replicas in the coming years.

I bet they'll do a Datapost RS Turbo as well.

Back fully on topic, lovely to see the passage and accompanying pics about the Fiesta build, it looks like a really thorough and satisfying undertaking as I look forward to hearing about further developments.

Their Datapost RS1600i looks spot-on. Not seen a Vanguards S1 RS Turbo Escort yet though; only the XR3i & RS1600i. But more BSCC/BTCC cars would always be welcome!

Yes, i agree the text and pics are great and would too love to hear of future developments.

[stevec427]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Ditto, it's not bad at all is it?

I hope they continue to produce other BSCC/BTCC replicas in the coming years.

I bet they'll do a Datapost RS Turbo as well.

Back fully on topic, lovely to see the passage and accompanying pics about the Fiesta build, it looks like a really thorough and satisfying undertaking as I look forward to hearing about further developments.

Yes, more BSCC/BTCC cars from Corgi would be good.
No sign of a series 1 RS Turbo Escort yet, only the XR3i & RS1600i. And the Datapost RS1600i they've done does look good.

I too would love to hear of future developments/progress with the Curnow replica.

[Andy Clegg]

Interesting reading, brings back lots of memories.
Andy

[SAMD]

Nice wee car alright. Does the Scottish Championship run a 1400 class? It will be a quick car for that, but most likely not fast enough for overall placings or even for a 1600 class, although that will depend on the opposition.

[datapost61]

Hi All,
As you can tell this is my first post on here. I am also the owner of the fiesta in the replies above.

Many thanks to jh1800 for posting it up for me while I got registered. And many thanks for your kind comments. I was also involved with the Corgi model and think its great. The Corgi design consultant did my graphics too.

In answer to the question the Scottish champ class A is up to 1500cc so it should be reasonbly competitive. Competition from 2 other fiestas, a cooperS, and several Alfas among others. Other classes are 1501-1800, 1801-2300, 2300-3600 and >3600.

I have no aspirations in my rookie year other than to avoid having to redo the paint job & graphics! First race is Easter Sunday 8/4 at Knockhill.

Steve

[chunterer]

Welcome Steve!

It's a great story and best of luck with it.

Assuming it does end up as Grp1 as it can get I certainly hope you will bring her down to race a few times, perhaps ken clarke and Duncan Wilshire would accept her in the JD Classics series?