Ford Escort Cosworth Gr.A – Icon

20 January 2017 Redazione Racing Cars, Your Cars

FORD ESCORT COSWORTH

ICON

Edited by: Carlo Brema

Photography: Marco Polidoro

One of the undisputed highlights of the second edition of the Emilia Romagna Motorfest, where we have taken part and of which you can read our review on issue #46, has been without a doubt the unmistakable silhouette of the Martini Racing Ford Escort Cosworth placed in the first box at the Varano circuit. Until it did not showed on track, not everyone has been aware of its presence, but after having seen it sideways in  the “Ferro di Cavallo” corners, the attention of fans has literally magnetized themselves towards that box, which until a few hours before it was in silent waiting, but perfectly ready to unleash the full fury of a car that is special for so many reasons. We spoke with its current owner and pilot, Denys Scalzotto that we have identified as a true passionate with a deep dedication for motorsport, kept alive thanks to guys like him, who are well aware of what they keep, however, with no intentions of keeping cars like these gathering dust under a glass case. Cars like these, that smell of history and that raced legendary roads, they want to be driven and treated with the same mechanical violence to which they were conceived. But let’s let Denys tell us more about it.

“This car is one of the few remaining official Group A Escort, perhaps the last ex-Cunico remained intact. I gave it to him for a couple of static events and he assured me that it’s 100% companion of many battles letting him to win the Italian championship in 1994, 1995 and 1996. Cunico is a nice person, I know him from many years thanks to my dad and in the past, during an event, we even made him drive one of our Lancia Stratos. The experience with this Ford was more a coincidence, since my dad as owner of these cars and true collector has always been a big Lancia guy – I think it was one of the lucky few to have them all, from the Fulvia H, to the Alitalia Group 4 Stratos, the Group B 037 Martini, Martini Group B Delta S4, also passing to the Martini Group A 4WD to the 8 valves Martini Group A and the 16 valves Martini Safari, but also the former Sainz Repsol Delta Evo, and I could go on for days! My father has always raced with these kind of cars and has always worked a lot for the family and for his cars – evident that the passion has been handed down to me by him and for this I am eternally grateful.    

The Ford passion started quite by coincidence when we took a WRC in partial trade for a Delta and from there it all started: I’ve always loved the Escort and after testing it personally we realized that there is not only the Lancia world and I would say that there I am literally in love … from there we began the search for a Group A and fortunately the person who possessed one was interested in one of our Delta and so, after months of negotiations, we brought it home. The great thing was to receive the call of Franco after learning that we had bought that and he complimented my dad for the purchase and for happiness for the fact that the machine had come into our hands, knowing the kind of care and passion we treat the cars of our garage. I have attended several events and I must say that this car is outstanding, fun to drive, sincere and the engine is portentous – I opened the Franciacorta Rally Show the very day after taking it home at the beginning of February 2016 and practically I have not even unloaded the car from the trailer that I was already at the starting line of the rally stage. It was great because it allowed me to understand the car thoroughly and safely, also because I got to try it both on dry road (the first day), both through a heavy rain (the other two days). I was aware of the Delta’s fanaticism but I must say that the Escort enthusiasts are so many, I have many people following me in the various events in order to see the car in its natural habitat, and this fills me with pride.

