Part 1: RallySport Mag’s never-ending rally car rebuild

27th May 2019, 11:00am
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They say that ‘from little things, big things grow’, and that was certainly the case for RallySport Magazine’s Ford Escort Mk2 after a rallysprint in September 2017. What started out as a quick fix to repair a hole in the floor soon turned into a full-scale rebuild that has taken the best part of 18 months. Over the coming weeks we’ll give you a ‘blow by blow’ account of the rebuild, and how one thing led to another, and another, and another ….. * * * * * But first, a little history. My 2-litre Ford Escort was built way back in 1992, and debuted at Ballarat’s Begonia Rally of that year. For the time it was a decent spec car, although far from the ultimate Escort. It sported a mildly worked 2-litre Pinto engine, a four-speed TranX close ratio gearbox and a 5.1:1 Atlas limited slip differential that put the power to the ground. Suspension was Bilstein via Drummond Motor Sport, running (usually) Dunlop SP52 tyres. A fully welded in roll cage kept the body intact, and for the past 27 years it’s remained pretty much in the same specification.

Peter Whitten and Greg Day winning the 1994 North Eastern Rally in a Ford Escort. Photo: Paul Mollison

Over the years I managed a number of good results, including a fifth outright in the Alpine Rally as an ARC round, and a win in the North Eastern Rally in 1994, a round of the Victorian Rally Championship. I sold the car in 1995 when I built a Mazda 323 GTX that was run in the standard production Group N class, then, when the Mazda was sold at the start of 1997, I re-purchased the Escort from a mate who had used the car while I chased the 4WD dream.

Jumping the Mazda 323 GTX to third outright and 1st Group N in the WIN TV Rally in the Valley.

Then life and kids intervened, and while I’ve done sporadic events in the car over the last 15 or so years, it hasn’t seen the forest anywhere near as often enough as I, or the maturing aforementioned kids, would have liked. That was to change in 2017, and when 20-year old Luke went and purchased a new HANS device and helmet, I was running out of excuses not to get the car out of the shed. We had a couple of events lined up before the end of 2017, but first, younger son, Matt (15), was to sit in the co-driver’s seat as we acted as zero car for our local Mt Porepunkah Rallysprint, near Bright in North East Victoria.

Peter and Matt Whitten at the 2017 Mt Porepunkah Rallysprint.

On a fine, sunny day in September, everything went pretty well. Getting back into the driver’s seat was like reuniting with an old friend as we attacked the stages with excitement.

As any rally driver knows, when you get in the ‘zone’ in a rally car, it becomes not just a machine, but an extension of your body. If everything is working well, things just seem to flow.

“Now I remember why I love this sport so much,” I remarked to Matt at the end of one of the stages mid-event.

Once in the groove, a rally car can become an extension of your body. Photo: Paul Mollison

Funnily, and despite a two-year absence from behind the wheel, we would have won the rallysprint had we been entered, which at least told me I wasn’t over the hill just yet! With that in mind, we headed home ready to re-prep the car for another rallysprint two weeks later, where we actually compete, and with Luke in the co-driver’s seat.

Kicking up the dust, and setting some good times in the Mt Porepunkah Rallysprint. Photo: John Doutch

Our inspection of the car soon revealed a couple of big holes in the floor on the passenger side, however. I remembered hitting a big rock as we slightly cut a corner on a stage early in the event, but as the impact was in front of the navigator’s footrest, and then under the seat, we didn’t notice it at the time. No problems, we thought, we’ll just get a mate who’s handy with a welder to seal it up, and we’ll be on our way. A couple of days later he arrived with his big mother of a welder on his trailer, ready to get to work.

The big holes were hidden from view until a closer inspection after the rallysprint.

It wasn’t long, though, until we had changed our minds. The holes were bigger than we had at first thought, and were going to take a fair bit of welding. They would also need some extra metal added to do the job properly.

Adding to the complication was the floor of the car – now 41 years old – that was looking paper thin in some places.

While welding the existing holes was doable in our timeframe, there was no guarantee that the next rock we hit wouldn’t do similar damage somewhere else.

We decided on a proper repair, rather than a quick fix of big holes.

With that in mind, the welder stayed on the trailer, and we disappointingly had to shelve the plan to enter the rallysprint two weeks later. “No worries,” we told ourselves. “We’ll get the hole fixed, whack some paint over it, and we’ll be ready for the next scheduled event a few weeks after that.” Unfortunately, that’s not how it panned out though. But that’s a story for Part 2.

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Part 1: RallySport Mag’s never-ending rally car rebuild

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