25th Annual Rob Roy Classic & Historic Hillclimb

Sunday 20^th November saw James RS driving up from Foster in glorious spring weather to the Rob Roy Hill Climb for the MG Car Clubs 25^th Annual Historic and Classic Meeting. Whilst the event was open to Group Nc cars the Escorts entered for the meeting were running in the Invited and Classic from 1501cc to 2000cc category of the meeting. The two entries were a Mk 1 RS 2000 coupe clone run by Markas Johnson of the RS Owners Club Vic and the pristine Mk 2 RS 2000 coupe square nosed clone also Pinto powered of Gerard OÇonnell. Markas’s Mk 1 was original a garden variety Mk 1 coupe and had been fitted with a Warren Heath built Pinto on twin 45mm sidedraft carbs and has been subject to a fair bit of tuning and mechanical work over the years by Markas. The car runs Twin Cam/Capri front struts with Volvo 4 spot callipers and a Mk2 axle with 9 inch drums on lowered springs all round and runs a Watts Linkage on the rear axle housing. Gearbox is a standard ratio Type E 4 speeder and the rear diff is welded. Gerard’s pretty Mk 2 coupe has just been finished after a loving five year build and has a substantial roll cage fitted with full RS 1800 style Forrest flares and ultra wide Minilight style rims. Engine is also a worked Pinto running on 44mm IDF carbs on a Group One manifold and gearbox is also a venerable Type E four speed running standard ratio’s and the rear diff is an LSD type.

The two cars and drivers each had four runs on the day with the first three counting for results and much fun was had by Markas and Gerard as the took their respective Escorts to the hill and did their best to set a competitive time. After three runs Markas topped the time sheets for the Invited and Classic 1501cc to 2000cc with a best of 25.06 on his second run but a third and potentially faster run was interrupted by a slight off that had him leave the circuit and post a 33.01 for his last run. Markas best time left him in fifth overall for the day. Gerard in his first outing in his freshly built Mk 2 coupe posted three respectable runs and worked his way down to a final time on run three of a 27.21 which netted him third overall in the Invited and Classic 1501cc to 2000cc class and left him in 8^th place overall for the meeting. A fine showing at the hillclimb by Ford’s finest little car and the two happy owners out pedalling their Escorts in the glorious spring sunshine at Rob Roy!!