At a mechanical level, the body has been reinforced through welding the existing sheets and the addition of sheet metal reinforcements in critical areas: attachment points of the suspension, front strut and rear center console. The whole is then further stiffened thanks to the application of a safety cage that goes to tie the floor with the uprights and the four suspensions. Matching the suspension we put Dynamic shock absorbers with separate gas reservoir and three-way adjustable settings, at high speeds in extension, at low speed in compression, and the adjustable knife-like anti-roll bars with various combinations of different diameter. Of course, the shock absorbers for use on gravel, always Dynamic and three-way adjustable, are of greater diameter and lenght to withstand the high stresses of rough terrain and of course the excursions of the suspension. Even for the Brembo racing brake system, two versions are planned – tarmac and gravel, ditto for a question of space within the different wheel rims, besides double master cylinders with brake balance on the two axles, the asphalt version includes 380mm separable discs at front coupled to titanium eight pumping elements pliers with four pads, while rear discs have a diameter of 330mm coupled to single-block four pumping elements titanium calipers with two pads. The gravel version, however, includes discs with 330mm front and 280mm at the rear coupled with AP Racing four-piston calipers. The hydraulic handbrake is equipped with center differential release. Group A Regulation leaves wide space for action on the engine, allowing performance upgrades and operating characteristics worthy of a true racing engine, thanks to the electronic control that optimizes the power output by limiting turbo lag that in those years conditioned the power search for the need to find an acceptable compromise with the drivability itself. First of all, the regulation has allowed to replace the melting material of cylinder block and cylinder head with respect to that of the stock version, obviously maintaining the design and the original dimensions while it is possible to work the ducts and the combustion chamber, maintaining the original size of the valves, which however, are made of special material: nimonic. So we replaced connecting rods and pistons, camshaft and the crankshaft has been lightened and balanced, since it can’t be replaced. The lubrication system can’t be modified with a dry sump system, but the oil sump is specially made of magnesium inside bulkheads that prevent centrifuging the lubricant and higher capacity oil pump. The engine cooling system is pressurized to 1.5 bar, so as to raise the boiling point (now at about 150°). Moreover, compared to the road car, at the entrance of the intercooler there is a small radiator that helps to cool the water before recycling.

This is also one of the first turbocharged racing cars to take water injection into the intake manifold. Even the Garret turbocharger (T35) keeps its original size but with different materials, with the impeller shaft on bearings and special material, the 34mm suction flange and a maximum boost pressure of 1.5 bar. Extensive freedom, instead, as regards the electronic part: in addition to the Pectel management control unit, which also integrates the anti turbo lag assistance (the famous “bang”). Injectors, coils, candles and the whole wiring are of a special type. In the Group A version the four-cylinder Ford Cosworth reaches to deliver 400 hp at 5,800 r/min and a maximum torque of 557 Nm at 3,500 r/min. The dog-ring 6-speed H gearbox maintains the original box and the mechanical part as the internal gears are courtesy of Ricardo and with free gears scale. The front differential, with magnesium box as the rear one, is mechanically limited slip in preload with lamellas in acceleration and release, with the rear calibrated almost at 100%. Normally, torque distribution is calibrated at 60% on the rear axle and 40% at front, just to limit the tendency to understeer, then in the absence of the myriad of electronic controls to which we are accustomed with today’s WRC, the center differential viscous coupling intervenes in situations of loss of grip of one of the two axles to distribute the engine torque according to need. A demanding job that of the transmission, therefore, to keep within the correct range the values ​​of the operating temperatures and rear differential, particularly stressed by the calibration – there is a lubricant radiator that is put into circulation by an electric pump driven by a 100° sensor. Finally, to withstand the enormous stress all the organs of the transmission are subjected to, both the transmission shaft that the drive shafts, empty on the inside, are in special material.

Needless to say Denys could keep talking for days, launching all of us headlong for the enthusiasm that shines through all his words and for the excellence state of conservation of his Escort Cosworth. Getting closer to the shape that you can distinguish between a million, with that iconic rear wing, throws you in those years in which you needed attributes as big as bowling balls and courage of a lion to race these kind of monsters. Smell of petrol and oil is still warm, seeing the tires consuming lap after lap, are further proof that some cars are closer to being considered weapons, rather than vehicles. And that Cosworth, accompanied by one of the most famous liveries of all time is an icon, a racing poster that will never get old, keeping the status of dreams on four wheels in the collective imagination of everyone.

Denys shakes our hands and trust us that his dream is to get in the garage another German racing car, a Group B Audi S1 ​, an extremely rare and crazy car – a sort of unicorn.

We sincerely hope that you can achieve your dream as soon as possible, because out there, somewhere, an S1 is not expecting anything but you.