Description:

Ex Geoff Wood 1973 LT40 Hart F2 Escort Super Saloon

This Iconic Ford Escort Special Saloon is part of Motorsport History. At only 496 kilos and accepted as the lightest Ford Escort in the world. This amazing Historic Race Car was designed by the Legendry F1 Guru Len Terry in 1973 and built by his partner Cyril Malem CTG F1 Racing Cars at Ferndown. This was to be a one off spaceframed Super Saloon Escort, the first ever to be built.

It was the idea of Geoff Wood the British VitaMini Champion to build the lightest, lowest and fastest Ford Escort of it's time. So he approached Len Terry the Lotus F1 designer to design this full spaceframe race car for the future Tricentrol Super Saloon Car Championship. It was to be entered in the upto 2500cc class. Many of the top drivers of the day were busy fabricating their monster race cars. Drivers such as Gerry Marshall in Big Bertha, Vince Woodman, Nick Whiting, Tony Strawson, Mick Hill and many more who were intent on exciting the crowds.

LT40 which stands for Len Terry spaceframe number forty, which was out of around seventy F1/F5000 and F2 race cars for Colin Chapman at Lotus, BRM, Leda, Chevron and Can-Am, that Len Terry designed for drivers such as Emmerson Fittipaldi and Dan Gurney. The Escort was to be powered by a Brian Hart F2 1850cc BDA with Lucas fuel injection. The gearbox is a 5/speed dogleg ZF, the rear axle was to be a work of art, being a Le-Mans BMW Batmobile layout with F1 inboard brakes. The uprights are F1 Magnesium units, and multi linked. All the suspension was off the CTG F1 shelves, mainly F5000 hubs, uprights wishbones and links.

The F1 spec spaceframe was to be lined with lightweight aircraft alloy panels, that were riveted to the spaceframe. There was to be fitted a lightweight Ford Escort shaped body. There are F1 type foam filled safety pods either side of the car. You will notice the doors are half doors, and these detach from the spaceframe. All the fibreglass panels are detachable for easy access, with the whole windscreen set into an Escort steel frame, that unclips to gain easy access to the engine instead of having to take the front end off. The Brian Hart F2 engine sits inside the car as to the maximum allowed in the championship regs. To save a further 2 kilos weight the Tahiti Blue body colour was the actual gel-coat finish. Ultra wide Magnesium and alloy wheels are fitted and have been crack tested.

LT40 competed in various races in 1974 and 1975 by Geoff Wood, who won his class. The Escort was then sold to Phil Winter who raced at various UK circuits, setting new class lap records and race wins. Then tragically in 1977, Phil Winter was killed in a road accident on the Isle of Man. The family put his whole race team up for sale, where upon Andrew Grover racing driver / farmer purchased the Escort. During testing at Goodwood, the Escort achieved 165mph down Lavant and at Thruxton on the long straights, he found the Escort was extremley quick and stable through the high speed corners compared to many of the other Super Saloons. Andrew Grover entered The Rivet National Championship, the Wendy Wools Championship and Castle Combe Super Saloons, where the Escort set new 100+ mph lap records and won outright against some fearsome cars.

Finding the car complete, and had been in a dry enviroment since it was mothballed in a farm barn for forty three years, was incredible. Most people believed it to be lost or broken up for spares as most of the others had been. The Escort was original and complete. In 1979 Andrew Grover had his last race, where he won outright and set a new 100+ mph lap record at Thruxton. He returned home and decided to retire the car in one of his barns, lifting it fifteen feet up on a shelf, and surrounding it with straw bales. Images show the Escort being towed out of the barn in 2017, where it then made it's journey back to the new owners workshops.

The first two years was to authenticate this rare car. The original Len Terry design drawings were found in France, filed by an ex employee. Then with some luck, Cyril Malem CTG F1 Racing Cars who built the car was found. He spent two days at the workshop, where he authenticated every part of LT40. He was joined by an MSA scrutineer, a respected Club Chairman and a Journalist, who all acted as witnesses. The provenance was signed, and many images taken. There was also Graham Wood, the son of Geoff Wood turn up with his sister to make an emotional reunion to his dad's car.

