VLE 756X

[Mark A S]

Pardon the self indulgence here, but today, thanks to the VERY helpful staff at the Beauleigh motor museum, I was able to crawl all over VLE 756X, ex Rothmans Gp 4 Escort.
As some of you will know, this Escort, is probably the only ex “works” Gp 4 Escort Rally car [ David Sutton actually ] today, that is as it was in 1981.
This car only did one event, the 1981 RAC rally, driven by the hopefully new FIA President, Ari Vatanen, co driven by Dave Richards. They finished 2nd on the 81 RAC rally, in so clinching that years world rally championship.
I was very fortunate in 1983 to own and rally DKP 191T another ex Rothmans Escort, which one 2 international rallies, again with Vatanen driving, and 9 much lesser rallies with me at the wheel.
Apart from sharing this rare outside pic of VLE with you, I am working on producing an Exact 1/8th model of this car, so watch this space!

P.S Boy are these great old cars worth some money now!

[unpc]

Mark A S said:

I was very fortunate in 1983 to own and rally DKP 191T another ex Rothmans Escort, which one 2 international rallies, again with Vatanen driving, and 9 much lesser rallies with me at the wheel.

You'll be glad to know DKP 191T is alive and well then. Belongs to a mate of mine now. Lucky Git!

[Mark A S]

That will be Andrew Haddon then. Spoken to Andrew recently, nice bloke, and so pleased he is still giving DKP plenty of welly

[aeropilot]

Mark A S said:

As some of you will know, this Escort, is probably the only ex “works” Gp 4 Escort Rally car [ David Sutton actually ] today, that is as it was in 1981.

Yes, it was a real pity that Ford didn't have the foresight to mothball WTW 569S right after Hannu won the '79 RAC Rally, as this was the last event for Boreham's Escort RS's and would be an excellent fit alongside Hannu's World Cup winning FEV 1H in the Ford Heritage collection.......

Edited by aeropilot on Friday 9th October 10:04

[john2443]

unpc said:

Is Safety Car 0 supposed to be quite that fast AND re arranging the hay bales!?

Also, I know the modern 4wd/turbo etc cars are bloody quick and safer and so on, but there's something special about an Escort at full chat! (Maybe only if you are over 45 though....)

Edited by john2443 on Friday 9th October 13:32

[unpc]

Mark A S said:

That will be Andrew Haddon then. Spoken to Andrew recently, nice bloke, and so pleased he is still giving DKP plenty of welly

That's him. I'm surprised he finds the time to use it with all the other projects he's got going on.

[unpc]

john2443 said:

unpc said:

Is Safety Car 0 supposed to be quite that fast AND re arranging the hay bales!?

Also, I know the modern 4wd/turbo etc cars are bloody quick and safer and so on, but there's something special about an Escort at full chat! (Maybe only if you are over 45 though....)

Edited by john2443 on Friday 9th October 13:32

You could argue that you can't test safety at anything other than full chat. That'd be my defence anyway.

I know what you mean about modern rallying. Way too dull these days.

[72twink]

It was only the '81 drivers championship - Talbot won the makes ....... we'll not metion the football match ;-)

[v64paul]

Yeah i'll admit to being 45+. For me it's the sound of a hard driven BDA that still gets the hairs tingling at the back of my neck. Nice work by he op.

[Mark A S]

Thats a great pic of DKP in typical pose Here is another similar taken in 1983 !

[72twink]

Looking forward to seeing the model! And whilst my loyalties do lie with Talbot I do have a soft spot for Escorts too. I took far too many pics of this one over the last week on the historic stages of WRC Catalunya - one of the '79 Monte lightweights VHK47S - this was re-group after the final stage.

Edited by 72twink on Saturday 10th October 20:32

[aeropilot]

72twink said:

And whilst my loyalties do lie with Talbot

In what connection...?

[72twink]

Oh come on Graham ....... I'm still on the committee of the owners club you helped set up, we've met enough times over the years!!! Just wish you could've kept hold of DAC71Y ........

