TRACK ESCOS
Escort Cossie built for track and packing a whopping 531bhp.
We’ve mentioned it before and you’ve probably noticed yourselves, modified Escort Cosworths have slowly but surely become an increasingly rare sight on UK roads. With values rising rapidly, many have been returned to standard spec and spend most of their time safely locked away in a garage somewhere.
Yet, breaking this depressing current trend is Chris Wicks with this stunning, purpose-built track-focused Escort Cosworth. For the next few pages we can turn the clock back a decade or so, to a time when a 500bhp-plus EsCos packed full of all the right bits was the done thing!
Chris first saw the attraction of the RS badge back when he was in his late teens. At the time he’d just sold his Nova GTE and was on the lookout for a Series 1 RS Turbo. “I looked at a few and just missed out on a couple, but eventually found one local to me,” Chris remembers, “it was in decent condition and I just ran it around as it was for a while.”
After a year or so – and becoming involved with the concours show scene with his mates – Chris decided to have the S1 rebuilt so he could take things to the next level. “By this point I’d started modifying it as well,” Chris points out, “bigger brakes, 17in rims, Koni suspension and a leather interior
had all been fitted.” With a few choice engine mods, the power had risen to around 210bhp, but after six years of showing the RS, Chris reluctantly had to sell the car to fund a house move.
“My dream car had always been an Escort Cosworth, but after selling the Series 1 and moving house I never thought I’d be looking at buying one just six months later,” Chris explains, “my mate mentioned one that was for sale, laid up in a garage that needed some TLC to the bodywork, but everything else on the car was all good.” Chris wisely took a mate along who worked at his local bodyshop to view the Cosworth, and after some advice regarding costs of the work needed, a price was agreed and that dream car was his.
This was back in January 2003 and the ’93 Escort was promptly booked in at the local bodyshop to have the bodywork sorted along with a full respray in Radiant Red. “I began reminiscing about my show days with the S1 and decided initially to take the same route with the Cosworth knowing the bodywork was now spotless,” Chris explains, “I began compiling a shopping list of mods.” These included a set of 18in OZ Super Turismo rims, Koni suspension, uprated bushes, new wheel bearings and braided brakes lines. At the time, Chris’s uncle owned a company named AMK, specialising in re-manufacturing car parts so the four calipers, four drive shafts, steering rack and pump were all sent there to be reconditioned.
Once all the new and reconditioned parts had been fitted, Chris understandably couldn’t wait to drive it. “I did take it to shows, but didn’t choose the concours category this time, usually parking within the club stands,” Chris recalls, “I still looked around the concours section and found the game had moved on since I had the S1. People were now taking things a lot more seriously and the fun element seemed to have disappeared, so I decided to just enjoy the car and drive it instead.”
As Chris has owned this car around 16 years, it’s seen some changes during that time including seven sets of wheels and four different brake upgrades alone! Gradually, the spec worked its way towards the powerful track-focused machine it is today. “I’d been enjoying driving the EsCos for a while then some of my mates who’d started doing track days asked if I wanted to join them,” Chris remembers, “I agreed, and I loved it right from the start. Before I knew it we were all racking up laps at the Nürburgring.”
As anyone who’s become a track day addict will know, the desire to go that bit faster than the competition is hard to resist, and in-turn, so is browsing the adverts for potential upgrades. Chris was no exception here either.
The suspension was soon swapped for coilovers, bigger brakes went on along with slick tyres which greatly improved on-track performance. The standard turbo was upgraded to a GT28, bringing the power up to around 400bhp, and Chris thought it best to swap to a stronger Quaife gearbox to handle that extra grunt.
400bhp is plenty enough for most, but by now Chris had become used to that extra power and was hungry for even more. “I heard about a full plug-and-play engine package that had come up for sale at Steve Scott’s A1 Rally Sport that had an impressive spec,” Chris smiles, “a deal was soon done, and I took my car down to A1 on a trailer for Steve to install it.”
Chris told us the spec of the Harvey Gibbs-built YB that now lives in his EsCos was impressive, comprising a long-studded 200 block, pocketed Mahle pistons, WRCspec multi-layer head gasket, BD16 inlet camshaft, BD14 exhaust camshaft, Auto Specialists inlet manifold, 3-Bar map sensor, Nick Waples big-port head, and Isky uprated valve springs. The turbo has been upgraded to a GT3071 with Tial external wastegate, while the injectors are now Siemens 875cc units, along with air-to-air injector boost control. The electrics have been swapped to a Pectel T2 ECU, while the cooling is sorted by an RS500-style intercooler and
uprated radiator with uprated fans.
With all of these goodies, and more, now fully fitted to Chris’ Cossie you won’t be surprised to hear this combination is good for 531bhp with 453 lb.ft of torque. That’s enough to keep most track day fans happy, and plenty more power than Chris was previously used to!
Knowing full well, the car would receive a hammering on track, Chris has wisely upgraded the transmission to a close ratio straight cut gearbox from Bara Motorsport, complete with uprated centre viscous coupling and uprated front diff, which have so far coped with the task well. Meanwhile the clutch is now an AP 6-paddle version mated to a lightened flywheel.
By this stage the Cosworth was a
quick car with the transmission to match, no mistake, but having the ability to retain speed through corners is also paramount in bringing those lap times down. “I decided to swap the suspension to Leda coilovers with remote reservoirs and compression struts to replace the anti-roll bars,” Chris explains, “this seemed like the ideal set up that would suit the car and myself.” Solid engine bushes, uprated poly bushes and a front strut brace also help to keep the car settled through the twisties.
The brakes had already seen some gradual upgrades over the years going from stock to 330mm APs, then 356mm AP 6-pots, and more recently 380mm Hi Spec Monster 6-pots. But Chris was keen to push the boundaries even further. “I began looking at other alternatives from different manufacturers and settled on Mercedes AMG brakes which had positive reviews,” Chris explains, “obviously these were never going to be a direct replacement, so I turned to Steve Tugnett from Performance Art for some help in this area.” Steve’s expertise came in useful and he was able to measure and work out the brackets and bells needed to adapt them to the Escort then set about fabricating them himself. Up front SL55 AMG 360mm discs with 8-pot calipers sit proudly in place, while at the rear 330mm discs and 4 pot calipers from a Mercedes CLS55 AMG take on the task of slowing this flying machine down.
Chris had already made his way through six different sets of rims since 2003 and knew after this latest brake upgrade, he’d need to swap them again. “I was limited to choice as the wheels had to clear the brakes but liked the look of the Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 style in gloss black,” Chris tells us. These contrast well with the bright red paintwork and are currently wrapped in 225/40/18 Bridgestone Potenza rubber.
In contrast to the mechanicals, the aesthetics of Chris’s Escort has been kept relatively standard. In fact, other than the wheels and brakes, outwardly it could almost appear to be a standard example. Twin headlights and RS500-style fog light grills are the only exterior change, while interior mods have been restricted to a 4-spoke steering wheel along a few dash mounted extra gauges. Incredibly for a track car, Chris has retained the original Recaro seats including the rear bench, but has now fitted Sabelt harnesses, “I still like the car to be comfortable on the road and the factory Recaros and 4-point harnesses still do a good job holding me in place on a circuit at speed,” Chris laughs.
As those Cosworth values continue to reach ever skywards, Chris has succumbed to the inevitable and has passed the Escort’s role on to a slightly less valuable fully trackprepared Focus RS for future circuit use. Rest assured though, the Cossie is staying with Chris and there’s little chance of this one being returned to standard guise!