Thursday 10th September 2015

Ford Escort RS Mk2: PH Fleet

Jesse's Yellow Peril is gone, replaced by an even faster Escort! Here's the story so far

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After three years, a lot of hard work and a dozen rallies I'm in the process of saying goodbye to a much loved friend, the Yellow Peril. Like a lot of Escort drivers, I've lusted after Millington power for some time. The Millington Diamond is a bespoke, all-alloy 2,495cc competition engine known to deal out large dollops of power and torque. Fit one to a Mk2 and the resulting package is alarmingly rapid; the ultimate Mk2 Escort rally car in fact.

Perhaps not as wild outside...

So when the opportunity to buy a Mk2 powered by one came out of the blue I wasn't going to miss it. The car was owned by a friend, Gareth Lloyd of West Wales Rally Spares. Luckily for me, Gareth is busy running WWRS and also leading the historic category of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. As this car is not historic spec, he was finding it difficult to make time for it and I was able to prise it from his grasp. The engine is a Millington Diamond Series 2, built with the milder cams to enhance torque and making 313hp on Millington's dyno. A flat torque curve delivers healthy torque from around 5,000rpm all the way to nearly 8,000rpm - just what you want in a rally car. It drives through a Sadev six-speed sequential gearbox and when I got it, the car was on 13-inch wheels with Alcon brake calipers. The rear axle is a fully floating six-link Atlas as usual, with a Gripper differential.

There were a few changes I wanted to make, the most important a switch to 15-inch wheels to create larger contact patches. This meant I could fit bigger 304mm front brake discs with the new four-pot AP Racing Pro 5000 R calipers. I've been using the Pro 5000s on the Yellow Peril and they've been awesome. The 'Rs' are forged rather than cast and so are 15 per cent stiffer and seven per cent lighter.

... but here's the excitement. 313hp!

The exhaust was originally a simple single box system and since passing noise tests can be tricky I asked Edwards Motorsport of West Drayton to build a bespoke twin-box stainless system directly onto the car. The other job was to fit shorter tarmac front struts and change the springs. I also wanted to take advantage of the dual map system; this allows the ECU to run a 'wet' map which can be selected on the fly to take the edge off the Millington's rude output when it gets too slippery. Finally, the ECU wasn't configured with flat shift, so I needed to wire the gearbox switch to it and set up the calibration. A bit more wiring and some help from Julian Millington with the software soon had that up and running.

I've heard a lot about the legendary Millington's performance but the first thing that struck me was how normal it is at tickover. Whereas the Yellow Peril's C20 XE is rougher than a badger's back when off the cam at idle, the Millington purrs away like a sewing machine. Surely this couldn't be the animal I'd heard so much about?

A gentle first few miles to warm up the driveline revealed more of the same, the Millington tractable, fuss-free and strong but surprisingly well-mannered. Once I'd got some heat into the driveline and it was safe to let rip though, things changed. At this point I reach for the box of adjectives and rummage around looking for something adequate to describe how these engines go in a rear-wheel drive car weighing less than a tonne...

Don't expect that wheel to be straight much!

The last car I labelled brutal was Jimmy McRae's Rothmans MG Metro 6R4 and this is similar. Give it the beans and it unleashes such an instantaneous and unrelenting torrent of power and torque it literally takes your breath away. The sheer ferocity of it is alarming at first. Acceleration is so fast and the ratios so close you need to be prepared to hit the shift points and on anything less than a racetrack-smooth surface, it will still scrabble for grip, even in fourth gear. A day's testing at Curborough actually proved less dramatic than I expected. Yes, it is properly quick, but the huge amount of torque makes it easier to drive than the 2.0-litre if anything. I've gone for a stiffer chassis setup than the Yellow Peril and haven't got that right yet as it doesn't turn in, so some more spring rate changes are needed.

I've also gone up on the front brake master cylinder size to reduce brake pedal travel but the AP Racing stopping power is impressive. One passenger described the brakes coming on at the end of Curborough's short straight as "like hitting a wall." I haven't been able to record any video yet but stay tuned and we'll have some next time. First outing will be Rally Day at Castle Combe on the September 19 for a bit of a run round and a chance to tinker with the setup without the pressure of competition. The first competitive event is the Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally at Donington Circuit on October 25 which should be great for a proper shakedown. I just hope it stays dry!

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FACT SHEET
Car: Mk2 Ford Escort RS
Run by: Jesse Crosse
Bought: August 2015
Mileage: N/A
Purchase price: N/A
Last month at a glance: Farewell 2.0-litre Escort, hello 2.5-litre Escort!

Previous updates:
Yellow Peril
Enter the Yellow Peril! An intro to Jesse's Escort
A solid early outing, or would have been if not for electrical gremlins
Abingdon stages a proper workout for Jesse and the Yellow Peril
Summer break? Perfect time for some upgrades then!
Brands Hatch Summer Stages gives the Escort a proper workout
The coolant issue returns and a winter project beckons
Yellow Peril heads to the stages after a winter rebuild
Summer tyres for a rain-shodden rally
Taking to Abingdon Carnival Stages

[gsuk1]

Wow that thing looks absolutely awesome!

When will you be racing it...

[firebird350]

Goodness, how things have moved on! I reckon the late Roger Clark would have absolutely loved this.

[Chris Stott]

2.5l... 313bhp... under a ton. Awesome

[Chunkychucky]

I'm in love...

Would be such a thrill to take out for an early morning blast, must be absolutely electrifying

[mightymouse]

gsuk1 said:

When will you be racing it...

Ummmmmm he does say in the article
Rally Day @ Castle Coombe 19 Sept
Dukeries Rally @ Donnigton 25 October

I shall be there at both

[rtz62]

Wow, what a great bit of kit!!
But.
Whilst I understand that there is a certain reticence and need to be shy of cost to preserve privacy, I thought the idea of featuring a car on here was to let us poor (in the monetary sense) readers on the costs of such a beast. Perhaps the purchase price could have been listed as 'north of £60k' and then the setting up costs broken down into individual costs.
Just a thought, as it may be the case that some readers, and that may include me' are thinking of taking up this branch of Motorsport and would benefit from someone who is already there to pass on wisdom and knowledge, and how many vital organs we might have to sell.
But thtat an aside, it doesn't detract from the fact that this is a lovely car, with the magical Millington lump up front; bravo!

[ALBA MELV]

Excellent. I look forward to the updates as I enjoyed reading about the yellow peril.

[J4CKO]

What is the benefit of that engine over say a YB turbo, is it for race classifications, power delivery or other factors, I appreciate this is a different ball game to your average fast road MK2, just interested.

[burningdinos]

What a beast. We want a video. With noise. I correct, we NEED that video!

I salute you for an excellent purchase I'm quite envious

[SnailTrail]

What is the purpose of the springs on the exhaust headers? Is it to allow for movement/thermal expansion?

Oh, and the car looks absolutely awesome

[sideways man]

My mk1 escort has a yb turbo with 340 bhp. The millington engine will have less torque and it will be produced in a relatively refined manner- hence its popularity as a rally/ loose surface engine. My yb,in common with most/all tuned turbos is a torque figure that seems to arrive in one lump giving instant wheelspin in most gears, when not pointed in a straight line on a dry road. While this can be fun, it does not result in good stage times.
Also, the millington diamond sounds a million times better than any turbo.