Xtrac Escort mk 3

[Barrie]

Ok litte competition, I mentioned in another post that there were 3 original Xtrac Escort Mk3/4. They were Schanche's, Welch's, Nittymaki's. Can you name the other drivers that owned these cars at some point?

[Peter S]

John Smith bought Martin schanches. Then Barry Squibb bought it off John Smith....that only had 500bhp

Kjetil Bolnest bought John Welchs

Vidar SOuthern had Nittymakis.

Sven Lestander then bought either bolnesets or southerns.....cant remember which one.

[Peter S]

oh and then Terje Schie bought nittymakis for 87 which was then bought by gunnar kittleson for 1988

[chunder]

This is a good one.
I could never keep up with the Xtrac buyers.
Can anynone remember a guy called Ragnar Forsberg. He had Seppo's car after Seppo flogged it.
I reckon Terje's was a one off coz Sauthon bought his off Forsberg
Francois Monten also used the John Smith car for a bit, and Jonathan Palmer drove the Welch car in the Rallycross GP.
Lestander bought the Sauthon one when after Vidar crashed it in Germany, it had the new independant suspension on it that Welch's always had, hence why Smith always ran 4 spoke Revo's and John 5 spokes.
Squibby's car is now owned by Mike Endean of Xtrac who uses it very occasionally for sprints and stuff.

[Barrie]

Very close Chunder, so far Escort1, Schanche>Smith>Squibb>sold back to Mr Endean

Escort2,
Welch>Palmer(guest)>Bolneset>car destroyed in Norwwegian round.

Escort3
Nittymaki>Forsberg>Sauthon>Lestander>?

[Peter S]

I will have to check this out but there is a possibility that Terje Morstad owened the third one after Lestander.

I belive Frank Jensen may have briefly owned the Nittymaki car before Forsbeg. There is apperently four versions of the xtrac in operation which means that the Schie version would have been another one. That is the one kittleson bought.

Just for the record Welchs Xtrac Astra ended up at Tommy Kristoffersons establisment and was completely gutted.

[Barrie]

Know only 3 xtracs just been reading a article by xtrac founder Mike Endean. There were a few copies, Schie, Wahlund for example.

[Peter S]

Got the 1987, 88 and 89 european rallycross review books out now, and it says Schie and Wahlund had Escort xtracs but as you say they must be copys.

According to the 87 review Forsberg didnt own the Escort until late in 1987, which may explain why Jensen only did the first round of the european series in it.

in 88 it states there were four Xtracs in the results section one of which is the probable copy of Gunner Kittleson.

[chunder]

OK, I am really enjoying all this reminiscing by the way, is great fun.
Orjan Wahlund's car was a 4wd Escort but was powered by a 1.8 BDT RS200 engine, no link to Xtrac.
Morstads was maybe an Xtrac. Remember him at Inter Nations in 92. But it sounded really flat. The Zakspeed engines in the Xtracs used to scream, think he may have swopped for another engine. I hear teh Zakkers are a little expensine to run.
Peter, Tommy bought Welch's car coz being a tight fisted Brit, John wouldn't sell him the transmission which is all Tommy wanted, so he made him buy the whole thing.
John is incidentally running a Formula Renault team for his don Daniel in the UK

[Barrie]

Sven Lestanders business interests went tits up, so all his assets went into liquidation. Escort3 was bought by Jernberg, on the cheap, he used most of the running gear off the Xtrac on his first supercar. So they you are history of the Xtrac Escort.

[Peter S]

Lestander was a very underrated driver i always thought. He was very good value in his Audi.

Welch may return in the near future running a car for his son Daniel, i heard that they were finding it hard in Forumla renault. It would be great to have the Welch name back in rallycross, obviously John wouldnt be driving.

It was pretty funny when John got stuck in the car in the 1985 british rallycross grand prix after winning. After all the carnege and banging in the first corner it was truelly remarkable to come back and win that won.

