Circuit of Ireland

FORD - With slightly more power from their injected 1600cc engines, the two Ford Escort RS1600i models from MCD Services were expected to be on the pace in the Group A battle. Malcolm Wilson and Louise Aitken (with partners Phil Short and Ellen Morgan) had not had much chance to drive the cars in any testing.

Major improvements since the Mintex, apart from the additional 10/15bhp, came from the introduction of disc brakes on the rear. Dave Campion at MCD also brought some 15" rims - as opposed to the regular 13" size - and the team planned to experiment during the rally.

Eklund was remarkably quick with the little 1600cc Toyota, while Malcolm Wilson also stayed flat, but landed hard after a lump in the road and was instantly in serious gearbox difficulties with the RS1600i.

…nowhere was the going tougher than in the Group A competition. Wilson had changed a gearbox on Friday (record time of 17mins for MCD) but the 15ins rims were producing unsuitable ratios, and in any case, the replacement 'box had no lsd. The transmission would soon end the Cumbria driver's effort.

Teammate Aitken then took the lead in the Group, her RS1600i still intact, while behind, other challengers struggled.

Chris Lord gave the Mazda something of a surprise win in group A, and underlined how much competition there is in that contest, while Louise Aitken drove another sensible, careful event to give the MCD services their first result.

Russell Brookes/ Mike Broad	Vauxhall Chevette HSR	479m 49s	1st Overall
Chris Lord/ Ron Varley	Mazda RX-7	528m 27s	6th, 1st GpA, 1st Class +2000cc
Louise Aitken/ Ellen Morgan	Ford Escort RS1600i	537m 44s	7th, 2nd GpA, 1st Class 13-16cc

Motoring News Wed April 7 '83 p10

FORD - The works team run by MCD under the watchful eye of Dave Campion brought two GpA RS1600is for Louise Aitken / Ellen Morgan and Malcolm Wilson / Phil Short. The cars were the same as those used on the Mintex but with more power. Campion estimated they had another 15bhp, which would increase the total to around 140bhp. The team ran Pirelli tyres fitted to both 13” and 15” wheels.

As the cars trickled into service it was obvious that the introduction of pace-notes had quickened the event on a tradtionally “easy” day and casualties had begun to flow. Malcolm Wilson and Phil Short gave the mechanics some work when a heavy landing cracked the gearbox casing. The replacement was installed in record time giving the RS1600i just four minutes of penalties, but unfortunately Malcolm then ran without the limited slip diff.

…and in the Ladies section, Louise Aitken was, as usual, top in the MCD-run works Ford RS1600i.

The GpA battle was dominated by the two Ford Escort RS1600is of Louise Aitken and Malcolm Wilson, with Wilson having the upper hand, despite his lack of the limited slip diff.

Malcolm Wilson still led GpA in 11th overall, with teammate Aitken behind John Weatherly’s Citroen Visa, which was so far untroubled. Unfortunately, Malcolm’s GpA lead diminished on the next stage, Wolf Trap Mountain, when the differential broke, so another top crew had fallen by the wayside. It was little consolation to Wilson that he had given the lead to Louise.

Just as light relief to the fierce competition, Louise Aitken was mentioned in the “Brian and Liz” bulletins, apparently on the Sunday run she met a flasher in all his glory standing “on display” in the middle of the stage road, Louise had no comment!

On the run into Galway, ... Chris Lord maintained his edge on Aitken but Louise had lost time with an off on a tight 90 right on SS39 and had battery problems but these were solved at service.

Pulling into the breakfast halt and Aitken, sleeping sweetly in her car, was out of luck in GpA. Chris Lord, despite a puncture, held the group and Aitken’s final problem, linked to the electrics, gave her no chance of catching Lord.

7. Louise Aitken / Ellen Morgan (Ford Escort RS1600i) 537m 44s

Motoring News Wed April 13 '83 p19 “M.R.Gossip”

photo ‘74 p19

" Quick as a flasher "

Louise Aitken and Ellen Morgan will remember this year's Circuit of Ireland for a long time, but it won't be only for the fact that they won the ladies prize and finished seventh overall in their Group A MCD prepared Escort 1600i. You see, the ladies had three very embarrassing incidents on Easter Sunday.

To keep the ladies "amused", the MCD mechanics had cut out of a magazine a very revealing picture of a naked gentleman who had a rather unique physical attribute. They'd carefully taped it to co-driver Ellen's sun visor. It was somewhere along the daunting Molls Gap stage at sunrise on Sunday that Ellen first pulled down her visor - one shudders to think what could have happened if it had fallen down in front of Louise - to be confronted by the elephantine gentleman!

The story didn’t end there. Having, for reasons best known to themselves, carefully folded the picture back into place, the ladies were later subjected to a pace note check. That’s right! Whilst the UAC official was carrying out a search under the watchful eye of the FISA Inspector, guess what gracefully fell out from under the sun visor?

“Good job we’d got full face helmets on,” said Ellen, “At least he couldn’t see how red we’d gone.”

But Sunday’s exhibition of male genitals hadn’t finished. Later the ladies were hard at work down a stage when on a tight corner they were give the full treatment of a flasher! Judging by Louise’s remarks, she’d spotted the gentleman some way away.

“He was in a funny crouching position,” she explained. “I knew something was up, but I never expected that. Strange.” Rumours that it was a heavily disguised Phil Short were completely unfounded.

1st	Brookes/ Broad	06	GpB Chevette 2300 HSR	XEG 550X	7h 59m 49s	1st O/A
6th	Lord/ Varley	10	GpA Mazda RX7	UKL970X	8h 48m 27s	1st GpA
7th	Aitken / Morgan	26	GpA Ford Escort RS1600i	HPU 74Y	8h 57m 44s	2nd GpA
Rtd	Wilson / Short	09	GpA Ford Escort RS1600i	HPU 73Y	After SS16	Gearbox

Reference:

World Rallying 6

Autosport April 14 '83 p28

Motoring News Wed April 7 '83 p10

Motoring News Wed April 13 '83 p19 “M.R.Gossip”

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