Mk2 Cortina BTTC

[ian.stewart]

If anybody was watching a repeat of Top Gear tonight, there was a feature on the BTTC , in that feature there was a breif glimpse of an Orange Mk2 with a whie roof and flash, I wonder if anybody knows the car, Mk2 Lotus, I assume, I have seen breif glimpses of the car before, but never a complete veiw, or any details.
Anybody help????

[glyn parham]

I think you will find it is probably Frank Gardner in the Alan Mann Mk11 which was used for the first three races of 1968 whilsta waiting homologation of the Escort.

glyn

[ian.stewart]

Originally Posted by glyn parham

I think you will find it is probably Frank Gardner in the Alan Mann Mk11 which was used for the first three races of 1968 whilsta waiting homologation of the Escort.

glyn

Dont think it was , Certainly was not AM colours, and I seem to remember a film clip with CTC24/25 leading the pack with the orange car half way down the pack

[Frank de Jong]

I can find two Mk2's in 1967 which are not Team Lotus or Alan Mann: Roger Clark for Team Surtees (!) and Brian Robinson racing for Tony Dean.

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by Frank de Jong

I can find two Mk2's in 1967 which are not Team Lotus or Alan Mann: Roger Clark for Team Surtees (!) and Brian Robinson racing for Tony Dean.

Brian Robinson owned Byker Hill Garage in Newcastle and purchased 2 Mk 1 LC's from Team Lotus and raced by Brian and Tony Dean. He later purchased one of the Mk 2 LCs (possibly CTC 24C) with, I think, the FVA engine used as an interim by Team lotus before the Escort was announced. As far as I can remember this Mk 2 stayed as white with green flash.

Did Chris Craft ever race a Mk 2 as Orange was his colour.

[morninggents]

I should have added that Brian Robinson still races (or did until very recently) in a Porsche.

[Dan Rear]

Was Brian R's mk2 the same car Martin Sledmore ran in late 70s Spec Saloons?

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by Dan Rear

Was Brian R's mk2 the same car Martin Sledmore ran in late 70s Spec Saloons?

Hi Dan

Martin Sledmore's car was certainly one of the CTC cars. I'll have a word with his brother, John, whom I lived near until I moved last year, but it may have to wait until I get back from holiday towards the end of September. Martin ran the car with a 3 litre V6 iirc.

Thinking more about those days it's possible that Brian Robinson purchased both the Mk2s.

[terence]

One of the CTC cars landed up in Arthur Carters collection in Norfolk.He bought it through GM,when it first came into the w/shop,it had been brush pointed in Maroon with a lovely yellow flash! This was the Graham Hill car by the way.

[grantp]

Can't help with the Orange car (could it have been red but the film discoloured?) but I can offer a gratuitous video link for a cine conversion of G. Hill and J. Ickx in Mk2's at Oulton Park.

http://www.brianwatsonphoto.co.uk/Mo...67Saloons.html

Not my video but it is great to watch and slightly relevant to the general subject matter.

[ian.stewart]

Originally Posted by morninggents

Hi Dan

Martin Sledmore's car was certainly one of the CTC cars. I'll have a word with his brother, John, whom I lived near until I moved last year, but it may have to wait until I get back from holiday towards the end of September. Martin ran the car with a 3 litre V6 iirc.

Thinking more about those days it's possible that Brian Robinson purchased both the Mk2s.

That was CTC 24, now restored and in the Alan Mann collection, not running the correct FVC but a BDA I think, CTC25, is supposedly in a private collection possibly in the netherlands??

CTC16 has been found recently, factory test and press car, it was on Evil Bay, but for some reason the Cortina Lotus club failed to notice the car.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by ian.stewart

in that feature there was a breif glimpse of an Orange Mk2 with a whie roof and flash, I wonder if anybody knows the car, Mk2 Lotus, I assume, I have seen breif glimpses of the car before, but never a complete veiw, or any details.
Anybody help????