That has always been a problem, the fact that all our decent cars have always ended up being sold abroad instead of being kept in this country. Lets hope Gollop stays in his Focus for a number of years. And if he does put a young driver in it at some stage please let him be english!

I am actually surprised there havent been many british drivers buying the cars from europeans stars. The british always seem to prefare to build there own.

[norway]

gartrac made 6 cars
1 schanke smith squibb endean
2welch bolneset destroyed in crash
3nittimaki forsberg sauthon destroyed
4schie kittelsen lestander jernberg used xtrac chassi destroyed
5morstad jespersen sorensen
6wahlund anderson hansen destroyed in crash

[rx-guru]

Mmmh, some claim that the car of Sauthon was destroyed in a barn fire.
Others claim Jernberg bought it to use its Xtrac system for his Cossie...

[chunder]

Didnt Jernberg do that for John's Opel?

I thought he bought nthat car for that tranmission? Or was that Tommy??

[Graz]

Originally Posted by chunder

Didnt Jernberg do that for John's Opel?

I thought he bought nthat car for that tranmission? Or was that Tommy??

That was Tommy K IIRC

[GOLDFINGER]

Originally Posted by norway

gartrac made 6 cars
1 schanke smith squibb endean
2welch bolneset destroyed in crash
3nittimaki forsberg sauthon destroyed
4schie kittelsen lestander jernberg used xtrac chassi destroyed
5morstad jespersen sorensen
6wahlund anderson hansen destroyed in crash

Gartrac only made the shells "xtrac" is the transmission

[rx-guru]

Tommy K. bought a Welch Opel to use the Xtrac system for his Audi Coupé S2.
I saw the remains of the Kadett myself while visiting Tommy's workshop in February 1995 on my way to the Rally Sweden.

[M.Lowe]

Was it Bolneset that had a van full of spares stolen once?
I wonder where the Kadett Xtrac shell is now

Always loved the welch Escort Xtrac

[snowen250]

Apologies if this post is out of place, but who used the bright yellow Xtrac (i presume) Escort in the 91 ERC championship?

I just saw this thread and now its driving me nuts i cant remember his name. The car looked good and seemed to go well at some rounds. (if it helps the driver was Scandanavian, i doubt this narrows it down.....)

Simon

[chunder]

Xtrac drivers who drove yellow cars were either Kjetil Bolneset or Vidar Sauthon.

Sauthon sold his car I think to Sven Lestander, use t run on 14in wheels, then he converted to run on 15's as Squibby did on his too.

I think the Welch shells are no more, someone bought a lod of stuff in Europe Tommy K I think. But Welch did write off a shell going in bacwards at Paddock and hurting his back.
What happened to that I dont know.

Welch ad Schances cars were slightly different, Martins ran on smaller wheels as John Smith and Squibby did, as did the Nittymaki Sauthon car and the Schie version.

But Bolnest bought the Welch one that ran bigger wheels, then he bulged out the arches to get more lock, and last tiem I saw the Lestander car it was on bigger wheels.

[snowen250]

Bolneset! Thats the chap! loved that yellow Escort, the way it sat, so low at the back, always looked so right.

Thanks Chunder

Simon

[GOLDFINGER]

Didnt Bolneset convert it to do away with the independant rear suspension fitting a "solid axle" as per Martins & Seppos versions ?

[rx-guru]

@ chunder: AFAIK the Niittymäki (partly yellow already then), Forsberg (white), Sauthon (partly yellow) Xtrac ended with Michael Jernberg as donor for his Cossy. But some claim it was destroyed in a barn-fire…

[chunder]

Gold, I believe you are right yes.

And Eddi am presuming the Lestander version was the one used by Schie then?

[Barrie]

Originally Posted by Barrie

Escort1, Schanche>Smith>Squibb>sold back to Mr Endean

Escort2,
Welch>Palmer(guest)>Bolneset>car destroyed in Norwwegian round.

Escort3
Nittymaki>Forsberg>Sauthon>Lestander>Jernberg

From Mr Endean himself, surely he would no.