The Roaring Season

Hi Graeme. The photos and comment's bring back a lot of memories of long nights and weekends building the P76 and the
GAA Cosworth motors amazing times JamieA

Following on from my post #46 earlier today I have added some info & photos for the Cosworth powered 4 Wheel Drive RX7 that I built after I sold "The Midnight Escort":

I intended retiring from active Motorsport at that time, but a year later I got the bug again & decided to build a 4 wheel drive RX7 using a GAA 3.4 Litre quad cam Cosworth V6 engine & 5 speed X-Track variable torque spilt gear box which I had built for me while I was in the UK.
I used this new car for Hill Climbs & Rally Sprints.
The number plate 4x4x4 indicates, 4 valves per cylinder, 4 camshafts & 4-wheel drive.
See photos attached.

When it was time to sell this car I removed the GAA Cosworth engine & sold it to Roger Townsend who needed it more than anybody else as he is restoring the original Cologne Capri (ex Paul Fahey) The rest of the car went complete with the X-TRACK gearbox to Greg Taylor who then fitted a 4 cylinder 2 Litre Cosworth engine.
Greg on sold the car to Bevan Wilson from the Northland Car Club who I understand had reasonable success with it.

Escort Mk I - Rego EA2103 Information.
"The Midnight Escort" - Powered by a 4.4 Litre P76 Leyland V8 Engine.

Hi, This is Graeme Barker, the previous owner of this wonderful little car.

My attention has been drawn to this forum site that I was not previously aware of.
For the record I thought it may be helpful to clarify a few points & back these up with a few photos as some of the earlier comments posted on this Forum are not entirely correct.

I purchased this car from a Car Club friend Ross Baker. At the time it was fitted with a 3.5 Litre Rover V8 engine,
5-speed gearbox, standard Escort rear end, a single hoop roll bar & Orange Mag wheels.
Ross had fabricated a sub-frame from the front window screen forward & fitted triumph Vitesse front suspension to the car to allow for a V8 engine to be fitted.

Like Ross I also used this car for hillclimbing but I decided to fit a Turbo Charged 4.4 Litre P76 V8 engine after the original Rover V8 engine quit.
This new P76 400 HP unit required a stronger T10 top loader gearbox, bigger clutch & a Ford Carpi LSD diff.
At that time I fitted rear turrets, Bilstien shocks, a 5 link rear end & a second drive shaft tunnel in the floor pan for a
3 inch exhaust system, rack & pinion steering, moved the fire wall back, fitted 3 piece alloy rims, fibre glass rally seats, full harness belts & all the other go fast bits.
I campaigned this delightful little car in Hillclimbs & Rally Sprints throughout the North Island in 1981/ 1982/ 1983.
It was reliable & provided me with a lot of Hill-climb & Rally Sprint records during that time.

I damaged the car quite badly at the conclusion of the 1982 Gold Star Hill Climb event in Opotiki.
My dedicated service crew & I had 4 weeks to completely rebuild the car before the next major event.
In that time this car was restored to better than new in every respect.
I continued to campaign this car throughout 1983 & sold the car in top condition to Neville Nash in Whangarei at the conclusion of the 1983 NZ Gold Star Hill Climb Championship in Rotorua.
See photos attached.
I'm currently putting a DVD together using Video footage of this car together with photos & newspaper clippings from that era for safe keeping & the good memories this car provided.

Hello again James. I can confirm that this is the car that lived here in Waihi for some time before being sold to the dealer you bought it from. Apparently it was sold with a truck load of gear so I don't know if you scored that as well. At some stage in it's life (possibly 70 or 71) it was put up a tree which necessitated a crane to remove it. It was after this the front suspension was converted back to Escort. When it was here it was black. Allan.

Hi there, pretty sure that the Ex Huxford v8 escort is in Wellington and being repaired after an incident at Manfield a few years ago. It's in good hands.

Have you not given up on this yet James. I must ask Ian Wightman if he still has any pictures of it during his ownership. I seem to remember it having a problem with popping turbo hoses or similar. Allan

seemed to work on Millens car, Jamie. Must have a totally different setup then

Hi 928 that is with the Torque setting set full rear because it would not turn in with to much to the front . Jamie A

Hi again, I just had a look at the 1988 Ashley forest rally sprint video on you tube and note that the Graham Barker RX7 appears to be RWD only. I wonder why if it had 4WD?

Rod Grimwood wrote:The dark green one was Max Irwin and he has it back in his posession now.

I discovered this shot taken at a Chamberlain Rd Hillclimb in 1977. Max was trying pretty hard that day as always!

many thanks Phranc. Has anybody got any other info on the where abouts of this car or gearbox?
Many thanks 928

Last time I came across the Mazda - GAA - Xtrac it was sitting in Neil Allport’s (old building) in Olive road.
Potentially it was sitting there for months or possibly years

jamie wrote:Hi Steve & Gang the GAA Cosy Came out of A race Boat, I was told it had been the Haladay motor.So had talk with Rob H and he seemed to think that was right in fact thay may have got it back ??.Jamie A

Thanks Jamie, thats great info. There must have been at least three of those GAA motors in NZ, as apart from those in the Fahey and Halliday Capri's, one also ended up in a MkII Escort in the late 70s. The one from Faheys car is now with Roger Townshend.

Hi 928 No I havent any photos that would have been around 1986-7 the box was 5 speed dog box with changable raitos it also had an adjusble torq biyus front to rear Jamie A [p/s my spelling is crap]

hi Jamie
many thanks for the info. Do you remember what year Graeme bought the box? Have you got a photo of the box by any chance?
Sorry to be a pest but I am very interested.
Many Thanks
928

Hi 928 Grame went on A big O/E and ened up at X-Track rang me and said what do you think of this box I said sound just the thing good cos we own it. I have no idea where it went Jamie A

David McKinney wrote:Must admit when reference was made to this being ex-Huxford, I was surprised. When did Ross Baker ever compete with a car he hadn't built himself?

Sadly on reading this article again it does not please me but have no wish open old wounds,Ross was real good with body making as for the rest??How would you feel on completion of with out doubt a lovelly looking car based on the Paton {Ferris De Joux body} Always money up front, then on delivery ,Jim when you park always turn the wheel so no one can notice its not straight!!!with one wheel toe ing out the other toe in .then first drive the wheels rubbing on the body and so on and on,Jim we will sell them on looks..Not with my name on itThe Paton had rear sospension copy fo Crowthers Lotus 4 link my car was to have the same!!But no ,,Jim this is Form 1 tecnollogy,in effect no suspension on 3 corners at Puke causing wheelspin!!!{wheel lifting}the rubers lasted a couple of weeks then the nylon ones were much better so much so the chassis started to crack,on driving down from Auck. to disscuss this with Ross as he prepared to stock his shelves in the Mobil SStation Jim I am to busy go home{130miles}and make an appoint.Shortly after I had a big off of the motorway one Sun morn early testing new extractors on a straight road once againa wheel lifted turning the car sideways quicker than any Porsche can .among the repares the suspension was made to work not as good as the Paton but in the Coronet hillclimb the second yr I was 4 seconds faster on a longer track!!!

Hi Jamie
I am new on here so please bear with me
just a quick question. What do you know about the Xtrac gearbox? How did it get here to NZ, Who did it come from, and what happened to it? I have a great interest in 4WD systems and just like to know.
Many Thanks
928

Hi Steve & Gang the GAA Cosy Came out of A race Boat, I was told it had been the Haladay motor.So had talk with Rob H and he seemed to think that was right in fact thay may have got it back ??.Jamie A

Just to add Ross had more than one Escort two or three at the time 1988--9