Retro Ford, February 2019 – Escort Mk2, Connaught 2.3L Warrior

Words: Ben Morley, Pics: Bob Button

 

If a Mk2 Escort is good at anything, it’s being good at anything. The humble 70’s saloon is actually fairly basic in design, yet somehow it manages to be good at whatever it turns it’s wheel to. Rallying — completed it mate. Drifting — pffft, easy. Circuit racing — Next.

 

 

Tony Paxman’s Warrior powered Escort is one such example of this all-conquering prowess. As it sits before you, at the legendary Spa-Francourchamps circuit, it has just lapped the circuit faster than it did the previous year. The previous year, it lapped the circuit faster than it did the year before that. Yet, when he bought it in 2007, Tony didn’t imagine for a second that he’d be powering the old crate around the historic Belgian Grand-Prix circuit. Instead, he was geared up to be driving round in circles with other Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts, in the Classic Hot Rod Championship.

 

When Tony originally handed over the reddies to Darran and Mark at Escort-Tec, it was a solid 1300L. As someone who has been into Fords for as long as he can remember, Tony found himself with plenty of parts around him to build a decent racer on a modest budget. As simple as this might all sound, what ensued wasn’t a frenzy of car building, but instead about a year spent at a leisurely pace, putting a car together as and when time allowed.

At the time, the Classic Hot Rod rules allowed you to run either a Pinto or a Crossflow. Tony just so happened to be good friends with South London engine-building legend, Ron Harris, and so entrusted the build of an all-singing Pinto to him.

 

 

The problem was, but the time the car was nearing completion, Tony and the friends who had helped him with the build, were having second thoughts as to exactly what they would use the car for. “Hot rod racing at the time was getting a bit rough,” says Tony. “So we decided that we’d go long-circuit racing, instead.” With that proverbial yank on the handbrake saw Tony and his chums go in a completely different direction.

 

Going long-circuit racing puts up a whole new set of challenges, both in the garage and on the track. With that, a “Team” was assembled to tackle the challenge head on. Friend, and former on-track rival, Andy Pyke was to be the second driver of the car as well as events organiser. Taking on a second driver meant a reduction in costs for Tony as they would both be sharing drives at race meetings. Bob Hawkins would be given the role of ‘head of logistics’ or, more accurately, ‘blokes that tows the car around’. Bob would also be on hand to work the spanners if need be. Keith, who had previously done the wiring in the car, staying on to help the conversion to pastures new. Then, there was Bobby Button, who was in charge of catering and burger approval.

 

The team would then meet up every Wednesday evening, or ‘race night’ as it would become known, and basically start all over again with the car. It was going to need a bigger fuel tank, different gearbox, glass, lights, a diff cooler; the list was long. But the lads set a deadline to have the car finished by and after many late nights, they got the job done and the car out on the track at Lydden Hill for a pair of races attached to the Classic Touring Car Championship. As much as anything the team used this as a data-gathering experience and a chance to tweak geometry.

 

After this, the team got a few race meetings and track days under their belts in the UK, but had their eyes firmly on taking the Escort racing across the water. Not literally on the water, but on the Continent. They booked in for their first six-hour race at Spa, and by a strange twist of fate also found themselves signed up to race at Daytona, America. This was a logistical nightmare, but not an impossibility.

 

 

Neither Tony nor Andy had driven either track, so to go from one straight to the other, literally was a huge ask. But, it wouldn’t be as much fun if it was easy.

 

The plucky Escort did better than expected at Spa, sniffing at the top half of the grid and bringing home a respectable third-in-class finish. With the champagne sprayed, the car was loaded up and taken home for a brief nut and bolt check, before then getting loaded up once more and sent to America. Tony and Andy jumped on a plane to the USA and packed a third driver in the shape of Steve Dance, to help spread the financial load.

 

The chance to drive around the Daytona circuit was something of a dream for each of them, so when the Escort managed to take the fight to some much more heavyweight machinery, there were all over the moon to get the chance to take the trip down the ‘Gatorade Victory Lane’.

 

You’d be forgiven for thinking that all of that was serious enough, but it was in 2010 when things actually started to get really serious. If you’re truly ‘old School’ in the Ford world, then you are part of the crew where everyone knows everyone from ‘back in the day’. Tony and his crew just so happened to be old friends with Tim Swadkin at Connaught Competition Engines, and it wasn’t long before they got to talking about a Warrior 16 valve engine for the Mk2.