I think I may have stumbled on some info- At the 1968 end of season Motor Show 200 (Brands) the Alan Mann FVA Mk2 UVX565E was raced in Orange & Cream livery after being sold to the Belgium Frami Racing team. Driver Frans Lubin. Not sure if it did any other events in UK as well. I've found a black & white shot of it with race No 22, but of course the colour scheme could be anything!

Might be a starting point for more info......

[ian.stewart]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

I think I may have stumbled on some info- At the 1968 end of season Motor Show 200 (Brands) the Alan Mann FVA Mk2 UVX565E was raced in Orange & Cream livery after being sold to the Belgium Frami Racing team. Driver Frans Lubin. Not sure if it did any other events in UK as well. I've found a black & white shot of it with race No 22, but of course the colour scheme could be anything!

Might be a starting point for more info......

Well that sound promising, thanks, time for a google bashing.

[ian.stewart]

Been having a quick search, and found this quote.

UVX565E was a Mk2 race car built by Boreham with an FVA and run against the Team Lotus cars in 67. That's said to have gone to Alan Mann for 68 but Frank Gardner didn't like its handling and it was hardly used.
So that makes some sense, as far as I was aware, CTCs were the only cars raced by Alan Mann,

[Mike Bell]

Yes, it does make sense because I also read that the orange / cream livery was the car's 3rd colour scheme.

[jonners]

Golly - I can't believe this thread has passed me by until now being one of the few Mk2 Lotus Cortina campaigners out there.

Just in case anyone's still interested before I get my coat.....

I believe the orange Mk2 referred to was the Team Calypso car - once raced by Roger Clark. Not sure who else raced that one but believe the car was destroyed in a crash.

CTC = Cortina Twin Cam - the official name for the Ford built Mk 2 Lotus Cortina - all the press cars were CTC registered.

For info re CTC 14E and CTC 24E have a look at the chassis archive - the story about how these Team Lotus cars ended up with Robinson and Alan Mann is all there.

As stated above the UVX car was Boreham built - that is - Ford not Lotus. it was raced by some impressive names such as Lucien Bianchi and Paul Hawkins. I've even got a photo of John Surtees driving it.

To correct one or two comments above - Alan Mann acquired the UVX car and CTC 24E to fill gap before homologation of the TC Escort - this had nothing to do with Lotus. Alan Mann was backed by Ford. Lotus weren't racing saloons by 1968.

And CTC 24E in the Alan Mann collection lacks an FVA - not an FVC.

I know the gentleman who sold CTC 24E to Alan Mann and it was fitted with a BDA the last time I saw it. It was CTC 24E that was raced by Martin Sledmore and I believe that he fitted a V6 and had to chop the bulkhead.

Nice story - the chap i know who sold the car to Alan Mann actually bought it off Alan Mann in about 1969. He parted with it some time after that having entered it in a few sprints and so forth and the car's journey via Martin Sledmore and Andy Middlehurst back to him began.

When he was reunited with the car he had heard that Middlehurst had restored the bulkhead but he wanted to check that the car was absolutely the one he had first owned all those years ago - so he checked behind the dash and sure enough the wiper motor from a jet airliner installed by Alan Mann was still there. This explains why in Team Lotus guise the cars wipers are in a different position to when in Alan Mann colours. Many people will tell you that it isn't the same car but it absolutely is.

The Alan Mann TC Escort X00 349F is rightly considered to be incredibly desirable but for me CTC 24E is equally desirable - it was a Team Lotus and an Alan Mann car and was raced by some pretty big names before Frank Gardner used it at the beginning of his championship winning campaign in 1968. Everyone remembers X00 for the championship win but CTC 24E played its part too.

Am now wondering if I've got the years mixed up - better go and check.

As for the UVX car it was sold to Holland and was destroyed in a fire.

Am off to find my anorak now

[Andy Clegg]

I put two photos of "XOO 349F" on an Alan Mann Escort thread. One from Oulton paddock in 1968, from memory Graham Hill was driving that and the other at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2003.