FORD ESCORT MARK I

For those of us of a certain vintage, the Ford Escort MK I is a car that’s difficult to forget.

In the late 60s and early 70s, the MK I was ubiquitous on racing circuits – a regular winner in motorsport events across the world.

In 1972, a MK I driven by Mike Stillwell came second in the Australian Touring Car Championships, beating out many of the more-fancied cars, including the likes of the monstrous Falcon GTHO Phase III.

That year’s series included a MK I driven by Lyndon Arnel – a car prepared by Tony Motson.

Tony, after a long history in motorsports, now owns Motson’s Automotive in Brisbane, and it is no surprise to discover that the love of motorsport, and the Ford Escort MK I, runs in the family.

Mark Motson, Tony’s son, bought this Escort MKI in 2000.

Of course it didn’t look like this when he bought it.

A joint venture with friend and Queensland racing legend Derek Pingel, Mark turned what was a pretty ordinary 1300 MKI into the beast you see on these pages.

Designed with racing in mind, it’s a car that has the body of the MKI and . . . well, not a lot else – the three year epic build resulting in something close to a pure racing car.

Building the car was to prove a challenge however, not helped by the fact that thieves broke in to his workshop a number of times, walking off with $25,000 worth of equipment.

“Pretty much all that was left was the engine, the gearbox and the shell,” says Mark.

Finding the car in the first place was something of a challenge too. After agreeing to buy one car, Mark returned the following day to pick it up only to discover that it had been sold from under his nose. Disappointed and trudging back to work, good luck intervened.

“There was a little MKI parked in front of our workshop,” he says. “It looked reasonably tidy and I asked the young lad who owned it whether he was interested in selling.

“He said it had been his grandad’s and he had to ring his parents to check to see if it was okay. He rang them, they said yes, and I bought it on the spot for $450!”

“I stripped it down completely,” he adds. “It is really the body shell and a bit of the interior. Everything else is completely re-manufactured. The engine is a 2-litre turbo-charged Nissan SR20 DET from a 180SX. The gearbox is a Nissan Firespeed from the same vehicle and the differential assembly is from a Toyota Hi-Lux with KAAZ LSD.

“The engine is absolutely stock-standard straight out of the half-cut, but it’s got a bigger turbo-charger on it, bigger injectors and an aftermarket computer. It makes 290hp at the tyres, which is 400hp at the flywheel.

“I’ve tubbed the rear end too. It’s actually 100mm wider than a normal MKI. Everyone told me that it was physically impossible to put 16×8 wheels on a MK I Escort. I said nothing is physically impossible.”

And the work didn’t stop there, with Mark even trying his hand at some DIY carbon fibre work, ingeniously utilising some home appliances in the process.

“The car has a carbon fibre dash I built myself,” he says. “I cooked it in my wife Wendy’s oven at home. I made my own mold and it cost around $60. Nothing is impossible.”

In fact, pretty much the only thing that Mark didn’t do himself was the paintwork.

“When we built the car I said that it had to be bright yellow – the 360 Medina Ferrari yellow. It is beautiful. I love it.”

Of course, building a race car virtually from the ground up would not mean much if it didn’t perform, but since debuting the car in 2003 Mark has notched up more victories than he can count, including a series win in the 2012 QLD-NSW Sprint Challenge Championship.

Indeed, the car’s first victory took place at its debut event – the 2003 Gatton Sprints.

“It was originally built for racing with Short Circuit Motorsport, a club run out of Toowoomba, which does circuit racing,” says Mark.

The club has been the spawning ground for some top motorsport talent – Brendon Pingel, Derek’s son, currently runs in the Australian Aussie Cars Championship, and Will Power, the Toowoomba-born IndyCar star was a member too.

In fact, Mark still races occasionally against Bob Power, Will’s father. It’s an association that explains why Will Power’s autograph adorns the Escort’s dashboard.

After a decade of racing the car, Mark doesn’t take it out quite so much anymore. Having bought out Derek’s ‘half’ in 2007, the Escort takes a turn around the track only every few months.

But, though Mark has received offers over $70,000 to take the car off his hands, he has no plans, yet, to let it go.

“My hope is I might have grandchildren one day and another generation of the family will be interested in motorsport. Perhaps we could race it together.”