Barry Ryan - Awesome in-car footage - Irish Tarmac Rally

[Guy Croft]

Exciting footage of a superb Irish tarmac rally car in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5hGqbqUEZw

This is the beautifully prepared Barry Ryan MkII Ford Escort featured in the previous thread with the 222bhp GC/CIT 16v 1600 Fiat conversion engine. Apparently spectators assumed the engine was 'some Japanese lump' or even a '2.3 Millington' * and I'm told Barry's driving gained a 7th overall in this rally which is a massive result against a lot of much bigger machinery.

Look out for the (lightning-quick) sequential gearchange with shift indicator on the display, when the indicator goes read it's at 9500rpm - on the rev limiter frequently for sustained periods in 6th gear, about (from memory, 115mph).

A top-class car and driver-navigator team.

This engine - a combo of my favourite head and block - well, I'd do them and nothing else given the chance. For those who are no doubt thinking, 'wow, that's an expensive looking engine', what's interesting, compared with days when the MkII Escort was a relatively new model, is that these days the cost of the fuel injection system (in its entirety) and the gearbox probably costs more than the core engine itself.

GC

* not intended by me as an insult to Millington, more of a compliment really.