Take a 2019 Tea Break with Delta

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by grantp

Openreach have already spent the cash though ... somewhere between your workshop and Grimsay.

There must be more coming- we’ve been promised......

And for you Grant- the ultimate scare story. As usual the comments are worth reading!

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-vid...sday_August_28

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

There must be more coming- we’ve been promised......

And for you Grant- the ultimate scare story. As usual the comments are worth reading!

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-vid...sday_August_28

Ford are already predicting what would be, in effect, a mass autonomous taxi hiring scheme with a vehicle life of 4 years.

I would question the 4 years - I doubt there will be enough money in the economy to make 4 year changes viable other than in commercial "truck" tractor units that might run something like 20 hrs of every 24.

Then consider probably technology obsolescence over the period a 4 year economical life does not look to far off the mark.

It seems like there are a few others out there who have come to conclusions similar to mine!




Thanks for the link Mike. (Doubly interesting for the fact that Americans - even car enthusiasts - have little to no idea about what the UK is like from a motoring perspective.)

I also get the impression that they think that only Japanese cars - mainly and possibly only Toyota - are reliable and that nothing European is as reliable as a US market car.

Strange.

Europe will most likely force these changes in about 15 years from now.

One might be better off investing in stables rather than collector cars.

[Mike Bell]

Doubt many of us this side of the Atlantic had heard of Jessi Combs, who tragically died on the 27th while piloting her jet powered LSR car. Sounds like she was an inspirational lady- RIP Jessi...

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...-record-crash/

[Peter Mallett]

Yes, very sad indeed.

[Mike Bell]

No idea how this escaped my / our notice, but Ferdinand Piech passed away on the weekend. The man who gave us the 917, original Audi Quattro and also signed off Bentley’s return to Le Mans in the more recent past.

https://www.ft.com/content/b5334860-...4-3669401ba76f

Or if you can’t access that- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49489424

We've got a lot to be grateful to him for, but the FT obituary doesn’t pull any punches....

RIP Father of the 917!

[Willmaz223]

The noise is just something else.

Onboard of a Ford Capri RS3100 driven by Ric Wood. Top 5 cars for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRogCdsKaPM&t=125s

[Mike Bell]

The search for ‘niche’ markets seems to be getting tougher for manufacturers- Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato anyone?

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/...to/first-drive

[Willmaz223]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

The search for ‘niche’ markets seems to be getting tougher for manufacturers- Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato anyone?

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/...to/first-drive

In my mind it looks absolutely hideous.

Do like the Huracan GT3 though

[Colin McKay]

Been rooting around in the attic for something else and came across this. Rallying, not racing, so apologies for that but I know folk here love Mk1 Escorts. A pic of my brother co-driving in what I think was probably the Granite City Rally c.1972. I have posted a similar shot before but this one clearly shows the reg no which may have been a well known car - Mike, any idea? Or anyone north of the border have connections with the Aberdeen & District MC? Drivers Malcolm rallied with from memory were Dennis Steed and Peter? Cruickshank among others. Shortly before this was taken the windscreen had fallen out

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Been rooting around in the attic for something else and came across this. Rallying, not racing, so apologies for that but I know folk here love Mk1 Escorts. A pic of my brother co-driving in what I think was probably the Granite City Rally c.1972. I have posted a similar shot before but this one clearly shows the reg no which may have been a well known car - Mike, any idea? Or anyone north of the border have connections with the Aberdeen & District MC? Drivers Malcolm rallied with from memory were Dennis Steed and Peter? Cruickshank among others. Shortly before this was taken the windscreen had fallen out

Pretty sure FEV 3H was very famous..... IIRC it was the works car used by Roger Clark and Alec Poole in the 1970 London-Mexico World Cup Rally. (It retired from the event.)

The whole FEV series were works Fords in the event.....

FEV 1H (18) which won. Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm driving.
FEV 2H (26) Jimmy Greaves (of Football fame) with Tony Fall, finished 6th. Sponsored / entered by Springfield Boys Club
FEV 3H (65) Roger Clark and Alec Poole.
FEV 4H (103) 5th Timo Makkinen and Staepelaere.

In addition there were other Ford Works entries in the same event....

FTW 46H (46) 3rd Rauuno Aaltonen and Henry Liddon.
FTW 47H (85) Colin Malkin and Richard Hudson-Evans, crashed in Yugoslavia.
FTW 48H (14) this car. Finished 8th. Sobieslaw Zasada and Marek Wachowski.

[E.B]

Actually found a couple of pics of FEV3H on the London to Mexico Rally. It is actully Clark and Pool driving into Wembley Stadium to take their start.





70 London to Mexico Daily Mirror World Cup Rally Drivers Roger Clark and Alec Poole with West Ham United footballer Bobby Moore and his two children, Dean and Roberta, with David Gregory far right (Shoot football magazine Editor) at the start of the race at Wembley Stadium.

Also a short bit of video showing FEV3H (car #65) 50 or so seconds into this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIC6uOjfRM0

[Mike Bell]

As above, but to add, FEV3H was sold to Rod Chapman as scrap in 1974 after being used by Ford for Rallycross (after the WC rally), which suggests your 1972 year Granite City is too early, Colin? My GUESS is that the car i/d was swapped onto another Escort, as the car pictured does not have the ‘unique to the event’ (London Mexico) struts running from the top of the screen to the front suspension top mounts. These were integral / welded and would not have been easy to remove.....