[aeropilot]

72twink said:

Oh come on Graham ....... I'm still on the committee of the owners club you helped set up, we've met enough times over the years!!! Just wish you could've kept hold of DAC71Y ........

[Mark A S]

72twink said:

Looking forward to seeing the model! And whilst my loyalties do lie with Talbot I do have a soft spot for Escorts too. I took far too many pics of this one over the last week on the historic stages of WRC Catalunya - one of the '79 Monte lightweights VHK47S - this was re-group after the final stage.

Edited by 72twink on Saturday 10th October 20:32

Ah, the “Monte Specials” I remember these cars, Ford built 2 Tarmac specials for Mikola and Waldegard purely to win the Monte, which I think was the only major international rally, that the Escort had not won.
I do believe, apart form the weight saving, that both cars had very trick bodyshells, in order to get the ride height down, but still retain suspension travel, and a wider track Also that the Engines were BDX’s almost pure race spec, giving 270 @ 10,000 rpm.
Waldegard was leading into the last night by several minuets, with Darniche in a Stratos 2nd.
A most peculiar thing then happened, in that on a French road, French spectators, placed large French rocks in the way of a English Car, so as to make them stop, hence allowing a Frenchman, in a Italian car, to overtake the English car, and win the rally!

How was VHK 47S going?

P.S I had 2 x Sunbeam Loti as road cars, huge fun

[72twink]

Each time I meet up with the owner I learn a little more, the shells were hand made and brazed instead of seam welded with an alloy roll cage, all suspension pickups were different, the engines were lower and further back and were Hart built BDA with Kugelfischer injection producing 272bhp. The arches were huge allowing 10" front and 13" rear rims. Catalunya was only the second outing since restoration and it was running very sweetly!

I'm trying not to hijack the thread with Sunbeams but the car I was in is as original as VLE, still wearing it's paint from '82 and exactly as it was last run in sprint spec.

[Porlock]

72twink said:

Each time I meet up with the owner I learn a little more, the shells were hand made and brazed instead of seam welded with an alloy roll cage, all suspension pickups were different, the engines were lower and further back and were Hart built BDA with Kugelfischer injection producing 272bhp. The arches were huge allowing 10" front and 13" rear rims. Catalunya was only the second outing since restoration and it was running very sweetly!

I'm trying not to hijack the thread with Sunbeams but the car I was in is as original as VLE, still wearing it's paint from '82 and exactly as it was last run in sprint spec.

Ah those Escort tarmac specials!! Ask Chalkie (he's a mutal friend on that dreaded social website!) about the instuctions given to him and Russell on the manx about parking them!!

[K50 DEL]

Porlock said:

Ah those Escort tarmac specials!! Ask Chalkie (he's a mutal friend on that dreaded social website!) about the instuctions given to him and Russell on the manx about parking them!!

oooh insider's gossip, come on then, spill the beans.
I love to hear stories from when rallying was proper.

[aeropilot]

72twink said:

Each time I meet up with the owner I learn a little more, the shells were hand made and brazed instead of seam welded with an alloy roll cage, all suspension pickups were different, the engines were lower and further back and were Hart built BDA with Kugelfischer injection producing 272bhp. The arches were huge allowing 10" front and 13" rear rims.

The '79 Monte 'Ice Racer Specials' were the 'brainchild' of Alan Wilkinson.

[AJAX50]

They were borderline legal within the then regulations, the biggest question mark was on the moving of the engine back several inches.

72twink said:

Each time I meet up with the owner I learn a little more, the shells were hand made and brazed instead of seam welded with an alloy roll cage, all suspension pickups were different, the engines were lower and further back and were Hart built BDA with Kugelfischer injection producing 272bhp. The arches were huge allowing 10" front and 13" rear rims. Catalunya was only the second outing since restoration and it was running very sweetly!

I'm trying not to hijack the thread with Sunbeams but the car I was in is as original as VLE, still wearing it's paint from '82 and exactly as it was last run in sprint spec.