Description:

Ex Geoff Wood 1973 LT40 Hart F2 Escort Super Saloon

At only 496 kilos and the lightest Escort in the world, this amazing Historic Race Car was designed by F1 Guru Len Terry in 1973 and built by his partner Cyril Malem CTG F1 Racing Cars at Ferndown.

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 F1 Guru 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 were intent on exciting the crowds.

LT40 which stands for Len Terry spaceframe number forty, which was out of around seventy F1/F5000 race cars Len  Terry designed. 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 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 and wishbones and links.

The F1 spec spaceframe was to be lined with lightweight aircraft alloy panels, and laid over the top was to be a lightweight Ford Escort shaped body, All fibreglass panels are detachable for easy access. The Brian Hart F2 engine sits inside the car as per the regs maximum allowed. To save a further 2 kilos weight the Tahiti Blue body colour was the gel-coat finish. 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. After testing at Goodwood, achieving 160mph down Lavant and at  Thruxton, he 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 in a complete condition, after being 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. 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, along with an AM DB5, lifting it fifteen feet up on a shelf, and surrounded by hay 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 Club Chairman and a Journalist, who all acted as witnesses. The provenance was signed, and many images taken. There was also Graham, the son of Geoff Wood turn up 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 webbing. In the exhaust system a  family of mice had made home in the silencer and up into the manifold, leaving behind old blackened nuts, 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 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 1850cc Cosworth engine and it had been bored out to 1997cc. Due to Joe having an illness, it was agreed to send the engine to Julian Godfrey WRC Race Engines. During the re-build it was noted the iron block was cracked, so it was decided to put an all alloy BlueSky block in, saving 20 kilos. It was also decided to keep authenticity prime, so the original 1850cc bore was kept, and after Dyno Testing the engine, it still acheived over 500 bhp per ton. Martin Jones was consulted about the Dogleg five speed ZF. The rare rear axle was stripped, checked and fully rebuilt. 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. All the original plastic windows were re-commissioned, more or less every component on the car in the early 1970's has been kept. Obvious weak pipes and fuel pumps were replaced, as were brake pads etc. 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 lines drawn on the alloy flooring by Len Terry and Cyril Malem in 1973.

After completinng 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, and in most cases be the star of the event, especially when it wins it's races.

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, original build, the finding in the barn, the full re-commissioning and 2025 show events. The car has been invited to Race Retro and other top shows for 2026.

You may contact direct:

hart-escort@outlook.com       07907-506966.

Keyword Search Terms: