Ever heard that old builders phrase, "measure three times and cut once?" How about this instead? Measure 20 times, drink lots of tea, ponder, eat biscuits, scratch head, cut nothing and sleep on it.
Scratched windows ticked off the to do list
Cutting a 10-inch square hole in the roof of an expensive bodyshell is enough to bring even the most hardened bodyshop man out in a cold sweat. Get it wrong and you're stuffed, but a big hole is needed to fit a roof vent to a rally car.
Roof vents are the best way to get fresh air into a rally car and straight onto the crew. With the heater gone and holes plugged, the Yellow Peril's cabin is sweltering on a hot day and we almost expired half way through the last event at Abingdon. I chose a carbon vent which fits from the outside, the business end poking through the roof. They're tidy looking and the mounting bolts are hidden by the cover.
What a whopper!
But that hole. Oh dear, it's a whopper. Because of the cage and roof bands inside, I only had about a centimetre tolerance fore and aft, hence the all the tea and tutting. Anyway, after about three days of measuring and marking out, I covered the seats up, taped a black sack to the inside of the roof to catch the mess, fitted a thin disc to the angle grinder, made the first cut and the rest was easy.
Looks cool outside, is cool inside!
So that was one job out of the way, but there are plenty more on the list before the Hutton Kitchens Brands Hatch Stages on August 24. The first is to drop the rear axle ratio from 4.6:1 to 5.1:1. This will return the gearing to about where it was before the switch from 13-inch to 15-inch wheels and improve acceleration. That's important because most of the one-day rallies are quite tight and twisty. I also needed to replace the worn out front discs, fit new Ferodo DS3000 race pads and start work on proper motorsport wiring harness. OK, I'm being a smart arse with that last one, preventative maintenance and all that. I also wanted to fit new Lexan windows in the sides and rear as the originals were so scratched we could hardly see out.
Bigger brakes
The axle had to go back to Fostek for the diff swap and as usual, the guys did a great job, part-exchanging my perfect 4.6 for a new 5.1 and keeping the cost right down. While that was away, I tackled the front brake discs - and this is a lesson on why motorsport gets expensive if you let it. My brakes were good enough for 13-inch wheels but nowhere near as good as if I moved to the bigger AP Racing setup of AP 5000 Pro Plus radial calipers and 304mm discs to replace the 260mm discs and AP Monte Carlo calipers I had. As well as the bigger discs, the 5000 Pros are open-back which should help cooling.
And there are new brakes too. Bring on Brands!
As new discs are around £150 each anyway and the Monte Carlos should have a high resale value (as they are 'legal' for historic-spec Escorts) I decided to bite the bullet and fit the bigger brakes. That also required new alloy 'bells' (flat discs which join brake rotors to the hub) and brackets for the new calipers. I've stuck with the Ferodo DS3000 pads as they work well. They're strictly a race/rally pad though and if you want something similar for road use, try the DS2500.
Next time, don't forget the bonnet pins
While all that was going on I ran the bonnet over to Spraytech in Aylesbury for re-finishing. It's a rare carbon-Kevlar job and after stupidly failing to do up the bonnet pins prior to a road test a few months back, the gel coat and paint looked like crazy paving. After some careful paint matching it came back perfect and the Peril looks the business again. As usual, I filled the gearbox with a fresh dose of Millers limited slip diff oil (it's what the Drenth sequential uses) and bled the brakes yet again with Millers 300 Plus racing brake fluid.
The new loom is one of those jobs that can happen in good time. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Brands Hatch and then on September 21, it's the Cadman Construction Woodbridge Stages in Suffolk.
FACT SHEET
Car: 1978 Mk2 Ford Escort RS
Run by: Jesse Crosse
Bought: January 2010
Mileage: 1,000 stage miles since 2009
Purchase price: £36,000
Last month at a glance: Heat of battle at Abingdon inspires Jesse to cut holes in the bodywork before next outing