DeBortolli Escort Mk2 RS2000
From RacecarID
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== 1976 "German" MK2 RS2000 Escort == | == 1976 "German" MK2 RS2000 Escort == | ||
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18271 arrived in Australia from Germany in March 1976, along with 24 other MK2 RS2000’s. You couldn’t buy an RS2000 in Australia then, why you couldn’t even get a 2L in the MK2 Escort yet. They weren’t available until 1977, and the Australian RS2000 was still a couple of years away (1979). Ford was a factory sponsor in the Australia Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and was running a range of cars – Falcon’s, Capri’s and Escort’s at the time with drivers such as Moffat, Bond, Holden and Hodgson. | 18271 arrived in Australia from Germany in March 1976, along with 24 other MK2 RS2000’s. You couldn’t buy an RS2000 in Australia then, why you couldn’t even get a 2L in the MK2 Escort yet. They weren’t available until 1977, and the Australian RS2000 was still a couple of years away (1979). Ford was a factory sponsor in the Australia Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and was running a range of cars – Falcon’s, Capri’s and Escort’s at the time with drivers such as Moffat, Bond, Holden and Hodgson. | ||
| − | + | Ford had already imported 25 of the MK1 RS2000’s in March 1975 from England, and the newly released MK2 RS2000 seemed like the next step in the evolution. | |
| − | + | Why 25? It was to comply with the CAMS rules of the day for Group C Production Touring Cars, which incidentally was the country’s top category of sedan based motorsport. Taken from the CAMS manual of the day: | |
| − | + | ELLIGIBILITY: Cars recognized as Australian Touring Cars, which, if of FIA Group 1, must be one of at least 25 cars complying with the recognition documents imported into Australia. If manufactured in Australia, before 1975, they shall be one of at least 500, and if after 1974, of at least 1000, basically similar units. | |
| − | + | Bruce Hodgson was at this time a Ford Factory driver. He’d been racing and rallying Escorts for years and was “allocated” one of the MKI RS2000’s in 1975. He’s also piloted Falcons in the London-Sydney rally in 1968 and was given one of the legendary GTHO Phase IV XA Falcons as a rally car in the early 1970’s. | |
| − | + | For the MK2 RS’s, Bruce had requested two cars – one to race and one to rally. This he duly received from Ford Australia for a token amount, and he then drove them back to his home at Griffith in south-west NSW. The proposed rally car remained road registered for a while and was used for pace note generation before being turned into a full fledged Group G rally car. 18271 was destined to be the race car. After only 3107 km it ended up at the local body shop in Griffith to be painted up in it’s new racing colours. | |
| − | + | I asked Bruce how the blue & red stripes came about, and it was a typical Bruce response. He took the car down on Monday and said he’s be back the following week to pick it up. When the bodyshop asked what he wanted, he replied “Oh, just something distinctive”, and left it at that. When he returned a week later, there it was in all it’s glory. Bruce had links with the local winery De Bortoli, so the winemaker became the major sponsor for the car. 18271 became affectionately known as “the De Bortoli Wines car” or “the Zebra car”. It was a good partnership as the car became well known over the years for it’s truly distinctive paintwork. Even today people still remember the car and the sponsor. | |
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| + | Bruce had significant commitments in varying forms of Australian motorsport, so 18271’s first race was Bathurst 1976. The details of that event are as follows. | ||
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== Bathurst 1976 == | == Bathurst 1976 == | ||
Date 3rd October 1976 | Date 3rd October 1976 | ||
