Australian Forest Escort

[bmw02rally]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

I made the local papers.....Just need some money for tyres to go rallying now.

[MK1_Oz]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

nice car, I noticed that you are not running a header tank for the cooling - hows is that working out for you?

Header tank = expansion tank?? If so, isn't the need for a header tank related to which type of radiator cap you use? I don't use one and my Mk1 overheats a little in slow traffic but is fine once moving fast or going hard.

[nathanblaise]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Hi, yes header tank, but I don't think its the radiator caps that matters - of course the rad cap could be on the rad or header tank. The reason I was asking is that I have a header tank (from retro ford) although I need to change my radiator so I thought I might be able to get away with not installing it, which by all accounts it very doable - pretty sure Wellington is a little cooler than Adelaide :-). Which radaitor did you use in the end MK1_Oz? Cheers.

[MK1_Oz]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Mine is a chinese copy of an alimax radiator albeit in 3 core configuration that I got via a mate. Well built.

Mark, car looks fantastic!!

[bmw02rally]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

What a weekend! Up at 5am on Saturday for my son's first event and the cars first real gravel event. We arrived at Hirstglen which is a fantastic private acreage venue about 30mins south of Gatton in Qld, for the Northern Districts Khanacross and Christmas party. It was a hot and dusty day but a great turn out of over 40 entries of which 13 were juniors. Ethan was very nervous obviously not wanting to look rubbish so I was trying to keep him calm whilst giving him confidence. He drove the recce to get a feel for the car and how slippery dirt is. His biggest concern was not stalling the car which is quite easy when first is a 2.39 ratio. My plan was to keep him very slow for the first few and then let him get a feel for the balance and power which he duly did. My wife was pretty nervous but I have never seen him smile over something so much as he did after each run. By the end he was getting quite fast and beat some of the adults including me when I kept hitting witches hats. The only accident on the day was my wife not putting the bonnet pins back in which meant a surprise for me halfway around! But at least I have ammo now everytime I want to fix something lol...I want to thank the guys at Northern Districts for a great day especially the Dillons and the Gaines family as well as Chris Wedding for the words of encouragement and Ed williams for helping ages ago with the top mounts. We got home about 7.30 and left everything on the trailer ready for the next days event at Tanah Kita nursery in Pimpama. This was a gravel event as well but road tyres only so I had to fit the only legal things I have which were 8inch wide semi slicks. Anyway I told Ethan to treat it as a complete new thing again and build speed slowly. People were chuckling as he needs three cushions to sit on to see over the wheel and reach the pedals but again he impressed me with his mature approach. Again all the people were really encouraging to the juniors and it was great to see them out there. Gold Coast Tweed club put the event on and hats off to Denis Baker, the Prestons and Mick Bruce for running the event and John Spencer and Clay for the crack and tips. The best part was taking the officials around after without the cones as we could really throw it around. I have shared a vid of Ethan from Sunday from facebook. Hope you can view it. P.S. sorry for having to listen to my voice!!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=578056205598314

[mightymk1]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Nice work.... car looks good. Good luck trying to pry your son out of the drivers seat now that he has a taste!!

When are we going to see your car in a "real forrest" ??? How about the Border ranges rally next year? You will need to bring your "A" game however, after Alan Griffin upset all the BDA big shots with his scrappy looking, no budget, single cam Datsun Stanza that had a blown head gasket on the final day and still won. That guy sure knows how to drive a rally car.

[bmw02rally]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Cheers mate....I'm sure I wouldn't be troubling anyone. Reason 1. Lack of Talent, Reason 2. Lack of Budget, I can't even afford new tyres. The tyres that are on the car were from a field for free and had bubbles in the sidewalls and were hard as concrete! Love to do Border Ranges but I think it will have to be at least next year before I can hope to have the money. Until then its Khanacrosses and Rallysprints, Still fun though!

[bmw02rally]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Here is my effort from the Sunday event.....I need more practice as I wasn't very good. No sound sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9SPymlqqS8&feature=youtu.be

[bmw02rally]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

My mum and dad are over from Wales for Christmas so I arranged for dad to have a drive of my car at a friends track. It was great to see him back in a rally for the first time since 1982 and then sitting in with his 15year old grandson which nearly gave him a heart attack.

It was in the mid thirties Celsius today so we couldn't go for long but it was great fun....I've attached two pics of me trying to scare my daughter.

[bmw02rally]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Here is a vid my son made...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afX03Zv-_Sw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUJYD3FfKpkp9hT97i1y_Utg

[bmw02rally]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

This is a short video of my car my son filmed using an anamorphic cinema lens on his DSLR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuVZtm2bssY

The car isn't running right yet so look out when it does!

I think it looks very cool?

[mario r h santos]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Nice car you have there.

I'm sure you already have many stories to tell having a blast with it.

Cheers and congratulations,

Mário Santos.

[bmw02rally]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Bit of a works theme added to the car.....ready for the next rally

[redhf]

Australian Forest Escort

Nice one I'm thinking the same way.

[para144]

Re: Australian Forest Escort

Very good vid, car looks great!