FORD'S WORLD CUP WINNER NEC APPEARANCE

Ford's 1970 London-Mexico winning Escort is making a rare public appearance at the Classic Car Show in November.


Celebrating the 40th anniversary of its famous victory, the Ford Escort, which was driven by Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm, will be on display from 12 – 14 November at the NEC, Birmingham, as the showpiece of a stand celebrating the gruelling 16,000-mile rally.

In 1970 Ford Escorts secured one of the most spectacular results in rallying by taking 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 8th places in the six-week event. Ford celebrated this success by launching the iconic Ford Escort Mexico. The original winning Ford Escort, registration FEV 1H, is retained by the company as part of the Ford Heritage Collection.

Forty years after the Ford Escort proved so unbeatable, the Ford Focus is continuing the legacy. Earlier this year the Focus WRC of Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila won Rally New Zealand, providing the company with its 75th win and making Ford the most successful manufacturer in the history of the FIA World Rally Championship.

John Nevill, heritage fleet administrator, said: "There are few endurance events that compare with the 1970 London-Mexico, which was held to mark England's 1966 football World Cup victory and the start of the following World Cup in Mexico. During this anniversary year our most famous Escort has been in great demand and we are pleased to end the year with an opportunity to display this great car to so many fans."

Source: Ford

The Daily Mirror World Cup Rally 40 – The World’s Toughest Rally in Retrospect
By Graham Robson

Continuing for six weeks, and covering 16,000 miles from London to Mexico City via some of the most varying, tortuous and difficult terrain on three continents, the 1970 World Cup Rally was a unique high-speed event, attracting many serious works teams such as Ford and British Leyland.
Despite the tremendous amounts of money spent choosing and developing new cars, completing months-long route surveys, and analysing every detail of diets, oxygen provision, and the number of crew members, out of an entry of more than 100 cars, only 23 cars made it to the finish.
It was then, and remains now, the toughest rally of all time. More info.

Robson on YouTube!

GRAHAM ROBSON AND GUESTS

Part 1: Graham Robson talks to Rod Grainger, Paddy Hopkirk, Gavin Thompson, Patrick Walker, Brian Culcheth, and Bill Meade at the 40th anniversary of The Daily Mirror 1970 World Cup Rally held at Dagenham Motors showroom, Alperton, Wembley, London 20/4/2010.



Part 2: With Tony Mason, Paul Easter, Bill Barnett, Alan Grainge, Mike Scarlett and Alan Zafer.

The Daily Mirror World Cup Rally 40 – The World’s Toughest Rally in Retrospect by Graham Robson.
Continuing for six weeks, and covering 16,000 miles from London to Mexico City via some of the most varying, tortuous and difficult terrain on three continents, the 1970 World Cup Rally was a unique high-speed event, attracting many serious works teams such as Ford and British Leyland.
Despite the tremendous amounts of money spent choosing and developing new cars, completing months-long route surveys, and analysing every detail of diets, oxygen provision, and the number of crew members, out of an entry of more than 100 cars, only 23 cars made it to the finish.
It was then, and remains now, the toughest rally of all time. More info.

FORD RALLY CHAMPION!

A new month, and a new blog header, this time featuring the great photo of the rally-winning Ford Escort, (driven by Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm), as featured on the cover of our forthcoming book The Daily Mirror 1970 World Cup Rally 40.

Lasting six weeks and covering 16,000 miles from London to Mexico City via some of the most varying, tortuous and difficult terrain on three continents, the 1970 World Cup Rally was a unique high-speed event. Attracting many serious works teams such as Ford and British Leyland, it was, and remains, the toughest rally of all time.

This 40th anniversary book is due this month (March 2010). Follow our RSS feed

FORD DAY

On this day in history (1903) The Ford Motor Company was founded. Here's a selection of some Ford related books from Veloce.



Visit www.veloce.co.uk to see our full range of Ford publications.

100 TIPS TO TRANSFORM YOUR RALLY CAR!

-PRESS RELEASE-

How to Build a Successful Low-Cost Rally Car, a new book by motoring journalist Philip Young aims to provide simple, cost-effective and reliable tips to guarantee reaching the finishing line and more importantly, get results!

This book concentrates on preparing a car for the many forms of road-based rallies, including Historic Rallying, from weekend club events to the Classic Marathon, with useful preparation for long distance events like the Peking to Paris, road-rallies for modern cars, and the “Budget Adventure” events like the Mongol Rally and Plymouth to Dakar.

Published by Veloce at £16.99 containing 150 colour pictures; It concentrates on tips for reliability...items like waterproofing, ensuring the exhaust doesn’t fall off, the radiator doesn’t vibrate lose, engine mountings and the like are regular setbacks on all manner of events and this book gets back to basics, packed with workshop photographs. There is also an event guide, useful contacts, and chapters on personal preparation including staying healthy, coping with borders, and seeking sponsorship.

Philip Young is a former Fleet Street journalist who once helped to run the Daily Mail News Desk...he has written for The Observer, The Times, and The Guardian as well as the Daily Mail, edited two motoring magazines, and twice was awarded the Guild of Motoring Writer’s Motoring Journalist of the Year Award.

