(light hearted music)
- [Henry] The passion for cars started pretty much
as early as I can remember really.
(car engine revving)
(man chuckles)
I remember my parents watching Formula One on television,
and me wandering in, and asking
which ones the red cars were.
As soon as I felt what it was like,
even from the passenger seat, from an early young age.
I remember loving going quickly.
(car zooms)
and loving feeling a car sliding around,
and that's just progressed.
- [Radio] Double caution. (voice mumbles)
- And I think that's probably why I love rallying so much.
(camera clicks)
Writing is wonderful and
immensely frustrating at the same time.
And rather like the cars and the driving,
what you really want, what you are striving for,
what you long for, what so rarely happens is a flow.
(car engine revving)
I've been doing this for nearly two decades now.
And the sheer excitement, I suppose, (giggles)
and enjoyment is still exactly the same.
Those emotions, they don't change, I don't think.
(car engine revs)
(upbeat music)
This is a better me.
(car engine roars) (upbeat music)
This is the MST MK1,
there's just so much to love about this.
It's small, it's so mechanical.
You can feel everything, feel when the diff locks up.
Obviously you got a fabulous H pattern manual gear box.
Glorious induction noise, not just blaring
it's all proper induction noise.
Because it's so small, it fits down these roads.
Feel like you got room to play. (laughs)
(car engine roars)
Oh, I love this.
Good to hear.
Oh. (car engine roaring)
That quintessential contact and rear drive balance.
The suns even in come out. (laughs)
(light hearted music)
- MST or Motorsport Tools is based in north Wales,
and started out selling surprise surprise, tools.
But then branched out into escort parts.
And that now forms the majority of the business.
Of course, if you sell all the parts
needed to build a complete car,
then the logical next step is, well obvious.
A MK2 with a Duratec engine,
and a six speed Mazda box came first.
And now there is this, a MK1,
with a 250 brake horsepower, two liter BDG.
Running on gen V throttle bodies and a life ECU.
It's a nice mix of traditional and modern,
and something I hope to imitate in my own Pinto engined car.
(car engine revving)
Oh, that sound.
That distinctive grasping sound of a BDA.
Because that's what everyone
really refers to these as.
It's designed a BDA in the forest that people talk about.
The BDG is just a, it's the later,
it's the ultimate almost, really, iteration of it
because it has an alley block.
(car engine revs)
BDA in consumer trusted, stands for Belt Drive A series.
You could go up to a Millington
with over 300 brake horsepower, and a sequential box,
but I think the BDG with this car's
type-9 H pattern five speed, is perfect.
The relatively short 49 funnel drive means you can
really exercise it at same road speeds too.
And it's topped off mechanically with
a grip and limited slip diff,
and a fully floating Atlas axle,
and 13 inch midi lights.
Inside, it is very posh for a rally car,
but still quite spot on, compared to almost anything else.
I love the soft Alcantara
that's been quilted by an ex Bentley trimmer.
And the seats are fabulous.
But it isn't the sort of car where everything is hidden.
It's like a barn conversion,
with a big rug in the middle of the bare stone floor.
Even with the trim and all its fluids,
this car still weighs just 980 kilos.
The price is a little heftier at 150,000 pounds,
but even that is pretty lightweight
compared to the other restomod out there.
Talking of which.
(car engine revs)
Now you'll notice that, I've calling this MST MK1,
there's been no mention of Ford or Escort.
And that's purposeful, because this is a brand new car.
So whereas something like a
Porsche 911, re-imagined by Singer
has to include the manufacturer's name,
this is the opposite.
And being new, actually I think,
sort of liberates it somehow.
Because one it stills and drives like a
1960s, early '70s car,
you're not fearful of it.
You're not, sort of worrying that you're
denigrating a piece of history somehow.
It's a bit like buying, I don't know, a PG Wodehouse,
or a Jane Austin in a modern hardback from a book shop.
You still get all the wonderful language, and the story,
but you're not worried when you turn a page,
that you might rip a first edition.
Although I own a MK2, and I love the MK2 shape,
I fully agree that really MK1's probably prettier,
it has that more of luxurious more '60s styling to it.
