This Escort was the project of two young enthusiasts who met at a company that manufactured gearboxes. Bought as a stripped bodyshell in 1978, it had already seen life as a race car, and it took about two years to complete it. This car was raced for around 8 years, sold, but reacquired by one of the original owners and restored to its former glory in 2010. Escorts have seen all manner of engine conversions, but this one is unusual in that it features an all-aluminum dry-sumped Rover V8 stroked to 5 liters and fed by a quad Weber carburetion system. 380 horsepower was produced from this setup, and was fed to a Rover five speed, via an AP Racing twin plate clutch and aluminum flywheel. The limited-slip diff was fitted with a 3.75 ratio gearset.
Prepping the bodyshell involved triangulating the front end and installing an FIA-spec rollcage. A one-piece fiberbglass nose, fiberglass door panels, decklid and rear fenders complete the lightening process, together with an aluminum transmission tunnel. All windows except the windshield are Perspex. This resulted in a car that weighet 857 kilograms. Front Leda struts and Spax rear coilovers damping the rear multi-link suspension comprised the handling setup. Rolling stock is made up of 10X13 front and 12X13 rear wheels, with 11- and 10-inch vented discs respectively. The owner notes that the wheel nuts were tightened to 120 lb-ft. Performance calculations predict a 3.3 second 0-60 time and 11-second quarter miles. Reportedly, this car was able to hit 180 mph at a track in England, so that was pretty fast, and actually quite scary for a bodyshell designed in the, what, 1960s?
At any rate, this car has been resurrected by the original owner, and it must be a rare pleasure indeed to be able to take this car out for a spin and relive those moments of youth 25 years ago.
See source for this post here.
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