Ford Escort (Mk1) Twin Cam | PH Fleet

RacingPete's Escort takes to the track in anger - and returns victorious

By RacingPete / Saturday, 6 September 2025 / Loading comments

There’s a special kind of sinking feeling when you’re standing over a pool of oil spreading across the floor, the Escort puffing smoke at you as if to say, ‘you really thought this would be easy?’

I was lining the car up for the trailer ahead of my third weekend of competing in the Classic Marques Speed Challenge, at Loton Park. PHer Noor had been kind enough to point me to the series as part of the car’s shakedown before it graduates to rallying. All was going well… until it wasn’t.

My last update had been rather smug about the Lotus Twin Cam being miraculously dry of leaks. Naturally, the car decided to rectify that oversight in dramatic fashion. Oil wasn’t seeping anymore - it was flying out in bucketloads. A push back into the garage and the removal of the cam cover revealed the culprit: the humble half-moon seal at the back of the head had decided to forge a new career path as a colander.

At the time, I’d been blaming the smoky exhaust on the lack of exhaust valve seats letting oil dribble where it shouldn’t. In reality, the seal had been quietly working its way loose, waiting for the perfect moment to blow, a bank holiday Friday lunchtime, three hours before I needed to be on the road.

So, I rang up Andy Burton at Burton Power. Did they have any seals in stock? “Plenty,” he said. Which meant a dash to London through rush-hour for a £2 part. Still, with a stopwatch and a bit of silverware on the line, a five-hour round trip is nothing. To make it worthwhile, I left with a full gasket set. And a spare.

Back home, rocker cover cleaned, gasket glued with the finest bead I could muster, and half-moons pressed into place (after discovering the locating tabs and wondering why the first one wouldn’t sit flush). By 9pm the job was done, the engine dry, and the car ready to load. Disaster averted.

Well, until I drove too far onto the trailer and snapped the timing beam. Out came the 3D printer to knock up a replacement. Job done. But as I strapped the front left down, something glinted in the streetlight - a nail buried in my competition tyre. At this point the gods were clearly trying to tell me something.

Tyres are crucial in Classic Marques. I’d already had to compromise, running 185-section rather than the ideal 225s, and settled on Nankang AR1s. They’d been underwhelming so far, fine for track days, but impossible to switch on over a 60-second hillclimb run. The one saving grace was cosmetic: the bigger diameter filled the Escort’s arches rather nicely.

With the nail lodged deep, I was left with a dilemma. Fit my Hankook rally tyres, which would mean an algorithmic penalty of 0.6 seconds per run, or try to source a replacement last-minute at Demon Tweeks, sacrificing precious practice. In the end, I chose the penalty. Better to be on the hill than sat in the paddock with excuses.

The alarm went off at four. Not the most civilised start, but worth it when you’re off to one of the UK’s finest hillclimbs. Prescott had been fun a month earlier, and I’d bagged ninth, but Loton has always been my favourite. My last time there was 1999, when results still came printed on sheets of paper, pinned up like exam results.

And Loton is a proper challenge. The start is relatively flat, where you need to balance traction and wheelspin to hit the 64ft line in around 2.5 seconds. From there the hill climbs to the right over a crest before braking for a sharp left, then it’s back on the throttle into Loggerheads - a deceptive left that demands commitment and a keen eye on the lonely marker post that signals power-down.

Snake through the left-right into a downhill, off-camber left before firing towards Triangle, which rises steeply just as you brake, encouraging you to turn in hard while the Escort’s tail rallies itself around. Then it’s third gear for Keepers: a right that’s little more than a set-up for the following left, which has to be taken early and aggressively, ignoring the car’s protests to keep the throttle pinned.

The track bends and wiggles up Cedar Straight before the 90-left of Fallow finally arrives, the Escort wriggling beneath you as humps unsettle the brakes. Power through, then steel yourself for Museum — a blind right-hander named, with what I guess is gallows humour, for the graveyard of cars it has claimed. Turn in before the crest, or you’ll be one of them. Nail that, and you’re across the line.

It’s a flowing, unforgiving test, where commitment is everything and rhythm is the only way to carry speed.

By the third run on Saturday I had the track lodged in my head. I still braked too early into Cedar, and tiptoed through Museum for fear of breaking the Escort, but the rhythm was there. Enough to leave me second in class overnight - my best result yet.

Sunday dawned bright and dry. A morning track walk sharpened my lines, and by second practice I was finally in tune with the Escort. With the tyre pressures nailed, and the track’s quirks memorised, I let the car dance.

And here’s where the setup obsession came into its own. The paddock was full of curious onlookers - partly because a genuine Twin Cam always attracts attention, and partly because of the white chalk marks scrawled across my tyres. Old-school stuff, but effective. The chalk lets you see how much rollover you’re getting, helping fine-tune pressures so the footprint is maximised without the sidewall folding.

That wasn’t the only tweak. Remember the nail-struck tyre? It found a second life - as ballast. A wheel in the boot added just enough weight over the rear axle to tame the Escort’s lively tail and give me more traction off the line. Pun fully intended: the tyre nailed its purpose.

It’s not scientific like sticking a pyrometer in after every run, but hillclimbing rarely gives you that luxury. Here it’s a mix of chalk, gut instinct, and seat of the pants feel, as period as the car itself. And on the stopwatch, it worked.

That next practice was sublime. Smooth, balanced, almost effortless. The Escort danced up Loton like it was built for it. Sliding just enough to keep me honest, never threatening to throw me off. The time reflected the feeling: 61.34 seconds, nearly a full second quicker than before.

But when the real first timed run came, the Escort revealed its other side. A messy start left me down on the splits, and something switched in my head. Smoothness went out of the window. I hurled the car at every corner, braking later, leaning harder on the slides, trusting it to stick.

And it did. At Keepers the inside rear strained skyward, Fallow was a proper powerslide, and Museum an all-or-nothing gamble. Scrappy, aggressive, but alive. Across the line: 61.30 seconds. Faster still.

It was during those two runs - one smooth and precise, the other ragged and wild - that I finally understood the Escort’s long-time appeal. Why it won so much in period, why it’s been the darling of everyone from clubmen to works rally teams, and why the paddock fills with ex-owners keen to pore over my Twin Cam.

It’s not just quick - plenty of cars are that. It’s that it talks to you. It flatters you when you’re flowing, and forgives you when you’re scrappy. It’s light on its feet yet tough enough to take a hammering, a car that makes you feel like a hero whether you’re sliding or smoothing. That balance is its magic. And half a century on, it’s still there.

Against all odds, ‘Twinky’ had taken its first win. A car built for rallying, on compromised tyres, patched together with two-quid seals, ballast improvisations, and 3D-printed plastic, had gone and beaten the lot. Two contrasting runs, two sides of the Escort’s character. And for me, a new appreciation of why this car remains a legend.

There’s even an outside chance of the Historic Classic Car Class win now, though the next rounds at Anglesey and Castle Combe will demand diff ratio changes if I’m to be competitive. That’s a problem for another day.

For now, I’m just enjoying the fact that a fifty-year-old Escort, with all its quirks and compromises, still has what it takes to put a smile on my face and silverware in the boot.

FACT SHEET

Car: 1971 Ford Escort Mk1 Twin Cam
Run by: RacingPete
On fleet since: April 2024
Mileage: 200 (though probably 50,000 if dials weren’t replaced)
Modifications: FIA Historic Group 2 Specification

Previous reports

Mallory Park image credit | Toby Galbraith