Tech Spec
Body
Type 49 shell, seam welded, T45 roll cage,
fibreglass boot, bonnet and doors, Group 2
arches. Paint: Diamond White with 1974
Broadspeed livery
Engine
1975cc Cosworh BDG, 8 mm Lucas mechanical
fuel injection
Transmission
All-alloy single-rail gearbox, straight-cut
gearset, dog engagement, English axle with
plate type differential, Atlas shafts and semi
floating hubs
Suspension
Front: Bilstein coil overs, adjustable track
control arms, compression struts, adjustable
anti-roll bar on drop links
Rear: five-linked with revised geometry for
circuit racing, double adjustable coil-overs,
adjustable angular ties for toe
Brakes
Front: AP Racing CP 2271 callipers with
260 mm vented discs.
Rear: AP Racing CP 2577 callipers with
254 mm custom solid discs
Wheels and tyres
Front: 8.5x13 magnesium Minilites with Avon
9.0/20 A11 Historic A/W tyres.
Rear: 10x13 magnesium Minilites with Avon
10.0/20 A11 historic A/W tyres
Interior
Period lowback race seat as passenger seat,
Racetech seat retrimmed to match lowback
seat, works-style dash with Smiths gauges
Thanks
Les Swain from Metalmaster for panel and
paint, Frank van Lingen from Autocraft and
Tim Ackers from ShoesNZ for fabrication help,
Randall Edgell from Taylor Performance
Engines, Dale Mathers and Bruce Dwyer for
the encouragement to get the car running
again, and Sarah Selwood for understanding
the need for two Escort race carsPlanted: those 8.5 and 10x13 genuine magnesium
Minilites sit right up inside the Group 2 arches.XxxThe 2-litre, all-alloy BDG now runs Lucas mechanical fuel-injection
and while it’ll rev to 12,500 rpm, Paul ‘only’ takes it to 9500...80 August 2019
MOTORSPORT
CLASSIC FORDS FLAT-OUT ON THE STAGE, STRIP AND TRACKracing an absolute pleasure. “The Escort is a
really fun car to drive, and also a very easy car to
drive as well. When you look back to that era
you had Camaros and Mustangs racing together
with the Escorts and they were all doing similar
lap times. The weakest point of the car is the
engine — after a certain amount of hours it
needs to be tended to — but they are solid
workhorses and the gearboxes are very robust.”Historic occasions
Today the historic saloon car class attracts a
minimum of 15 cars to the grid at any event
which makes for great racing. “The historic class
has no points, no winner of a championship and
no bickering.” While the racing is stillexhilarating, the atmosphere is friendlier, and
the series has a big social aspect to it as well.
Ultimately, the reason this class exists is because
of the cars — the cars are the stars, not the
drivers. “Without all the other underlying things
that go with a normal race series, the support for
this class is high and people see that.”
This Escort isn’t just another race car
hammering around the circuits of New Zealand,
it is like stepping back in time and taking a
glimpse at the good old days of racing. Tales of
door-to-door racing, drivers never giving an
inch, and driving their cars at the ragged edge of
what they were capable of. Paul isn’t just going
racing in his Mk1 Broadspeed Escort, in his own
words, “We are replaying history.”