Up Into Fourth
Posted 16 May 2020 - 09:02 AM
Not been able to do much today because I got a couple of little sparks in my left eye whilst angle grinding. Had to go to the local A & E and got to go to the eye clinic on Monday.
The new safety goggles I was wearing didn't do their job.
I will post the Escort pics when I get some from my son.
I think most of us have been there - in the past I've congratulated myself for not getting sparks in my eyes, then showering has washed particles from my hair or eyebrows into my eyes!
Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011
Posted 16 May 2020 - 02:55 PM
With full-on competition cars, the owners are not so much interested in whether the vehicle has MK.1 or Mk.2 parts, or even Mk.3 parts, so long as it will pass scrutineering and be competitive.
It all comes down to what constitutes a specific model of car. Is the the engineering build standard comprising all the correct basic parts (engine, sub-frames, body-shell, etc.), or is it the final allocation of a VIN and engine numbers to a plate which is rivetted on followed by the issuing of a V5? For a road-car/classic car to be used on the road, it may well be considered the latter, but for competition it is definitely the former.
Edited by Cooperman, 16 May 2020 - 07:45 PM.
On The Road
Posted 16 May 2020 - 10:50 PM
That's a cracking explanation of the differences between a genuine classic car and a car built for racing. It clearly explains away any anomalies regarding the Cooper S advertised.
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 17 May 2020 - 10:10 AM
oh that looks really clean and straight! My mate has a genuine RS2000 nose cone in the same colour! Is that a LHD shell?
Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011
Posted 17 May 2020 - 10:12 AM
There is an interesting historic Mini which is still around.
The owner bought an 850 in 1961 and started club rallying in it. He then bought a 997 engine & gearbox together with 7" disc brakes and it became a 997 Cooper for competition purposes. That was in around 1963.
Later it acquired a real 1275 Cooper 'S' engine and brakes and it did a lot of international rallies, always entered as a Cooper 'S'. The log book had it as a Mini with the engine size as 1275 cc.
I think it had a re-shell into a second-hand 850 shell in around 1970 all done with the help of a BMC/BLMC main dealer who used to help with entry fees and parts.
Now the real 'purists' will decry this as a 'fake', but we can all make up our own minds about that I guess.
I won't name the owner, who is a friend of mine, but the car is a good example of how club drivers bought and prepared their cars for international rallying back then.
The cars needed to comply with the international homologation papers issued by the manufacturers via the FIA and these listed the mechanical specification for a car to be genuine in terms of competition eligibility. Nowhere did it require the car to have left the factory as the model type under which it entered races or rallies.
Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011
Posted 17 May 2020 - 10:18 AM
oh that looks really clean and straight! My mate has a genuine RS2000 nose cone in the same colour! Is that a LHD shell?
It was a LHD car originally but it had been very badly converted to RHD and we had to re-do the entire steering installation to correct specification.
When he bought it the then-owner was converting it to have a Vauxhall engine and 5-speed gearbox. The Vauxhall engine was sold as was the 'box and th all-correct RS2000 competition parts were fitted.
Interestingly the car had a 'David Sutton Cars' rear window sticker. Now David is the guy whose team ran Ari Vatanen/David Richards and won the RAC with a famous Mk.2. David is a good friend of mine and I have navigated him in Mk.1 Escorts in the days when he used to drive. He advised my son on the build of this car as he lives 'just down the road' and his ex-wife, Jill Robinson, lives in the same road as my son. Jill was British Ladies Champion and we've been friends for over 50 years. It is a small world in motor-sport.
My son has previously owned a 970 'S' rally car which we built from a 1967 998 Cooper.
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 17 May 2020 - 10:41 AM
yes! i cant tell you how many times ive watched the "Vatanen touch" !!! I cant remember if i told you but later on when Ari went to drive the shell oils escorts, which where prepared by RED, Rae Sharret who ran RED i know now. He built my Volvo engine, and most of the modded parts for my bmw in a shed at the back of his garage. Im sure you know of the TV series with chris searl where he navs for roger clark in on the RAC one year, the name of the program i cant just quite remember. Its on youtube and RED and Ray is on it ;)
But yes, i was asking about the escort as i wondered if i recognised it, but i dont. There is nothing else like the sound of a pinto down the lanes ;)
Up Into Fourth
Posted 17 May 2020 - 12:39 PM
I really recognise that car in the unrestored photos. Probably from on here around possibly 8 years ago or so. Colour combination and the weathered condition seems very familiar.
Either way looks like a well executed car, sure it isnt nut and bolt accutate but I think it looks pretty sweet.
Up Into Fourth
Posted 06 June 2020 - 08:13 PM
With full-on competition cars, the owners are not so much interested in whether the vehicle has MK.1 or Mk.2 parts, or even Mk.3 parts, so long as it will pass scrutineering and be competitive.
It all comes down to what constitutes a specific model of car. Is the the engineering build standard comprising all the correct basic parts (engine, sub-frames, body-shell, etc.), or is it the final allocation of a VIN and engine numbers to a plate which is rivetted on followed by the issuing of a V5? For a road-car/classic car to be used on the road, it may well be considered the latter, but for competition it is definitely the former.
That looks very well
Uncle Cooperman, Voted Mr TMF 2011
Posted 06 June 2020 - 09:46 PM
I am proud of the way my son has built it. Of course, as he works as a design engineer in F1 (for Mercedes), he is very particular about the build quality and configuration.
The first rally car he built was working with me on the Mk2. Cooper 'S' rally car in which I did the 1989 Pirelli Classic Marathon. Then we built a 1967 Mk.1 Cooper 998, which was his, but I felt it was far too slow, and put a 970 'S' engine and SC CR gearbox into it which had around 85 bhp and revved its nuts off! It was always entered as a 970 Cooper 'S' and no-one ever objected to this 'fake'.
He let me drive it on one event:
Edited by Cooperman, 06 June 2020 - 09:47 PM.
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