Tuesday 24th June 2014

Ford Escort RS Group 4: PH Fleet

Jesse takes on Abingdon's stages; Yellow Peril rises to the challenge

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Last month's shakedown on the new 15-inch wheel setup was a mixture of triumph and failure for the Yellow Peril's crew. After eight rallies, the handling was finally sorted due to the much bigger, grippier contact patches and the Kumho slicks working really well.

Abingdon's surface hard on the Kumho slicks

Although grip was at a premium, alternating between the shiny and dusty and the broken and rough, the balance was just where I wanted it, fairly neutral with good crisp turn-in. When you're approaching a chicane made of heavy wooden pallets and/or tyres at 90mph, you have to KNOW it's not going to plough on, even by a couple of metres.

The day was scuppered by a persistent electrical fault which stopped the car continually and turned out to be the battery isolator switch. The brakes were sticking on too. That was changed soon after and I set about sorting a braking problem that's been around since I got the Peril. I'd had the AP Racing calipers overhauled but the Peril still suffered from dragging and occasional sticking on of brakes, sometimes making it hard to push and no doubt sapping power on the stages.

The only thing it could be now was the master cylinders which live inside the car on the back of the pedal box. Changing them is a back breaking job I'd been avoiding but worth doing as they were both knackered, with sticking pistons gruesomely corroded through old age. A fresh set of three (including one for the handbrake) transformed things and the Peril is now as easy to push as a shopping trolley (without the dodgy castors). I use Ferodo DS3000 competition pads which seem to take any amount of heat abuse but need no warming up and work right from the start. With them and the discs cleaned up we were all set for the Abingdon CARnival Stages on June 8.

Plan of attack? "Less oversteer!"

Abingdon is one of the bigger events on the clubman single venue tarmac rally calendar, this year attracting 100 entries. It's a two-day motorsport-fest, with an auto solo and sprint on the Saturday and rallying on the Sunday. The competition was going to be fierce, with some of the top 325hp 2.5-litre Mk2s out, mid-engined Darrians and plenty of Evos and Scoobies, including the ex-Petter Solberg WRC Impreza and a Group A sister car. As usual, we'd be competing in class C behind over two-litre D and four-wheel drive turbo class E.

Abingdon was twice as long as usual, with eight 11-mile stages. I selected Kumho medium K61 compound for the back and slightly softer K51 for the front. The surface is too abrasive for soft (which I'd usually run on the front), especially in the hot weather we expected.

We were seeded 35th and things immediately started going well. Yes, that's 'well,' shock horror. I'd given myself a talking to on the run-up to the event: there'd be much less of the gratuitous oversteer you saw in the last in-car video. To get a good time these ultra-fast stages needed to be driven smoothly like a race circuit.

Hot work with limited ventilation; roof vent coming

This approach seemed to work and by the end of SS2, we'd climbed to 14th overall, which was a bit of a shock in such an experienced field. I'd been hoping for the top 20 but this was better than I'd hoped.

It's best not to think about that though, it makes you more likely to screw up so got my head down. As the sun beat down on the acres of concrete, temperatures started to soar. I've ditched the heater from the Escort (it was dead anyway) the heated front screen makes having one uneccessary and with the exhaust set partly up into a tunnel to avoid damage, the temperature inside the car ranges from warm on a cold day to blazing hot on a day like this.

The only air we had coming in was through the little slider side windows and by around SS6 we were approaching heat stroke. Those vents you see on rally car roofs might look like bling but they're not, and the Peril is about to get one. Anyway, we settled into a good rhythm and things went well except when passing the grey Rover 200 when I failed to slow down for the on-coming 45 right (see video). You can tell things are not looking good when the co-driver goes quiet, but things went smoothly after that and by the penultimate stage we were lying 13th overall.

Abingdon's CARnival a big stage for Yellow Peril

Then disaster almost struck. We pulled up to the finish line with one stage to go and noticed a stink of petrol. A quick shufti back in the pits revealed an injector o-ring (which seals the fuel rail onto the injector), had sort of prolapsed, probably due to the fact the engine had been running flat out all day and drinking a vast quantity of fuel. Luckily, I was able to remove a retaining clip and push it back in so we could finish the event. We ended up 12th overall, fifth in class and feeling pleased.

Next round is the Chelmsford Motor Club Hutton Kitchens Brands Hatch Stages on August 24. Can't wait for that as it's my favourite venue. The Atlas axle is now away having a lower ratio crown wheel and pinion fitted as the switch to 15-inch wheels pushed the gearing up too high. I also need to fit that roof vent and hope to make a new wiring harness before then so I'll be busy!

Vid here

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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

Previous updates:
Enter the Yellow Peril! An intro to Jesse's Escort
A solid early outing, or would have been if not for electrical gremlins

External video clips: Ian Maddison, Mad Video.
Action still: Neill Barnard
Follow Jesse on Twitter @JesseCrosse

[PATTERNPART]

Really enjoyable account. Good Effort! It must have been horrible with race suits and helmets on. You used to see people milling about between stages holding doors open to try to cool down a bit.

[Dave Hedgehog]

great vid, looks huge fun

[Ali_T]

So much fun and a cracking wee car.

[eybic]

Love when it cocks a front wheel under acceleration

[only1ian]

Cracking vid brave driving!

Sad to see so much army tat on what was once a great airfield. Once took a student homemade off road go- kart to 100mph on the main drag. No safety equipment and head sticking above the cage.

[IanOE]

Brilliant video, that looks like proper fun. Although I'm sure that it was hard work in the heat.

[Gruber]

[keefr22]

PATTERNPART said:

You used to see people milling about between stages holding doors open to try to cool down a bit.

Just look at the queue at the startline of any hillclimb - it's still common practice, waving the door is often the only fan in the car!

I must admit that while the perimeter road bits look like fun, those looooong straights with a chicane here & there look pretty bland - if we ever got the Mini out on a tarmac event like that I think we'd be bored out of our skulls by the end of most of those - even a 100+ bhp A series is going to be flat out & going nowhere on them (& that's after being overtaken by every Mk2 in the field!)

If I could I think I'd rather save my budget & just do one Irish event a year!

It really is an absolutely stunning car though, & very well driven!

[Ranger 6]

eybic said:

Love when it cocks a front wheel under acceleration

You mean cornering.... (with just a hint of acceleration )





2 seconds into the video.....


Good video Jesse, do I need to point out the continuity error....

Edited by Ranger 6 on Thursday 26th June 12:47

[k-ink]

What a great video, car and drive! Awesome fun to watch

[K50 DEL]

Great video but illustrates well the thing I hate the most about Single Venue airfield events when compared to gravel rallies..... the plethora of cones.

I've only ever co-driven a half dozen or so airfield rallies but they were all the same, a confusing mixture of cones denoting corners and long long straights (2.9 Km 90 right being a call I particularly remember from a pal's in-car)

Still, that said I love the car and the commitment and the video is a cracker.