I hear from Doug that Nick Williamson in the Owens/Stirling broadcast sponsored Escort had a good first outing.
A 1st and a 2nd in the opening round of the AAA saloon car race series.

Race 1 Top 6

1 A Nick Williamson, Ford Escort Cosworth, 20.37.011
2 A Laurie Kilby, Mitsubishi Evo VIIII, 20:38.940
3 A Simon Norris, Mitsubishi Evo IX, 20:39.558
4 B Guy Higgs, Mitsubishi Evo VIII, 21:35.192
5 B Steve Liquorich, Mitsubishi Evo X, +1 lap
6 B Freddie Leatham, Mitsubishi Evo VIII, +1 lap

Race 2 Top 6

1 A Gary Prebble, Mitsubishi Evo VII, 20:30.269
2 A Nick Williamson, Ford Escort Cosworth, 20:36.183
3 A Jonathan Faull, Mitsubishi Evo VIII, 21:23.581
4 B Guy Higgs, Mitsubishi Evo VIII, 21:45.484
5 B Martin Thomas, Mitsubishi Evo VIII, +1 lap
6 B Freddie Leatham, Mitsubishi Evo VIII, +1 lap

Next round: 8 May, Silverstone

Thought a few people might like to see some pictures:






















Great result for the lads, fingers crossed they can keep it up, nice to see an escort cosworth doing so well in a race series that seems to be mainly geared around the Evo's!

 

it beat the evos?

 

Yes mate, it was a 2 race back to back day, he won the first race and came second in the second race.

 

p.s

For those who dont know of the race series, you can find some info here:
http://www.motorstv.com/car/others/a...t-very-furious

Its sponsored by an Evo tuning company and most of the grid is evo's so everyone kind of overlooked the mighty Stirling Broadcast escos I think

Fantastic result for Nick Williamson, lets hope he can drive that well for the rest of the season


It was prebble (the orange evo simon norris hit last year) who won the other race

http://www.motorstv.com/car/others/a...ble-share-wins

 

shocking, a ford beating the mighty evo, whatever next

 

nice to see a ford still doing well against a lot of well sorted evo's.

i see on the mlr forum that hardly anyone mentioned a ford won lol

 

Makes a refeshing change

Gutted I couldnt make race day to see it myself, sadly had to work that day.

 

I think they did a group buy on "evo blinkers"

 

Fantastic for the Cosworth

Did Simon Norris manage the race without crashing?

 

it was quite a few pages longwhen i looked at it and not one mention that the escort won, dont think they liked it

 

Well done boys!

 

Great stuff

What sort of spec/power is the escos engine?

 

excellent result...well done.

 

Fantastic

 

Good to hear a ecos beating the japs

 

must be a very well sorted escos!

 

impressive when you really think about it, old vs new and all that, big well done

 

must be a well sorted escort cos and not your average home built up in the garage job

always knew it could be done, it just needs dedication put into the car that Mitsubishi put into the there evo's

 

it can be done with a well sorted car.

 

I'll try and add some balance to the story as I was there watching, and willing on the ND Evo and the Es Cos following Doug Stirling's tip off

Nick did very well, nice bloke and nice car, fair play

...But in Race 1 Gary Prebble didn't run, Simon Norris had various issues (lack of boost and brakes mainly, it was slower than some of the cars down the straight ), and Laurie from AJECs Evo only had 4th and 5th gear.Simon Norris set fastest lap, showing that in the one moment the car worked well, it was the fastest car on the day.

In race 2, Gary Prebble in his Evo ran, and left everyone towards the end of the race. He can properly drive. He comfortably beat Nick, after he overtook the ENTIRE grid from the back to the front in 7 or 8 laps.

Top result for Nick, the Escort Cos and the sponsors Owens and Stirling Broadcast

 

why was the esc cos smoking so bad 1/2 way into race 2 though. he seemed to slow down a bit?

it is properly fast though! Love it!

prebble is a racer up there aint.. keep in mind he started LAST and ended up 1st.

 

Impressive stuff really, considering the competition.

Has Simon Norris sacked off Time Attack these days then? What sort of oomph does his car have now?

 

well done boys ,just shows it can be done

 

God on him.

 

Must be a well sorted escort, plus he must be handy behind the wheel. Top job matey

 

Surprisingly a very basic car but well set up and driven by 1 of the best club racers there is !

Race 2 ,Sheared the front diff bolts ,the diff twisted and cracked the sump giving smoke and flashing oil lights, Nick Slowed down considerably ,taking nothing away from Gary who drove from the back of the Grid !

FYI ,
I supply Tyres,wheels , brakes, rear Diff ,Suspension components and anything else Nick needs when he hasn't bought it in time for raceday .
In fact the engine came from me too !

 

Si, you kill-joy..............


Seriously though, FANTASTIC effort from the Escort....

 

Excellent to see!

Anyone know the spec?

 

Can't let the Evo's get too slated for putting on a frankly mild performance!

I heard various suggestions from people, but what I have gathered so far:

Motec ECU, 2 litre still, GT35 type turbo (not fully a GT35, possibly smaller) and between 550 -570 bhp.

What helped immensely was his lines around Quarry. He was considerably quicker out of Quarry than any other car bar Gary Prebble in his Evo.

He takes the "correct" line, as in the ideal racing line. Very hard to get on to it in a faster car, as coming over rise the car is unwaited, unbalanced and you're trying to brake from 150/160 mph into a right hander straight after a left. Many cars swap ends at this corner as it's so awkard.

Nick took the perfect line and had huge runs on Prebble, ND Evo and AJEC Evo down to The Esses. Only problem he had is less power than all the above- ND Evo runs up to 950 bhp, Prebble and AJEC cars were both c.650 bhp. Hence he always gained on them out of Quarry, but not enough to squeeze by before the Esses.

Had it been a track day, or had they been Blue flagging cars other than the back markers, Nick would have won race one from one of the first couple of laps As it was, no one let him through (it's a race after all) and he was held up for most of the 1st race by slower cars.

Top chappy, very friendly man too

 

the good old cossies still doing well. Top work lads.

 

Its good to see a ford being competetive against the jap cars well done to all involed

 

Loved watching the escos win the first race and it is driven Very well it has to be said.....might need a bit more power to carry on getting results like that once some of the other big cars sort out their first race glitches though!
As said ND's evo posted the fastest lap time with lots of issues and nowhere near its full potential, and garry prebble's evo didn't beat that time either in the 2nd race which he dominated, where everyone else seemed to have problems
Can't wait to see a full grid later in the series as there looks to be some mental cars signed up....i heard Steve Scott is doing some rounds in his escos too??!!

 

Great result,well done.

 

Cheers for that

Sky+ Set for fri 16th be cracking viewing hopefully

 

Nick has lots of racing experience and knows all the other tracks in the series very well, where as some of the other drivers are very experienced at combe but not elsewhere as much, like Norris, so what nick loses in power he may be able to make up for in corner pace to a certain extent.

Definately one to watch if you like cosworths

 

i,ll give you his number so you can ask him yourself richard stop being a muppet

 

Pmsl.....jealousy is a terrible thing ha

 

Simon Norris set the fastest laptime of the day, but then was hindered with a mechanical fault.

Should think it will take him a few more races to find reliability given that the car is still a new development really, but I bet next year he and it will be competitive