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MINI ELECTRIC PACESETTER UNVEILED

Based on the marque’s first electric car with a strong whiff of JCW, Mini has created the Electric Pacesetter, which will feature as Formula E’s upcoming safety car. Is this a preview for an all-new electric JCW from Mini in the future?

The track-only Electric Pacesetter special has been created ahead of the 2021 Formula E season. It makes use of the brand’s motorsport expertise from the John Cooper Works division, hence why the car you see here looks familiar thanks to CFRP wheels spats, that rear wing and a bold diffuser.

Underneath, though, is where things get a bit interesting. While it retains the 181bhp made from the road-going electric Mini, torque has been upped to 206lb ft to help with acceleration. That, combined with the accumulative loss of 130kg over the regular electric Mini means the Pacesetter accelerates from 0-62mph in 6.7 seconds, some 0.6 seconds quicker than the production car.

In place of the standard suspension setup are competition-spec 3-way adjustable coilovers. The track has been increased by 10mm, four-piston brake calipers are nabbed straight from the JCW GP car and new 18-inch forged wheels are shod with Michelin Pilot Sport 4s measuring 245mm wide. Inside, bucket seats replace the regular loungers, complete with six-point harnesses and a roll cage.

The 130kg diet has come about thanks to removing pretty much everything you don’t need for track-driving, think sound deadening, rear seats etc.

At the moment, the Mini Electric Pacesetter remains a one-off special for safety car duties during the Formula E season, but, rumour has it, a fully-electric JCW is set to arrive before the end of 2021.

Source

March 30, 2021
MK1 ESCORT RACE CAR: IN THE BLOOD

With a track record for owning and building some incredible motorsport Fords like this road legal Mk1 Escort race car, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was in father and son, Vince and Jake Falzon’s blood.

Feature first appeared in Classic Ford magazine. Words & Photos: Dave Moore

Despite its relatively small size and population, Malta punches well above its metaphorical weight when it comes to both the number of Ford fanatics and classic and modified Fords you can find on the island.

With a huge following in drag racing and a geographical landscape that lends itself to hillclimbs, it’s not surprising that the majority of modified cars are built for one of these disciplines, so to find something ready to take on even the most demanding of rally stages or race tracks (when there isn’t one in the country) is somewhat of a rarity, especially when it’s been built to such an impeccably high standard and is loaded with what can only be described as a mouth-watering
spec list!

Vince has owned some pretty fine examples of the most popular Ford’s over the years — in fact, he still has a few in his collection today, but it’s obvious his latest builds is his jewel in the crown.

Like father, like son

Vince’s relationship with his son, Jake epitomises how most car-mad Dad’s would want it to be, so when Jake suggested to his Dad that they should build a Mk1 Escort race car together, it was like an itch that just had to be scratched.

“It’s his fault!” Vince laughs, pointing in his son’s direction. Those two things as it turned out, were all it took to start the build and the end result, as you can see, is what’s undoubtedly up there as one of the finest Mk1 Escorts around today.

A donor Mk1 Escort in standard road trim was found on the island and Vince spent no time in dismantling it back to a bare shell, before the real work could begin; “Everything has to be immaculate when I build a car, outside, inside, engine bay and also underneath”, he says with a smile.

The shell was prepared to his strict standards and that included fitting the bubble-arches and making the necessary modifications to house a Wales Motorsport fully-floating six-link rear axle setup.

As with nearly every aspect of the build Vince likes to be hands-on himself and painting the shell was no different. He prepared everything ready for paint, before his brother, Simon was entrusted to give it a beautiful coat of Frozen white; Vince being Vince still wanted to do as much as he could himself and he ended up spraying the interior himself.

With the shell back at his house, he started the overall assembly process, thankfully with so many decades of performance parts out there to choose from, he knew it exactly what chassis components he wanted and as you’d expect, they’re more than up to the job.

Avo three-way adjustable dampers were fitted to help with the handling while a tried-and-tested AP Racing braking set-up on all four corners is responsible for bringing things under control, for when they eventually do get a little bit wild. With the chassis components well underway, Vince turned his attention to what was going on under the bonnet; “I wanted something really special for the engine”, he enthuses. To that end Smith & Jones were brought into the mix via one of their bespoke YB blocks which when joined by the Arrow crank and rods would provide 2.4-litres of displacement.

Siamese style

A 2wd head was bolted in place for the time being and to that was joined a beautifully fabricated tubular exhaust manifold, which was in-turn mated with the gen2 version of the Garrett GTX3584RS. Eight 1000cc injectors in a siamese set-up were responsible for providing enough fuel whilst an RS500 inlet plenum with spacer was being fed the cooled charge air thanks to an Airtec intercooler up-front — well as cool as you can get charge air in the Mediterranean, anyway.

