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Ex-Alan Mann racer shatters records at Goodwood
A1968 Ford Escort with a superb racing history across three continents has smashed auction records. It sold for £203,100 (including premium) at Bonhams’ Goodwood Members’ Meeting sale last Saturday (18 March).
Registered XOO 347F, the car is one of the six original Escorts Ford loaned to the Alan Mann Racing Team in 1968 to compete in the British and European Touring Car Championships.
It was officially a spare car but saw some action with Jackie Oliver driving in events. It once finished in front of championship-winning sister car X00 349F at Brands Hatch.
After the 1969 British Championship season ended chassis no. BB48GP18167, was returned Ford’s Boreham Motorsport HQ.
In 1972, Don Moore ran the car in UK national races as a test mule for the Cosworth’s BDA engine.
The following year Alec Poole purchased the Escort, now fitted with a new fuel-injected 1800cc BDA unit, and shipped it to Guyana in South America. Poole raced the car in 1974 and sold it on to Harry Watkins in ‘75. In 1977 it went to Trinidad and was shipped back to the UK in 2010.
A subsequent owner, John Mitchell, carried out a meticulous rebuild of the car to original 1968 Group 5 specification, and its provenance was certified by Alan Mann himself. It’s also no stranger to Goodwood, with Alan’s son Henry driving the car at the Festival of Speed back in 2014.
Bonhams’ spokesperson Poppy McKenzie Smith says: ‘ We were very excited to offer such a historically important car, especially as so many of these Escorts were destroyed in active service.
‘The majority now remain in museums or private collections, so very rarely are they offered for sale on the open market.’