Description
This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at the BRDC Classic 2026 - Competition Cars on Friday the 24th of July, The Wing, Silverstone Circuit, NN12 8TN. Ford had, for a number of years, used active participation in motorsport as a means of getting their showroom doors swinging on a Monday morning, and the new ****** (introduced in January 1968) was to prove no exception. Popular at Club level in every discipline of the sport, it was at an International level that the name ****** became synonymous with winning. The Ford Works team was practically unbeatable in the late 1960s/ early 1970s, and arguably, the ******'s greatest victory was in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally being driven by Finnish legend Hannu Mikkola. This result and the ensuing acclaim prompted Ford to produce the famous ****** Mexico (1. 6-litre Kent-engine) road version in honour of the rally car. Definitely a step-up from the Mexico, the ****** RS1600 was developed using an engine that was essentially a FVA Formula 2 unit, designated BDA (Belt Drive A-Series), that produced 115bhp and 112lb/ ft of torque and allowed the RS1600 to accelerate from 0-60mph in 8. 5 seconds, rather impressive in 1970. Comfortable with their success in rallying, in late 1970 Ford decided to focus on circuit racing and in early 1971 FoMoCo commissioned Ralph Broad's Broadspeed Engineering to build a competitive ****** race car for John Fitzpatrick's assault on the 1971 British Saloon Car Championship. Fitz had already enjoyed some success with the ****** in previous years, finishing third in the Championship in 1970, but that was in Broadspeed’s own car. Ford sourced a new RS1600 road car which was despatched to Broadspeed in early 1971 to be prepared as a full race car in accordance with Group 2 regulations. The car was road-registered as MEV 34J on 5th April 1971 despite have been with Broadspeed for some months – its first race was at Brands Hatch on the 21st of March. The RS was race-prepared by Broadspeed to their traditionally high standards with the Cosworth BDA 16-valve engine bored out to 1701cc, converted to dry-sump lubrication and Lucas mechanical fuel injection and fitted with a ZF five-speed 'dogleg' gearbox. Sponsored by Castrol Motor Oils and entered by Team Broadspeed Castrol, the ****** carried the 'registration' number 'RS1600' and was finished in Ermine White with those classic red and green 'Castrol' stripes. The opening round of the 1971 RAC Saloon Car Championship, the Hepolite-Glacier Trophy was divided into two parts with the overall result based on aggregate performance. Fitz finished first overall with a class win in the first part and second overall - to Brian Muir in the Z28 Camaro - and a class win in Part 2, meaning that "RS1600", soon to be 'MEV 34J', won overall, a dream debut. A further six class wins would follow that season meaning that MEV finished first in Class C and 4th overall on 67 points. Fitzpatrick was contracted to race a German entered-RS1600 rather than 'MEV' for the Spa 24-hour race in July 1971, so drivers Mike Crabtree and Trevor Taylor stepped up and shared the drive. The latter is pictured in action in Graham Robson's book, The Works Escorts (1977/ 1984, page 109). The final race of 1971 - at the BRSCC Brands Hatch Motor Show meeting - saw 'Fitz' crash the ****** heavily when contesting the lead with Gardner's Camaro. Unfortunately, the ****** had been pre-sold and was bound for New Zealand to be raced by Jim Richards, so that particular deal that had to be 'unpicked'. It is assumed that Ralph Broad sold the remains of the 'Fitzpatrick' car after Brands Hatch (there is an advertisement offering it for sale with or without engine in the history file) and later in the 1970s rally entry lists and period rally photographs show 'MEV 34J' on rally stages in private hands. A succession of owners and various modifications followed, including a 1990s entry in Thunder Saloons. In 2015, the car's current owner was hoping to acquire a Broadspeed or possibly 'works' ****** to race and narrowly missed the opportunity of owning the 1970 Ford works car, 'EVX 256H', fortunately the vendor of 'EVX' happened to know where 'MEV 34J' could be found and, in 2016, a deal was done. It transpired that Roger King of GPRM Ltd. (now Stellar Motorsport) had been the purchaser of 'EVX'. He had been a young engineer at Broadspeed during the Ford years and was now starting the full restoration of the recently purchased 'EVX' at his workshops. When approached by our vendor, he readily agreed to take on the restoration of 'MEV 34J' alongside his own car. Extensive bodyshell and sheet-metal work to exacting original detail was carried out, often referencing 'EVX' and a library of 'shell only' photographs of 'MEV 34J' from Ford's own archive. All the period suspension was either restored or machined freshly from billet. A new 1, 800cc, correct-specification, fuel-injected BDA engine was built by Alan...