There’s no denying the father and son’s commitment, with every evening and weekend spent working on the car, but with so much work to get through at such a high-level, it took 20 months from start to finish… and in that time, Smith and Jones had actually updated their block design to use long studs that went the full height of the block; “I wanted one of their own head castings anyway, so thought I had to update my block as the build wasn’t finished yet”, Vince laughs. So, a later-spec block was ordered and when it arrived he stripped his first engine down and rebuilt it into the updated block and added the new Smith and Jones head casting at the same time.

Art work

As you can see, the interior and even the boot were also given Vince and Jake’s full attention with incredible touches and detail littered throughout, together with every single fitting and hose imaginable being of an Aeroquip-style, in a stealthy shade of black, rather than the typical red and blue affair.

The whole car is a work of art, and as with all of it, the interior is much akin to seeing a good film, where you really need to watch it a few times as you miss so many things the first time, or on your first glance, as in this case.

A sea of carbon fibre greets you, from the seats to the door cards set against the towering and unmissable carbon fibre sequential gearbox lever, which fires quickly through the gears of the six-speed Elite transmission at the other end of it. Then there’s the removable deep-dish wheel, the floor-mounted pedal box, Stack dash, the AIM digital display and control system… there’s literally something to please your eyes wherever you look, all finished and installed impeccably; rarely do you see such hardcore motorsport componentry blended together so well in something that’s actually road legal… yes, really!

There in lies one of the best things about this build, apart from it bringing a father and son together to spend some quality time on something they both love, it could easily win a concours-style competition for its cleanliness and finish, yet it also gets driven hard as Vince enthuses “There’s no point in building something like this to then not use it… and besides, I just love the power and the handling of it, it makes me smile a lot every time I take
it out!”

Next in line

With this Mk1 Escort race car demonstrating his fondness of the Blue Oval, the time Vince gets to spend with his son and his capability of building incredible projects we only had one question remaining… ‘So, what’s next?’ which was simply met with one of Vince’s trademark grins… watch this space!

Tech Spec: Mk1 Escort race car

Body:

Group 4-spec Mk1 Escort, bubble-arches, gusseted, drilled front panel, quarter bumpers. Frozen White

Engine:

2.4-litre Smith and Jones YB block with Arrow steel crank and rods, Omega forged pistons, Titan dry sump, custom profile cams, RS500 inlet plenum with spacer plate, eight Dynamic 1000cc injectors, Edwards Motorsport tubular exhaust manifold, Garrett GTX3584RS gen2 turbo, Airtec intercooler and radiator, 3 inch exhaust system with side exit, Link ECU with switchable maps (450 bhp, 650 bhp and 1000 bhp), traction control, launch control, three Bosch 044 fuel pumps

Transmission:

Elite six-speed sequential gearbox, Wales Motorsport Atlas axle, TTV Racing twin-plate clutch

Suspension:

Front – AVO three-way adjustable coil-overs, Group 4 World Cup crossmember, Safari-style bottom arms and hub assembly.

Rear – AVO three-way adjustable coil-overs, six-linked

Brakes:

Front – AP Racing four-pot callipers.

Rear – AP Racing two-pot callipers. Bias pedal box, hydraulic handbrake

Wheels and tyres:

9×15 inch (front) and 10×15 inch (rear) Revolution 8 Spoke Classic Rally wheels, with Avon ZZS tyres

Interior:

Stripped, roll-cage, Stack speedo, tacho and auxiliary gauges, AIM digital dash and controller, carbon fibre bucket seats, carbon fibre door cards, detachable OMP Alcantara wheel

Source

March 29, 2021
BAGGED AUDI TT: PASSION FRUIT

This citrus-hued bagged Audi TT represents something very fruity going on up in Glenrothes. We meet serial VAG modder Carl Robinson to find out more…

Feature first appeared in Fast Car. Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: Ade Brannan.

There are garages, and there are garages. Some are in it for the cold hard cash, churning through the servicing of greyscale commuter fodder to keep the coffers bulging. But others… others do what they do for an entirely different reason. There’s a simple focus backed up by a rich complexity of history – they work on cars because that’s their passion, their calling, and it’s just that simple. All of this is bolstered by years, even decades, of automotive obsession. It’s not just twirling spanners for profit, it’s living out an achievable but very satisfying dream.

Such is the case with Carl Robinson up in Glenrothes, Scotland. Over the years he’s owned all manner of modded VAG rides, including B7 and B8 RS4s, TTs, Corrados, and somewhere between fifty-to-sixty Golfs, so it’s fair to say he knows which side his automotive bread is buttered. Carl’s new venture, along with co-owner Faezan Ali, is UnitSix8, a one-stop modding shop, and the lurid citrus TT you see here was the catalyst for finally turning this ingrained keenness into a profession.

“This car was actually meant to be a daily,” he grins. “I’ve had a few before, and was desperate for another 3.2 to use for work to try keep the miles off my RS6. I’d looked at a few but they just weren’t right for me… then I found this one – standard 3.2, DSG, but painted orange which was right up my street!”

