No space frame, fiberglass, Perspex
or nitrous help this wild Mk1 hit 11-second quarters at Halfar and it's getting
faster and faster...
Life’s a drag. Or, at least, it is for most
car-loving petrol heads on the Ford- infested isle of Malta. Racing runs
through the veins of all in the packed stands at Halfar Raceway, and Rosello
Cassar and his four-strong team of Escort-racers arc utterly single-minded in the
quest for ever-decreasing quarter-mile times.
No
space frame, fiberglass, Perspex or nitrous help this wild Mk1 hit 11-second
quarters at Halfar - and it's getting faster and faster...
Rosello has owned his Mk1 Escort since
2001, and its continued evolution has been a labor of love for not only him but
friends Marco Magri, Joe, and cousins Francesco and Steve. In a world of
ill-conceived misconceptions about lightweight, plastic race-cars. It's worth
mentioning that the classes Rosello races in means the car can have no removal
of body structure (in other words, has to be fully steel with no fiberglass
panels), all glass windows must be in place and the car must retain original
suspension and axle location geometry; no fancy ladder bar set-ups allowed here.
With this in mind, it makes their personal best quarter-mile of 11.25 seconds
even more impressive. Put simply, that's about the same as a 2012, $300,000
Ferrari 458 Spider. Oh, and that's using a naturally aspirated 2.1-litre Pinto.
Target express
We've seen enough immaculately turned out
Maltese race cars for the quality of Rosello's Mk1 to come as no surprise but,
as commendable as it is, it's the team's dedication in driving towards their
goal of an 11.0-second quarter that really stands out. Bought as a standard
Cross flow-packing road car in 2001, its first event in 2003 saw the car
running increased ride height, an English axle, Quaife gearbox and basically
the same engine. In this guise it ran a best of 11.43 seconds, which is hardly
shabby, but the guys knew they'd never be happy to stop there. Oh, and it was
also right-hand drive...
Confused? Well, if you were wondering how
far the team are prepared to take things to shave off each vital hundredth of a
second, they've converted the car to left-hand-drive. This helps with traction
off the line and counter-balances the chassis' twist as over 200 bhp of Pinto
power is sent through hot slicks to the expertly prepared track. It's worked
too, as the personal best is down to 1.49 seconds, which for an all-steel leaf-
sprung car is a pretty special effort.
Well,
if you were wondering how far the team are prepared to take things to shave off
each vital hundredth of a second, they've converted the car to left-hand-drive
The engine is an angry eight-valve that's
been crafted by Maltese tuning legend, Monty Bugeja. They're understandably
cagey about the spec, but expect a true 2.1 with Dell'Orto 48s, lots of
compression, a finely-crafted head with handmade valves and trick one-off
fabrications, and a hefty glug of race fuel for good measure. It's testament to
the power plant that, when the team are thinking of any way to go slightly
faster, opening up the engine to release more power is not really an option.
You know when you're on to a good thing. When pushed for a power figure,
Rosello claims that it would be "Between 200 - 220 bhp, but it is the time
not the power that is important". Never a truer word spoken...
"It was always the plan to run with a
2.1 Pinto," says Rosello. "It's a very good class with many more
competitors than others. Developing the car has been gradual - it was stripped
down and the bodywork and engine done, then the gearbox and differential mods
have come later. We wanted to see the results after having the engine built and
then improve from there."
The gearbox and differential mods mentioned
relate to the Jerrico four-speed 'box with ductless shift and Mustang 9 inch
axle with strange internals. Once they had the car hooking up with
sub-1.5-second 60-foot times, that poor English axle just wouldn't cut it. As a
drag racing veteran, Monty has seen it all and offered plenty of guidance when
it came to choosing ratios and set-ups for the gearbox and axle, and these
alone have seen the times drop from 11.46 to 11.25: that's a big drop at this
level when no extra power has been introduced. If anything, it's actually less
power to weight if you consider the weight of the 9 inch axle compared with an
English...
The
gearbox and differential mods mentioned relate to the Jerrico four-speed 'box
with ductless shift and Mustang 9 inch axle with strange internals
"The weather conditions make a lot of
difference to times," says Rosello. "We believe we can do an 11.0.
When we ran our fastest time we were only 0.05 seconds slower than the quickest
car, so with the right conditions and changes to the ratios that we're doing
now we think we can do it. The class record is currently 11.02-seconds."
Perfect rainbow
We've established that the body shell is
all-steel, but so far haven't done justice to just how flawlessly it is turned
out. The main paintwork is a rainbow effect carried out by John Farrugia, with
around seven colors in there all fighting for attention, and the airbrushing is
done by Rosello and Steve. They know how to make their cars noticed in Malta.
Awesome wheels are obviously also a must,
and Rosello's plumped for a classic combination of Compo motive Turbo
split-rims at the rear with a pair of slimmer Centerlines up front. Which hide
a pair of uprated calipers and standard drums on the rear with life dedicated
to the drag strip, stopping isn't such a major concern, and despite being
all-steel it's still a very light Mk1 Escort.
Awesome
wheels are obviously also a must, and Rosello's plumped for a classic
combination of Compo motive Turbo split-rims at the rear
"Weighing scales were one of the most
important parts of getting faster," says Rosello, referring to the
Escort's 714 kg weight. It's not just about taking weight out, it's about where
it comes from and balance, which is a point perfectly illustrated by the
conversion to left-hand-drive. "We would love to race outside of Malta one
day - the UK would be great. We've come over to watch at Santa Pod a few times,
but it would be brilliant to compete." We reckon they'd be very well
received, just so long as they don't go too fast!
You don't need us to tell you the interior
is Spartan, with just a single alloy race seat and four-point harness for the
driver and the bare essentials: tacho, shifter, fire-extinguisher, data-logger,
alloy sheet, line-lock, wheel and the all-important window winders.
As Roy Castle famously said,
"Dedication's what you need", and there's no doubting the dedication
of Rosello and his die-hard friends, who are far from finished yet. So, what
are the future plans once you've run the elusive 11.0-second quarter mile?
"We will continue modifying the car as much as possible and find
weaknesses, then go from there..." Some people are never happy.
As
Roy Castle famously said, "Dedication's what you need", and there's
no doubting the dedication of Rosello and his die-hard friends, who are far
from finished yet
Tech Spec
Body: Mk1
Escort, all-steel body shell, all original glass, re-spray in rainbow effect
with custom airbrushing, bumpers removed, converted from right to left-hand
drive. Weight: 714 kg
Engine: Mostly
unknown-spec 2.1 Pinto built by Monty Bugeja, big-valve head with custom
valves, custom cam with custom valve springs, lightened and balanced
throughout, 205-block, twin Dell'Orto 48s, MSD ignition
Transmission: Race clutch, Jerrico four-speed drag gearbox with custom ratios,
Mustang 9 inch axle with Strange internals, locked diff and more custom ratios
Suspension: Adjustable
top mounts, TCAs, coil-overs at front, modified adjustable shocks at rear with
de-cambered leaf springs
Brakes: Uprated
calipers at front with standard drums at rear, line lock Wheels and Tires 15
inch Compo motive Turbo split-rim alloys at rear with Centerlines at front,
drag slicks
Interior: Stripped,
with single alloy bucket seat for driver, four-point harnesses, plumbed-in fire
extinguisher, race wheel, data logger, race battery in passenger's foot well,
alloy dash and alloy door cards front and rear
