Quote:
Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker
My rally service barge - originally a LWB V4 2 litre - would pull about 85mph unloaded, but after one long haul back from a rally near Bury St Edmunds, towing the Lada rally car, I was so unimpressed by its pulling ability when fully loaded that I went out next day and sourced a 3 litre Capri engine. It went an awful lot better after that (whilst of course looking like a diesel as you needed to use the diesel front panel to accommodate the V6 ) . Amazingly the fuel consumption was barely affected - maybe 14mpg for the V6 when towing compared to 16mpg for the V4 - but it was so much better  And out-dragging other service barges was fun |
Had a 2.5 LWB V6 from Ford at Tyrrell. Fitted with overdrive and a sort of mechanical anti-lock system for the rear brakes. Plus the diesel front.
Somewhere around the 15k miles mark one of the senior team guys drove it back from the Spanish GP, towing and well loaded, over night in order to get a full extra prep day before the next race and the DFVs back to Cosworth for their refresh.
Unfortunately to do that had had filled up the tank and some jerry cans with regular, not great quality at the time, petrol in Spain. Then driven it flat out for about 1200 miles. I seem to recall that the things was absolutely covered in a fine red sand as well and the air filter looked dreadful when someone finally got around to looking at it.
It sounded a bit rough for the rest of its life, though as far as I can remember there was never any serious rebuild for the engine. It never seemed quite a peppy after that trip.