DJM Motorsport || Projects :: Colin Mcrae MKII Escort

In late 2002 we were asked by colleague and friend Gordon Birtwistle of Proflex UK Ltd if we could convert a MkII Escort into independent rear suspension instead of the conventional live axle, for a rather special customer, this being the late great Colin McRae and of course, we were only too pleased to take up the challenge.

The donor car was supplied to us in early 2003 and after numerous telephone conversations with Colin the project commenced. The original specification was to be an ultra long wheel travel, gravel rally car. With fully independent front and rear suspension to our own design and using our own aluminum uprights, finished off with a T45 roll cage to support the modifications.

Colin first visited our workshop in April 2003 to see how his ‘toy’ was shaping up. He took a particular shine to our brand new 4WD tarmac spec KA rally car and it became apparent to him that we were a ‘one stop shop’ and were able to bring WRC attributes to any vehicle. This led to us doing more work than was initially intended. As it was decided on that day that the project was now to be a turn key rally car designed to be as lightweight, compliant and agile as we could make it.

We set about removing as much of the unnecessary body shell as possible and replacing it with a combination of carbon fibre and space framed chassis using very little if any of the escort steel work as structure.At this stage we decided to use the Sierra 7 ½” rear diff unit which Colin knew to be reliable from his early Group N experience ,and an outsourced gearbox .

After many late nights and many visits from Colin the car was ready for its very first test , this was to be a drive around our industrial estate to check the rudimentaries. Colin said he was flying over that day on his way to London and could call in for a “try”. I informed him that the car had no doors, bonnet, boot, or indeed any glazing, to which he replied ‘no problem’.

After arriving at the unit the weather wasn’t looking too good, the rain was pouring down. Colin was peering out from under the garage door, to see if it had cleared, eager to jump into his pride and joy, as soon as it had he was away! That Friday afternoon was one of our most surreal days at work , as the 1995 world rally champion proceeded to drive up and down all afternoon setting up the brakes and generally getting the feel for his new “toy” as many bewildered locals looked on!!

The plan was to have the car ready for Colins rally on Saturday 24th July 2004 and to do a proper shakedown on Thursday 8th July around our local test track at Blyton.

We got the car to a rally ready stage just in time for the Blyton test which was to be a low keyevent with Colin and Gordon Birtwhistle (Proflex UK Ltd) in attendance, with Colin wanting to do a 20 mile shakedown before his pre rally test later in July. 20 miles soon turned into 30 miles, 40 into 50 then we ran out of tyres! Gordon was first in the car with Colin to do some initial set-up work, this very quickly turned into timed laps and grins from ear to ear. Blyton is well known for rally cross, but the rally cross circuit is ‘out of bounds’ when testing – but not for Mr McRae! Gordon and Colin set about attacking the rallycross circuit, which is a mixture of limestone and tarmac. One of the organizers of the circuit was flabbergasted and said he’d never seen anyone go that fast. Colin’s comment about the speed was simply “If we had rolled at that speed, we would have rolled back to Lanark!”

For us, the best was still to come. A lap or two, or three ………with the master. This was simply unbelievable and way beyond any expectation made all the more gratifying by the fact that we had built the car from start to finish, and after 50 miles the only problem we had was a broken alternator tensioner (mended with a 20p from Colin’s own pocket!!) Colin commented that he had been on many, many tests, not many of which had gone as well as that.The pressure was now on to get the car ready for the McRae Stages and a 2 day pre rally test.

Unfortunately things didn’t go according to plan and the out sourced gearbox exploded after two miles, leaving both Colin and ourselves hugely dissappointed after all our efforts. The weekend still turned out to be a good one as we got to look after Colin’s Metro 6R4 and attend one of his legendary parties.

After a week of discussion regarding a suitable gearbox for the Escort and with the new Colin Mcrae R4 in our plans, it was decided that we would design our own gearbox and develop it with Colin’s help in the Escort and then in the R4. We gave ourselves until the end of 2004 to have a prototype unit ready to test.

In the meantime we decided to fit a borrowed gearbox in the the Escort, in order that we could start developing it. The venue for the first proper test was to be Sweet Lamb on Sept 1st.

The scene was set - one very special MkII, Colin, Gordon(Proflex), and a stop watch.
The weather for the test was perfect, dry, but not too warm. Colin knew the test track really well as he had tested there many times before with the works teams. The pace of the car was amazing if not unbelievable to watch. We spent all day trying every possible variation in set up, anti-dive, anti-squat, roll bars, springs, dampers, tyre pressure and widths, ride height, rake, etc etc. Gordon hinted all day that Colin was impressed, however, Colin remained tight lipped . Once again a few miles in-car with Colin was both awesome and unforgettable. Just before Colin flew off into the sunset we asked him his thoughts so far, he commented “the cars a winner boys and girls”, and preceded to tell us how he could not believe the cornering speeds and the late breaking ability of the car, and whilst he admitted traction was not what he was used to in terms of a 4WD car, the overall performance was amazing and he could not get over the difference the lack of weight made (300 kgs lighter than a WRC car- 930 kgs compared to 1230 kgs). His final comment “I ‘ve never been that fast on gravel ”. What a day !!!

Late December, our own new gearbox was fitted in the Escort, which was no mean feat. The layout of our gearbox allows it to be layed on its side if required, ie the main shaft and the lay shaft can both lay in the same horizontal plane or in the normal manner, one above the other. This gives an advantage when used horizontally by allowing the engine to be lowered in some cases 100mm, giving a substantial gain in terms of overall centre of gravity. This of course was what Colin required when the gearbox design was realised. The repositioning of the gearbox required some major surgery as it effected cross member, steering rack, exhaust manifold and system and bellhousing etc.

Just before Christmas Colin flew down to try out the new gearbox on the back roads behind DJM’s workshop (a 10 mile route called the test track!). He did a few laps and everything was working really well and decided that he would just do one more lap (with David who happened to be wearing a santa hat – a compulsory DJM tradition!) when towards the end of the last lap they were flagged down by some ‘boy racers’ in a Saxo to pull over. The look on their faces to see Colin McRae driving the Escort and santa sat beside him was a sight to behold! - lets just say there would be some stories told at the pub that evening! Their comment to Colin was “will it spin the wheels?” to which Colin grinned and set off as if at Santa Pod! .Wow !!!!

Next was a two day test, one on gravel at Drymen, a forest north of Glasgow, the other a tarmac test at Knockhill race circuit. Both days where to be both set-up and durabiltiy tests. No real problems were encountered and everyone was very impressed with our new gearbox. At this stage the gearbox had no real name, apart from a nickname Colin had given it ‘Daves Box’ this led to us calling the gearbox the DB400!

During the test Colin asked if it would be possible to make a paddle shift system for the gearbox in time for the Killarney rally at the end of April and so we set about manufacturing a system with a proposed gear shift time of 60 milli seconds and with Colins help an ergonomic paddle. This we had ready 2 weeks before Killarney and did a brief test around our test track with Colin.

The rally was scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Thursday being a closed road test and shakedown.All went well and Colin got familiar with the paddle shift, and acclimatized to Irish tarmac!! The time we spent with Colin in Killarney both under the car (and in the bar!) were some of the best days at ‘work’ we have ever had. And it is now a well recognised part of Irish rally folklore and in-car video history.




Photos courtesy of Roy Dempster

Over the next couple of years many, many hundreds of miles were covered in both competition and testing and the car may have also played a small part in rekindling a well known partnership between Colin and Nicky Grist as we did both the Scottish and the Pirelli rally with the partnership.

ProFlex Stages Layland Test Track