Show Quality Racing Escort

An epic 7-year build has created a Mk1 Escort race car so neat that it has already started winning events even before it hits the track.

While it’s not common, it’s also not rare for a high-end drag racing car to do a year or two on the show circuit before it starts tearing it up on the track. It is however, rather rare for a circuit racing car to be built to such a high standard that it wins awards at shows before turning any laps in anger, and even more rare that it would be built at home by an amateur.

“I have always had an interest in motorsport from an early age. I always wanted to race a car, so I built my own. My main aim was to race in Improved Production circuit racing” says 32 year old Dave Fitzsimmons of his Mk1 Escort project. “Almost everything on my car is a one-off, hand-fabricated part, which meant a lot of work, time and planning”.

“The most rewarding part of the build was finally seeing the finished car I had mostly assembled in my driveway. There were times I nearly gave up and people told me I would never finish it, but I persisted and eventually proved them wrong. It’s bright, low and loud. It is the car I have always dreamed of since I was a teenager”.

Built with IPRA’s Under 2L class in mind, the Escort’s features include a strategically-stripped interior, a serious safety cage, custom wheel arch flares, a Ford Zetec 2L 4-cyl engine converted to RWD and given a set of Weber carbs for the old-school sound, a Sierra Cosworth 5-speed gearbox, and a modified early Hilux diff with an LSD.

The car’s racing setup also has adjustable front strut tops and a strut brace, an adjustable Watts linkage and 2-link kit (upper control arms) added to the leaf-sprung rear suspension, and big brakes with Wilwood 6-piston front and 4-piston rear calipers.

Even with all the work that Dave did himself he says that the project still cost him over $100,000. He started showing it off at the end of 2014 and winning awards from then as well. It was the Best Escort at the Small Ford Car Club of NSW Concourse and Display Day, and then Car of the Show at the Show Us Your Motor event in Pennant Hills a week later.

There is a complete cover story on Dave's Improved Production Escort race car in the June 2015 issue of Fast Fours & Rotaries magazine, which is available on the shelves now or digitally via Zinio.

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