 

So, an all-singing 2.3 Warrior was built with all the necessary bits to see horsepower figures in the high 200s. Understandably, this was a dry-sumped to cope with the high Gs that racing would throw at it. Simpson Race Exhausts fabricated a custom manifold and system and the whole lot was bolted to a Quaife 5-speed gearbox. The car was then put to two years of hard racing, with several trips back to Spa-Francourchamps.

 

At the end of 2011 Tony’s wallet came out with a thud and the car received some upgrades, to include a set of Jenvey 48mm throttle bodies on a bespoke inlet manifold, a Quaife seven-speed sequential gearbox, bigger Wilwood brakes at the front and the back as well as a trip to Sonny Howard at SHP Engineering for some trick mods to the suspension and steering.

 

 

Sonny Howard is a man who knows about making car handle and applied this knowledge to the Mk2 by installing a drop-linked anti-roll bar, compression struts, roll-centre adjustments and much more. At the rear a custom English axle was installed with two-piece halfshafts. To finish things off, some pukka Ohlins dampers were  installed to ensure that the Escort really handles like it’s on rails.

 

Not a bunch of lads to stand still, at the end of 2012 the car was once again in pieces, this time for a complete freshen-up and a completely new look. The time spent on the high-speed straights at Spa left Tony wanting to go faster. The 2.3 Warrior was pushing out a whisker over 300bhp, which was about as much as it was ever going to. Impressive from an aspirated engine of that displacement, and when you hear it on circuit, it sounds like raw mechanical power. So the only way to make it faster would be to make it cut through the air better, and so the Mk2 was given the full Grp2 Zakspeed treatment, which includes wheel arches that better house the wheels and improve how the air flows around them. A deeper front valance and of, that massive rear wing. The whole car was then painted in the famous Zakspeed/Castrol colours to really announce its reincarnation.

 

The Escort went back to SHP for another upgrade, this time to a fully six-linked rear end, complete with bomb-proof Atlas axle with its very own diff cooler. The seven-speed sequential gearbox was fitted with an SBD flat-shift linked to the MBE management, there would be no need to lift off the loud pedal between gearshifts. This thing manages to go better than it looks. And it looks damm good.

 

This is one of those cars that will probably never be finished, but after Bobby tasted all of the burgers there was to taste, it ended up getting sold on and in the new owner’s hands it will no doubt evolve even further. It came to our very first RF track day back in 2007 and it has come such a long way, but as is the nature of the best, who knows where the evolutions will end up.

 

Connaught 2.3 Warrior, lightened and balanced steel crank and rods, forged JE 93mm pistons, dry sump, three-stage sump pump, Jenvey 48mm throttle bodies, bespoke inlet manifold, SBD MBE management, Simpson Race stainless steel exhaust manifold and system

Quaife seven-speed sequential gearbox, MBE flatshift, ultra-light steel flywheel, AP twin-plate paddle clutch, single-piece propshaft, SHP Altas axle, limited slip differential, axle oil cooler

Compression struts, drop-linked anti-roll bar, Ohlins 2.25” coilover front struts, six-link rear end, Ohlins coilovers

Wilwood Superlite siz-pot front calipers, 280mm vented, drilled and grooved front discs, Wilwood Midlight four-pot rear calipers, sold, grooved rear discs, bias pedal box, braided hoses

Various 9×15” Compomotive MLs, Toyo R888 tyres

Corbeau seat, Mountney steering wheel, FEV fire extinguisher system, multi-point roll cage, custom dash with switches and fuse boxes, Stack dials, custom gearlever tower

Full Grp2 Zakspeed kit, painted Zakspeed/Castrol colours

The Stemming from rallying and the desire to get the most performance for a given category saw the need for a Pinto to have 16 valves rather than just eight. Yes, there is the option to spec Ford’s own Cosworth 16 valve cylinder head, but to get this to perform well without a blower on the side of it is a costly exercise. Even then, it’s not without its limitations. The Warrior cylinder head is a unique item in its own right as it is cast specifically for the use in naturally aspirated format, removing the inherent flaws of the Cosworth item. Ports flow better, valves are better positioned, and it’s entirely geared up for aspirated use. It can be bought as a complete kit with everything that you need to convert your Pinto to 16 va;ves. 303bhp and 265lb/ft of torque from an aspirated engine is not to be sniffed at.