Generally credited with having kick-started the historic-rally movement with events like the Pirelli Classic Marathon, Monte Carlo Challenge and Peking to Paris, Philip Young has organised 65 major events and has seen how the same problems crop up time and time again that could have been prevented with some simple modifications in the garage before the start. He co-founded the Historic Rally Car Register in 1982, and more recently started up Endurance Rallying in Britain, events restricted to 1400cc cars with standard engines, such as the Lombard Rally.

Philip Young commented: "Hopefully the book goes some way to debunk the myth that rally preparation is about high cost and high technology - some of the modifications in the book are ordinary household items, from silicone bathroom sealer to wire coat hangers that cost zippo, but transform reliablility."


The 96-page book is available now from bookshops or from www.veloce.co.uk.

If you are driving a road-based rally, this book will help you get a result … don’t even fill in the entry form without it!

NEW FORD FOCUS RS

In the 40-year story of Ford RS, the marque has been applied sparingly, merited by only the most high-performance Ford machines of the time.

Six years have passed since the last Ford RS – the Mk1 Focus RS – finished its strictly limited production run. Now the famous badge has returned for its league of devoted fans and a new generation of performance car enthusiasts.

This new Focus RS is the product of Ford Team RS, headed by Jost Capito, a committed car enthusiast and racer. Alongside Capito is a small team of dedicated performance car and motorsport engineering specialists, led by Chief Programme Engineer, John Wheeler, whose own expertise stretches over 20 years of Ford performance and motorsport vehicles.

Team RS works hand-in-hand with Ford of Europe experts from across the engineering spectrum to create Ford’s performance road car range. More than 100 engineers have been involved in Focus RS and every one understood the weight of expectation that greets a new Ford RS model.

The 2009 production start for Focus RS has marked the 10th anniversary of Ford Focus and 40 years of Ford RS. More info:www.fordmedia.eu
Source:newspress

Fans of the Ford RS badge and its famous history will find interesting reading in these great books available from Veloce:

Rallye Sport Fords – The inside story by Mike Moreton.
The inside story of how Rallye Sport Fords were created by Ford in the 70s and 80s, enabling works’ and private teams to be fully competitive in national and international rallies and races, to win many championships, and, for RS cars to be bought by over 100,000 enthusiast customers. With over 100 photos and illustrations, many previously unpublished this previously untold story is brought vividly to life. Click here for more info.


Ford Escort RS Cosworth & World Rally Car (Rally Giants Series) by Graham Robson.
The Escort RS Cosworth, which began rallying in 1993, was one of the most ingenious designs of all time, and eventually became Ford's most successful model since the legendary Escorts of the 1970s. The combination of Cosworth power, four-wheel-drive transmission, and an effective aerodynamic package made it a Rally Giant in all conditions, and, until the all-new Focus WRC was launched in 1999, this generation of Escorts was the most effective rally car that Ford had ever produced. Click here for more info.

A PACKET OF SWEETS TO PLUG A SPLIT PETROL TANK ...

bathroom sealer to waterproof an engine ... exhaust brakets from a wire coat hanger ... just a few of the many low-cost tips you can find in this new Veloce book.

New in stock! How to Build a Successful Low-Cost Rally Car – For Marathon, Endurance, Historic & Budget-car Adventure events
By Philip Young.

Simple, cost-effective, basic and reliable tips to ensure that any rally car stands a chance of reaching the finishing line. If you are planning a road-based rally, don't even think of leaving home before reading this book and implementing the tried and tested mods it describes so well.

This book concentrates on preparing a car for the many forms of road-based rallies, including Historic Rallying, from weekend club events to the Classic Marathon, with useful preparation for long distance events like the Peking to Paris, road-rallies for modern cars, and the “Budget Adventure” events like the Mongol Rally and Plymouth to Dakar. It concentrates on tips for reliability...items like waterproofing, ensuring the exhaust doesn’t fall off, the radiator doesn’t vibrate lose, engine mountings and the like are regular setbacks on all manner of events and this book gets back to basics, packed with workshop photographs. There is also an event guide, useful contacts, and chapters on personal preparation including staying healthy, coping with borders, and seeking sponsorship.

Philip Young is a former Fleet Street journalist who once helped to run the Daily Mail News Desk...he has written for The Observer, The Times, and The Guardian as well as the Daily Mail, edited two motoring magazines, and twice was awarded the Guild of Motoring Writer’s Motoring Journalist of the Year Award. Philip Young is also the author of the Veloce best-seller Peking to Paris 2007 – The ultimate driving adventure.

Generally credited with having kick-started the historic-rally movement with events like the Pirelli Classic Marathon, Monte Carlo Challenge and Peking to Paris, Philip Young has organised 65 major events and has seen how the same problems crop up time and time again that could have been prevented with some simple modifications in the garage before the start. He co-founded the Historic Rally Car Register in 1982, and more recently started up Endurance Rallying in Britain, events restricted to 1400cc cars with standard engines, such as the Lombard Rally.
click here for more info about the book.