And of course, mechanically, they're really identical.
That wonderful balance of flow you get with an Escort.
They just feel so friendly.
If you do find yourself in an empty, wet roundabout,
you know what I mean?
They have this amazing way of
just sitting into some oversteer.
And feeling so happy and friendly and controllable.
(car engine revving)
It's a trait that you'll feel in everything
from the most humble escort on leaf springs,
all the way up to a wild dream build.
You get the sense that this is a car that's on your side.
Fabulously playful, but also supremely forgiving.
One of the really interesting things about this is,
that they both attracting suspension on it.
So it was running steins before just a normal passive setup.
Like you find a lot of rally cars,
but now they've got this attracting setup
with the adjustable dampers, in fact,
you can adjust the front rear end pitch and roll.
And in their softest setting, I quite like it.
Just takes, it's a little bit of kind of looseness
by the way it turns, and you tend to drive it in a more
sort of relaxed fashion.
It's still got the season, all the camber settings
and everything stay the same.
So, you still got all that feeling to it.
But then it doesn't quite work over the bump.
So you dial all the way up to five.
To ease that it feels like a kind of neither here nor there
but dial it all the way up,
and you got all that control stiffness in there.
All the precision comes back, it's a really clever system.
I'd love to try with some of the
full on WRC spec Reiger Dampers that LST sells,
because they are just witchcraft in terms of
how flush they feel and how much control they retain.
But this is really good fun.
It's just fun being able to change
the character of the car with a tractive system.
And the ride was impressive at lower speeds around town too.
Its not a costing car, but the suspension
soaks up things like speed bumps really well.
All helped of course by the fact that it weighs so little,
and has small wheels with decent side wheels on the tires.
It's got a surprising amount of grip,
in those little 13 inch wheels.
In the drive, we obviously had all sorts of weather today.
Typically British weather.
(car engine revving)
Typical escort steering as much with a throttle,
as with a steering wheel.
One criticism of the tractive system,
which I have tried before is,
see the panel down there, it's a little awkward to reach.
Obviously you can adjust it on the fly but
that's a little bit awkward to do.
You really need to slow down and make sure
of where you are pressing on the screen.
Wow, look at this landscape.
(light hearted music)
And it's terrain that is somehow
very appropriate for this car.
Because these roads are right at the heart
of some of the best classic rally stages in the country.
Places that Roger Clark, and Hannu Mikkola
would've tackled in their MK1s.
(light hearted music) (car engine revving)
So we've got (indistinct) then Brenich,
and Mcnough North and South,
Diffy and then down south you've got Srilam Heffron
(indistinct) down there as well.
One of my favorites.
No I wonder this feels at home really.
I said it before, but I love the size of this.
It just gives you so much freedom.
So clearly I love this.
And I think even at, you know, 150,000 pounds including VAT,
this feels like quite a bargain
compared to a lot of other restomod
even though this isn't really a restomod,
but I think we can pass it as one of those.
So what are the reasons you wouldn't buy one of these?
Well despite the fact that I've obviously
been impressed with the lovely trim in here, the quilting,
and I think these seats are really comfortable,
and I've put up with probably more rawness than most,
there is no doubt that this is rockous little car.
(car engine revs)
It's definitely a car for a weekend blast,
rather than probably to go touring in.
I'm sure they could build you probably
a slightly more refined spec,
but that would then take away some of the character as well.
(upbeat music)
When you are maneuvering,
the motor sport clutches are feisty thing,
and tests you putting dexterity,
but you are helped out in tight spots
by the excellent power assisted steering system,
which removes the effort at low speed,
but leaves you with all the feedback you want
as soon as you move.
Oh, and did I mention it's quite noisy.
(car engine revving)
Good noise though.
It's not a torquey engine.
You really need at least 4,000 RPM on the clock to make it.
To feel like it's really working.
Feel like it's happening, then it goes,
it starts to pick up, starts to breathe.
(car engine revving) Becomes a happier car.
(car engine revving)
It'll rev to nine.
And as you can probably tell, I'm on cloud nine,
in the driver's seat.
Must get my car finished.
Perhaps I'll bring it up here.
(light hearted music)
(title beats)