Replaying history
After years of slumber, this Escort RS1600 is back out flying the flag for Broadspeed on New Zealand’s historic race tracks.
Through the ’60s and ’70s the pedigree of the Mk1 Escort was unrivalled both on and off the asphalt of race tracks around the world. The Escort is well known as a giant-killer, and is synonymous with names such as Zakspeed, Alan Mann, and Broadspeed. It was an era full of colourful drivers, knife-edge driving, and iconic liveries, which for many are now a long passed memory glinting in the rose-tinted glasses of days gone by — until now.
New Zealand motorsport has always had a fond love for the Escort. The late ’60s through and the ’70s saw David and Goliath battles between the nimble Escorts and the big V8-powered Camaros and Mustangs in the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship. For many Kiwi race fans, this era of racing would provide some of the most memorable cars, drivers and on-track action that we have ever seen. While the glory days of that era have long passed, the
fondness for the Escort remains strong, and Paul McCarthy is making sure those fond memories are rekindled for the next generation of fans.
Paul is no stranger to classic cars, his first car was a Mini Cooper at 14 years old. That was soon replaced by a 1275 Cooper S and then an Escort Mexico all before he was 18. It was at this stage — in the early ’90s — that a 1970 RS1600 came along. It was sourced from the UK in pieces and it had been left neglected making it a perfect starting point for a race car. It seemed that Paul’s family had an affinity with Fords as his older brother was racing at the same time, albeit in a Lotus Cortina. Paul first ran the pre-AVO RS1600 utilising a multi-link rear end and period brakes. Up front was a Lotus twin-cam borrowed from his father as Paul’s pockets weren’t deep enough for a BDA at the time, although after two years racing with the twin-cam, it then made way for the keenly
awaited BD powerplant. The car was painted in a 1971 Broadspeed livery with Castrol striping, and was campaigned around New Zealand for 10 years until Paul retired the car due to the class rules changing. Unfortunately, the playing field had become less than even for those running period-correct cars against others with more modern technology.
Dusting off
For the next 13 years Paul’s Escort sat quietly in the corner, as if unlikely to see any more racing for the foreseeable future. Although with the only constant thing on Earth being change, once again the world of motorsport was doing just that and an opportunity to dust off the Mk1 arose. There was a new class in New Zealand motorsport gaining momentum, and it was geared towards those classic, period-correct race cars that were gathering dust in sheds all around the country. The Historic Saloon Car series stipulated that the cars must run period correct gear to comply, so it was decided to give the Mk1 a new lease of life. As the car was already perfectly compliant with the rulebook, there was not much work needed to bring it up to speed, merely the whole car just underwent a thorough restoration to bring it back to looking as if it was in Broadspeed’s Southam workshop in 1974. The Broadspeed theme was continued as Paul already had a Mk1 Castrol Zakspeed replica in the garage, therefore maintaining the original theme was the logical decision. Although rather than the 1971 Castrol stripes, the Mk1 was freshened up with the 1974 livery run by Andy Rouse. The motivation behind this particular scheme was that Andy Rouse was not only a Broadspeed driver but also mechanic, and followed that up by becoming an accomplished BTCC tin-top driver. When Paul isn’t running the Broadspeed Escort, he is driving his 1993 Mazda Xedos 6 BTCC touring car, so having a livery run by a driver who ran in both championships clinched the deal.
The lines of the Escort are really the showstopping feature of this car, and are more than enough to put a Coca Cola bottle to shame. The Escort sports tubbed inner arches very much like those run in 1974, allowing the larger rear rubber to tuck seamlessly underneath the body lines. Sitting flush under the Group 2 arches are a stunning set of 8.5 and 10x13 magnesium Minilite wheels, all wrapped up in Avon grooved racing rubber. As with many iconic race cars, the wheels aren’t merely an addition, they are an important aesthetic component that defines the look of a car — and you just can’t beat an Escort on Minilites.
Race compliant
The elegant simplicity then flows indoors to the cockpit. Paul removed the original cage, and installed a new FIA-spec cage throughout the interior with the guise of running the car in the UK and elsewhere in the future. Nestled between the cage sits two period-style racing seats laced with OMP six-point harnesses as per the rulebook requirements. Perched in front of the driver is a works style dashboard complete with a Smiths chronometric tacho that redlines at 12,000 rpm (Paul runs it to 9500), while a suede-clad Springalex wheel allows Paul to thread the Escort down the ribbons of Tarmac
“THE MK1 UNDERWENT A REBUILD TO BRING IT BACK LOOKING AS IF IT HAD ROLLED OUT OF BROADSPEED’S WORKSHOPS IN 1974”
racetrack. Sourcing parts from this era may sound daunting to some but as Paul explains, “There is a good supply of remanufactured stuff now for these cars — they are old enough that people are making parts for those who want to keep racing them.”
Despite the Escort’s new lease on life both inside and out, the beating heart of the race car is much as it was previously, and lifting the bonnet reveals the 2-litre BDG still sitting in pride of place. The only real change is that the engine now carries period-correct Lucas mechanical injection that links through to an orchestral quad of slide throttles. The rear end is linked up courtesy of the original four-speed Rocket dog ’box as Paul had raced with previously while disc brakes in both front and rear provide more than enough stopping power to pull the 730 kg Escort up “Most of the components are as they were 26 years ago. We rebuilt the suspension, but the bones are as per it was built.”
With a timeless mix of tried-and-tested simplicity yet superb performance, this makes