The car was found for sale on Facebook, over three-hundred miles away from home, although Carl’s a road-trip junkie who’s always seen a number followed by a string of zeroes as an adventure and an opportunity rather than any sort of barrier. “As if by fate, we were going down to a show that weekend and the car was only thirty miles from the hotel we were staying at,” he grins. “Other than the colour change the car was completely standard, and aside from a few scratches it was in really good condition. So a deal was done and I drove it back to the hotel!”

The first thing Carl did when he got back to his room was to start Googling for parts, because that’s just how this guy rolls, and within moments he’d ordered up an air-ride kit for the TT. “The 3.2s sit so high as standard, at least with the kit ordered I was a little less embarrassed about driving into the show field the next day alongside the RS6 and my mate and now partner Faezan’s bagged A7,” he laughs.

And with a certain sense of inevitability, it quickly became obvious that the new daily wasn’t going to remain a daily for long. In fact, it took all of twenty-four hours for everything to escalate beyond all semblance of rationality, plans and ideas flying in from all angles. Once back home, the show plans were in full flow and Carl began collecting parts; “we had six weeks to get the car turned around before a 400-mile drive to Northampton for the Edition38 show,” he says.

You’re right, this is a man whose work ethic would make a sweatshop employee blush, and there wasn’t a moment to lose. With the new Air Lift Performance setup pencilled in, complete with dual Viair compressors and twin tanks, it was time to consider the perfect wheels to complete the aired-out vibe. Helpfully, Carl already had a set of BBS LMs from a previous Mk4 Golf project, which he highlighted as being the perfect design for the look – although they were bright green, so clearly a colour-change was in order to ensure that the bagged Audi TT didn’t end up looking like a cartoon packet of Skittles. The centres were duly re-finished in crackle black, with chrome hardware and the lips a shimmering gloss black.

“I knew just what I wanted it to be like inside,” Carl continues. “I had the Recaro Pole Positions already waiting for a car to go in, so then I went looking for the ’cage; the 4-point harnesses followed to add to the style I was looking for, and after a few weeks of planning, two weeks before the show we started work at what is now UnitSix8. The interior was stripped out and we fitted the air-ride, then test-fitted the ’cage and started on the custom seat delete and air install.” The speed at which this slick team works is really quite phenomenal, and this is far from a case of getting it thrown together in order to meet a deadline – they may be quick, but Carl and his crew go to incredible lengths to ensure that every inch of the car is perfect. An unimpeachable finish, nothing less will do.

As such, the guys realised that a little spruce up of the paint would be in order for it to match the quality of the other upgrades. “The person who sold the car didn’t know what shade it was, and thought it was a Lamborghini colour,” says Carl. “We took it to our friend Scott at SJH Bodyworks, and discovered that it’s actually Honda Repsol orange! Scott repainted both sides of the car and the roof to ensure it was all flawless; meanwhile, the seats along with the boot build were sent to Del at Optimus to be trimmed, opting for an old Ford fabric to complement the orange exterior.”

While the car and interior were off being revivified, the UnitSix8 crew split down the wheels to be refinished along with the seat mounts, ’cage and fuel filler – all in crackle black. “It helps when your mate and business partner owns a powder-coating business!” says Carl. And so, one week before the mooted show debut, the bagged Audi TT was sat there in the shop next to a small mountain of parts that needed refitting. It took a lot of late nights and plenty of early mornings, everybody pitching in to help, and it looked touch-and-go for a while… but of course these people are go-getters, there was never any jeopardy here. Twelve hours after the build finished, Carl was four-hundred miles away in the TT, debuting the car in Northampton. “People seemed to really love it at the show, especially sat next to the RS6 – it even picked up a top-15 trophy,” he beams. And that is pretty much the perfect definition of hard work paying off – there was no messing about here, no panicking about deadlines or compromising over quality, the TT simply got done right and done fast. If this is what we can expect from the fledgling UnitSix8 outfit, then this is clearly a company we’ll need to keep an eye on.

Tech Spec: Bagged Audi TT

Engine:

3.2-litre VR6, DSG

Power:

250bhp

Chassis:

8.5×19-inch 2-piece BBS LM – with crackle black centres, chrome bolts and gloss black lips, Air Lift Performance struts and bags, 3P management, Viair 444c dual compressors, twin seamless tanks, sectioned subframe and engine spacers to raise engine

Exterior:

Full respray in Honda Repsol orange (inside and out), US-spec plate recess cover, crackle black fuel cap, textured-finish V6 spoiler extension

Interior:

Recaro Pole Position seats – retrimmed by Optimus Automotive Trimmers in black and orange cloth, Alcantara and orange stitch, doorcards, kneepads and air build trimmed to match, side-mounts finished in crackle black, TRS 4-point harnesses, custom Quattro Sport-style seat delete – trimmed in headlining fabric, Safety Devices 4-point rollcage – finished in crackle black

Source

March 25, 2021