Gartrac Mk3 Fiesta, Ex John Cross?

[stevenorris29]

Hope some of you guys can help me! Im looking for some more info with regards its previous history in order to restore it back to its former glory.
The car has what appears to be a Gartrac chassis plate on the rear leg? Its a plate with GAR 078 and 3 other numbers stamped onto it. Is this of any relevance as to the origins of this car?
Ive also found a previous thread from 2007 from which the attached pic is from. It states the car as the ex John cross rallycross car and originally had a YB under the bonnet. It states the car was built by Gartrac alongside Xsport and competed in the early 90's.
The car features Kevlar roof, arches, doors etc and an extensive roll cage with full tunnel and 4 linked rear end.
Im hoping some of you guys may know some more about this and help me confirm if this is the car!
Im also looking for as much info as possible to help return it to original spec etc!

[rs 200]

There is pictures on here somewhere it had a zackspeed bd in it
Things look different
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

[chunder]

The car certainly originally had a Zakspeed engine in it and was 4wd. Before that John was a competitive rwd runner in Escorts then a Mk2 Fiesta, not sure he ever used a Mk3 in Formula B?

Not sure how John got hold of all this stuff either he used parts from an old Escort Xtrac or bought them all himself. But the same drivetrain

But later on indeed the car used a resricted YB, probably still with the same gearbox.

John raced a bit over here, but was very good in Belguim and Holland where he was a Supercar champion I think, there are many fans on here from that regoin and I am sure they can give you more info.

The car was eventually replaced by a Focus, and I imagine the running gear probably went into that.

[stevenorris29]

Well today I spoke to Gartrac who then put me onto a classic car restoration company who in turn put me on to John Cross himself who I spoke with at length today. It turns out this is his original 4wd fiesta which originally ran the Zackspeed engine and was then converted to a YB after the group b's were banned.
Such a great guy and has offered to send me the original build pics and info etc in order to restore it. He also mentioned it would be worth while using the livery with the union jack on the back quarter/roof as this was probably its most well known colours etc?
Does anyone know what the basic shell is worth, not that it would ever be sold but more so I know how much its worth spending etc.

[stevenorris29]

Been down the garage today and more or less got the shell stripped and ready for blasting. Hope to get the inside, engine bay and underside shot blasted next week.
At some point in its life the tunnel was changed in order to fit the c20xe. This will all be cut back and rebuilt using the original build pics which John Cross is going to supply me with. Would like to also loose the roof scoop but would leave me with a hole in the Kevlar roof.
Have also managed to source front wings and skirts along with front bumper, An accusump kit, 2 quick racks built for this car, a set of original rear coilovers and a full carbon dashboard to match the carbon tunnel cover.

Some pics of what I have to work with!






Modified tunnel which is of a really poor standard! The welding is terrible and its then been sealed up with silicone and silver tape! Once I have the build pics I can start fabricating the correct tunnel etc.




Rear chassis leg and build plate


Kevlar doors


Kevlar roof

[Hampton Caught]

Hey Steve, a great project you have there. I'll be interested to see things as they progress.

Will you be eligible to run in the Ripla Retro Rallycross Challenge with the car? Would be worth asking Shirley Gibson to see if the car will comply with regulations, as this will be the obvious place to run the car. If you need contact details, let me know.

Keep us posted.

Cheers, Steve