Then the serious work to re-commission the Escort back to how it appeared in the early 1970's began. On stripping the seat out, a dead Rat was found, where it had ate so much foam, it got stuck in the seat webbing. In the exhaust system a  family of mice had made home in the silencer and up into the exhaust manifold, leaving behind old blackened nuts and nesting materials, images were taken. Every panel, nuts and bolts and all the components were fully labelled and shelved. The spaceframe was shot blasted and all the Bronze welding was crack tested, then the spaceframe was fully aligned, then painted. The Brian Hart F2 BDA engine was sent to Hart Engineer Joe Stevens, in Essex. He confirmed it was the original Hart F2 1850cc Cosworth engine and the original steel block had been bored out to 1995cc. Due to Joe having a short term illness, it was agreed to send the engine to Julian Godfrey WRC Race Engines. Julian Godfrey himself rebuilt the engine. During the re-build it was noted the BDA iron block was cracked, so it was decided to put an all alloy racing block in, saving 20 kilos. It was also decided to keep authenticity prime, so the original 1850cc bore was kept, using all Cosworth steel components. After Dyno Testing the engine at over 9,200 rpm, it acheived over 540 bhp per ton. Dyno test results were filmed and will go with the car. ZF gearbox expert Martin Jones was consulted about the Dogleg five speed ZF. The rare Le-Mans rear axle was stripped, checked and fully rebuilt. Many hours of stripping and the checking of the original F1/F5000 components was done between 2019 to 2023 and then over 3400 hours went into the re-commissioning during 2024 and 2025. Twelve hours a day, every day. Every panel, including all the aircraft alloy inner panels were kept and re-commissioned, then riveted back on, using all the original rivet holes. All the original plastic windows were re-commissioned, and more or less every component on the car from the early 1970's has been rebuilt and kept. Obvious weak components, fuel, water, oil and brake pipes, Girling cylinders and fuel pumps were replaced, as were brake pads etc. The adjustable platform suspension was replaced with the latest alloy units with new springs, with all the originals re-commissioned and boxed. The original Tahiti Blue had been painted over with Andrew Grover's team colours of Dark Blue and a Yellow roof. So it was stripped back, only to find a scratched and inperfect Tahiti Blue. No filler was used, and after being prepared and the original colour applied, it looks good. But, dont expect a concours body, there are star cracks, rivets and gaps all over, as per the 1974 original. There was also kept the original lead pencil design lines drawn on the alloy flooring by Len Terry and Cyril Malem in 1973.

The original weight of this Escort in 1974 was 508 kilos. With  the reduction of weight during the re-commissioning by using alloys, the weight has been reduced to 496 kilos.

After completing the re-commissioning, the LT40 was invited to many top UK car shows during 2025, where it attracted huge gatherings of enthusiasts, many from overseas. This is a beautiful car and part of Motorsport history. Whoever owns this car will gain a large following of fans of all ages, and in most cases it will be the star of the event, especially when it wins it's races. Unlike many of the worlds top race cars, this car is easy to maintain.

The car will come with several files of images and discs totalling over 2,000 images and some YouTube videos, all showing it's history, the original build, the finding in the barn, the full re-commissioning and 2025 show events. The car has been invited to Race Retro and several other top shows for 2026 and will be a great contender in many championships.

The provenance for this race car is superb, it is authentic and kept period throuout it's full sympathetic re-commissioning. There is no other, it is one of a kind, designed by one of the most well known and respected F1 designers in the world, Len Terry. And the fabrication was achieved by Cyril Malem CTG F1 Racing Cars, another world famous engineer.

You may contact direct to discuss the price.

hart-escort@outlook.com       07907-506966.

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