[Colin McKay]

Thanks both, all very interesting. I guess the only way to pinpoint the date would be to find results/entrants for a few years in the early 70s but had no luck on t'interweb so far.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Thanks both, all very interesting. I guess the only way to pinpoint the date would be to find results/entrants for a few years in the early 70s but had no luck on t'interweb so far.

Not that event Colin but I have found this


https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries...ty-rally-1987/


and number 131 on the list might be of interest.


Just need to find the other years now!

[delta]

I recognise a few names . “Roy James”.

[Colin McKay]

Originally Posted by grantp

and number 131 on the list might be of interest.

Thanks for that Grant, good find, that's the same pairing & car without a doubt. These stats can't be relied on though as there is of course more than one Malcolm McKay in motorsport and the same source shows him partnering Tony Dron in a Zephyr in 1992. Sadly my brother died the year before so they have got the names mixed up. I found myself on the grid alongside TD at the Classic one year, but I think that was as close as he ever got to these McKays He was in a Zephyr then, too. Adam Gittings' car I think.


Mike, re Rod Chapman (local to me). He was if nothing else a dealer, no surprise then if the car ended up back on the road as a ringer

EB, good bit of video, the struts Mike referred to are very obvious. A question though, would they have been permitted in the Granite City rally? Is it possible they had been removed for club events? Admittedly more likely to have been reshelled though, Escort shells were a dime a dozen then!

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Thanks for that Grant, good find, that's the same pairing & car without a doubt. These stats can't be relied on though as there is of course more than one Malcolm McKay in motorsport and the same source shows him partnering Tony Dron in a Zephyr in 1992. Sadly my brother died the year before so they have got the names mixed up. I found myself on the grid alongside TD at the Classic one year, but I think that was as close as he ever got to these McKays He was in a Zephyr then, too. Adam Gittings' car I think.


Mike, re Rod Chapman (local to me). He was if nothing else a dealer, no surprise then if the car ended up back on the road as a ringer

EB, good bit of video, the struts Mike referred to are very obvious. A question though, would they have been permitted in the Granite City rally? Is it possible they had been removed for club events? Admittedly more likely to have been reshelled though, Escort shells were a dime a dozen then!

There's a book about Mk1 Escorts by Graham Robson published by Veloce.

Samples available on line. On one of the pages that was readable (when I looked at it earlier this evening) it was pointed out that Ford only kept one car from the World Cup rally and the others were all sold off and/or likely re-shelled. Or something like that.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...page&q&f=false

Provenance, in rallying, must be limited to manufacturer museum cars - and even then one might have doubts!

One can find interesting information about the history of the Granite City Rally with some years having a fair amount of competitor and entry information bit not all years and certainly not all competitors.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Colin McKay

Mike, re Rod Chapman (local to me). He was if nothing else a dealer, no surprise then if the car ended up back on the road as a ringer

!

Also local to me back then, Rod had a Mk1 twincam Escort pickup, I wonder what that was made out of ?

[Mike Bell]

I remember the TC pickup!

Rod was a pioneer Rallycross competitor, so likely was racing the Escort for Ford before they eventually sold the 'scrap' to him.

If you look for pics of him competing, the reg no isn't apparent on any cars I've seen so far. BUT, I doubt that mattered, as the number was more valuable off the car.....

Rally and rallycross cars were being re-shelled all the time, so wouldn't worry about the struts not being on Colin's pic. As said before, I reckon the i/d is on a re-shelled or different car.

Any idea what engine, Colin? The WCupR cars had 1850cc pushrod lumps....

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by grantp

There's a book about Mk1 Escorts by Graham Robson published by Veloce.

Robson has written more books on Ford models and competition than I’ve had hot dinners! The only one needed in this instance is ‘The Works Escorts’, which is where my initial info came from. It was routine for cars to be sold off to drivers or ‘friends’ of Ford cheap at the end of their useful life (to Ford).

On a different subject, I’ve found a way for delta to increase the value of his truck quite considerably......

https://www.theguardian.com/artandde...o-be-auctioned

[Tel 911S]

While Robsons books are a good guide , I have seen many errors pointed out in them by different people over the years .

On the subject of car identification , registrations were changed from car to car frequently , & there was even a case of the same registration car running on rallies in 2 different countries at the same time .

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

On the subject of car identification , registrations were changed from car to car frequently , & there was even a case of the same registration car running on rallies in 2 different countries at the same time .

And the case of the car that got damaged on a rally and was supposedly repaired to continue, only to be found that it was "swapped" for another one.
It was found out after the rally by pictures taken comparing the two before and after the crash !!

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

And the case of the car that got damaged on a rally and was supposedly repaired to continue, only to be found that it was "swapped" for another one.
It was found out after the rally by pictures taken comparing the two before and after the crash !!

Just from memory , [bit early for my brain to be fully going ,] but I think that was Audi on the Safari rally .

But all manufacturers were doing the same sort of thing , so you can never be sure of any competitions cars provenance .

[S griffin]

I don't remember reading or hearing anything about Audi doing it on Safari. Might have been a different rally

Of course a lot of teams have done that sort of thing or similar, but it was easier to get away with it those days possibly

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I don't remember reading or hearing anything about Audi doing it on Safari. Might have been a different rally

Of course a lot of teams have done that sort of thing or similar, but it was easier to get away with it those days possibly

Just checked & it was the Ivory Coast . [ Well , it is Sunday morning , my brain is not fully in gear , & that is in Africa as well ]

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/wqm9665/