Rally Day at Castle Combe is a kind of rolling road show for rally enthusiasts with displays of historic cars both on and off track and a meeting of the great and the good of rallying. It's also an opportunity for club rally drivers to try a £135 Clubman Package giving up to four 10-minute sessions on the circuit. Although these run under track day rules, it was still a cheap way for me to shake down the Escort on a fast track prior to the Dukeries Rally at Donington on October 25.
Time to sort the geometry!
After the short setup test at Curborough, it was obvious some changes were needed to improve turn-in on the stiffer setup I'm experimenting with. This meant fitting stiffer rear springs and if that didn't sort it, I'd soften the front a little. Overall, I'm running a stiffer setup than I did on the
Yellow Peril
on the premise it should be more effective on the largely smooth and track-based single venue events I do. I also needed to see if the flat shift I'd set up was working as I hadn't got that right at Curborough.
The third change I'd made was to fix the brake pedal travel. It turned out the front brake master cylinder was the smaller diameter option which applies more force with the penalty of more brake pedal travel. Switching from smaller Alcon calipers to the larger AP Pro 5000R front calipers emphasised this. The fix was to change to a larger diameter master cylinder on the front to reduce travel and now the brake pedal is right there as soon as you get on it. I've also switched from Girling to AP Racing cylinders which are hand-built and shimmed to further remove free travel, so now a proper test was needed.
The day before I took the car down to Spraytech Aylesbury for a geometry setup on its singing and dancing optical rig to get front camber, caster and tracking and rear axle alignment set bang on.
Stiffer and sharper and ready to go
On the day, I missed the first slot on track along with a few others due to the early morning bun fight to get trailers parked, signed on and noise test done, all of which took longer than expected. When I did pull into the pit lane an hour or so later the engine took a squint through the grille at the circuit, said "no sireee, I ain't gonna do it," and began spluttering.
I headed back to the paddock and conferred, the consensus being it was the throttle position sensor (TPS). These sensors are not made by the engine builders but are generic components produced by third party suppliers. This was another reason for the second test; the engine was built some years ago with little use since and I was on the hunt for gremlins like this.
Luckily for me, Julian Millington of Millington Racing Engines was on the spot, quickly answered my call for help and also diagnosed the TPS. Julian got on the laptop and, sure enough, the sensor was reporting around 24 per cent open when it should have read closed. Once adjusted the Diamond was back to its usual, sweet self and smooth as before. That's what you call brilliant support.
These sensors are potentiometers, a bit like the volume control knob on a radio. When the driver turns up the volume by pressing the accelerator, the ECU says, "hello, more air going in, I'd better inject more fuel." If the sensor tells the ECU a porky and pretends the throttle is open more than it is, the engine gets too much fuel in proportion to the air going in and runs super rich. I'll fit a new TPS before Donington just to be sure it's OK.
Come on in, make yourself comfy...
I'd missed the three morning sessions allocated to me but there was still time to take The Beast for a gentle canter in the afternoon. We eased out on track, the sheer grunt of the Diamond spinning the wheels on the cold tyres as soon as I hit second gear. First impression? The flat shift (set to 80 milliseconds for the Sadev 'box) feels dead right with nice smooth engagements. Second impression? These engines sound rude and boy, have they got some grunt. Third? It turns in better, on fast corners at least, with more adjustability on the throttle too. Fourth and finally, the brakes are now Armageddon spec and brilliant!
Handling-wise, the stiffer setup makes the car feel more nervous but the steering is super sharp and pointy. Despite the feel, I won't really know how well it works until I see some times at Donington and even then I have to allow time to get used to the car. Once it gets to feel like putting on a pair of old, well-worn socks I'll feel more confident about letting rip.
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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: Geometry sorted, engine sorted, time for the first proper test!
For Jesse's previous Yellow Peril stories click here.