217 replies to this topic

[LittleChris]

This seems to suggest all three raced but unfortunately the video is no longer available so we can't see what cars

 

Carl, Greg, and Keith race each... - Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Facebook

[68targa]

My wife is certain that our man is Carl Palmer, so it must be him

[Michael Ferner]

It is definitely not Greg Lake.  Reckon it is Keith Emerson.

 

I was only joking, of course. Put me in the Carl Palmer camp, though.

[Jon Saltinstall]

I agree it's Palmer.

 

Just to help out - here's Emerson in the #3 Blue/White car and Lake in the #1 Blue/Yellow one.

 

 

[john aston]

Shudder -  I am getting flashbacks to the interminable Brain Salad Surgery. No, me neither . ELP - the one prog band who will never be rehabilitated .

[PZR]

Masami Kuwashima told me he became friends with the ELP boys through their peripheral interest in motor racing (I think he met them at Brands Hatch when he was racing in F3) and they used to meet up to eat sushi at one of the few Japanese restaurants in London which served it in the early Seventies. It was in Grosvenor Square. 

 

He hooked up with them in Japan when they were on tour there too. Knowing Kuwashima san - quite the playboy - I'm sure he showed them a good time.      

[Jon Saltinstall]

I have just chanced on this wonderful document on Alain Beauchef's site. It details all the entrants in the 1972 French Escort Mexico Championship, together with race numbers, reg. numbers, colours etc.

 

If only something like this exists for the Italian and British series in 1973-1974; at this point I'm really hoping someone puts their hand up and says, "Oh yes, I've got one of those!"

 

[Jon Saltinstall]

XNO 268L RED/WHITE #5
XNO 280L BLUE/ORANGE #11

1973:
Having decided to use Mexicos,
Ford lost no time in supplying 20
cars, 16 to race and four spares.

Lella Lombardi drove #1, XNO 277L, at the Mallory Park FordSport Celebrity Race, Sunday 26 August 1973.
11,000 spectators, 15 starters:
1st Gerry Marshal; 2nd #11 Keith Holland; 3rd Francois Cevert; 4th Willie Green; 5th Steve Thompson; 6th Guy Edwards.

1974:
Ronnie Scott drove #6, RHK 906M, at the 1974 British Grand Prix Ford Escort celebrity support race.
#2 was RHK 902M, Embassy Racing.
The grid order gave
David Frost, Gerald Harper and Bill Cotton
front positions with [Noel] Edmonds and [Jeremy] Lloyd
behind and Ronnie Scott, Michael Parkinson
and Tim Brooke-Taylor making up the third
row. Linda Cunningham, Rodney Bewes,
Nicolas Parsons, Vince Hill, Eva Reuber-
Staier (Miss World 1969), Michael Aspel,
Linda Hooks and Tony Blackburn completed
the grid.

RGDS RLT

It may be a daft question, but would I be correct in assuming that the cars remained in the ownership of Ford Motor Company and were loaned to John Webb (to be prepared by Tiny Little and raced by whoever JW offered them to), rather than being owned by Webb/MCD?

[Jon Saltinstall]

Here's what the Corgi Vanguards site has to say (the company modelled XNO 272L):

 

In 1971 the then Brand Hatch MD, John Webb, organised a race that pitted F1 Grand Prix drivers against their team managers in Ford Escort Mexicos. The event was a great success and this led to Ford loaning Webb twenty mechanically identical Mexicos in February 1973. After sponsorship had been obtained from Shell and Avon Tyres, the cars were known as the ShellSPORT Mexicos and ran on Avon cross-plys, which were inflated to 45psi in order to give progressive breakaway characteristics and very spectacular ‘sideways’ racing. They were used for pro-celebrity support races at the weekend and racing school duties during the week. They led a hard life, although only sixteen out of twenty raced at any one time in order to allow time for damage repair. Modifications to the cars were carried out at Ford’s AVO facility in Aveley and were limited to the fitting of Britax three-point harnesses on both the standard low-back front seats, Bilstein shock absorbers, roll cage, battery cut-off and four-spoke RS alloy wheels. The car modelled here, XNO 272L, survived the front line for two years and was used at John and Angela Webb’s wedding after which it became their runabout vehicle. Because of this, it survived in its original form and is the only ShellSPORT Mexico to do so. During its racing life it won only one race, at Brands Hatch on May 6th 1973 when it was driven by Noel Edmonds.

[Jon Saltinstall]

XNO 275L went to auction in 2016 (owned since 1999 by the chap who restored it) - auction notes say - 

 

"XNO 275L, or car Number 3 as it is known, competed in 22 race meetings, finishing in 21 of them and DNF in one due to a cracked exhaust manifold. As a pro-celebrity race series, the cars had notable racing drivers and personalities of the era behind the wheel. The racing drivers of Car Number 3 include Tony Trimmer and Tom Belsø and the celebrities were, amongst others, Robin Knox-Johnson and Nicholas Parsons. It is believed that most of the cars that hadn't been destroyed by celebrities or over competitive Grand Prix drivers were destroyed by Ford at the end of the ShellSport series."

Edited by Jon Saltinstall, 19 June 2024 - 10:54.

[Rupertlt1]

XNO 282L turns up on a Surrey/Berkshire rally in 1976 driven by J. Eaton/D. Spence.

Car painted light colour with dark solid side stripes.

The rally was a round of the Triple C and Pirelli championships. 22 stages.

Rally sponsored by Storno of Camberley.

Aldershot News, Friday 3 Sept 1976, Page 20

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 31 July 2024 - 07:24.

[BRG]

John Eaton/Duncan Spence also competed on the Bass Charrington National Rally (Tour of Lincolnshire) in  1976 in a 1800cc Ford Escort XNO282L.  I know because I did that rally too and still have the paperwork.

 

Looking a the ewrc-results.com site, they did a number of rallies that year although the Camberley/Aldershot one isn't listed.  They used various Escorts, some times shown as simply Ford Escort, sometimes as a RS1600 and once as a RS1800 Mk 2.  Whether some or all of these are all the same car, I don't know.  Interestingly, John Eaton is only shown rallying in 1976, and thereafter both he and Duncan Spence do not appear, although Spence does have some entries pre-1976.  Eaton must have been quite quick as he took a 2nd place overall on the South-West Stages. 

[Jon Saltinstall]

Having spoken to Andy Percival, I have learned something about the Escort Mexico Celebrity races.

 

With a couple of exceptions, the race grids were determined by ballot, with the cars lined up on the grid in race number order (#1 on pole, #2 next to it, and so on down to usually #16) and the drivers then allocated to the cars by drawing the keys out of a hat.

 

Furthermore in 1974, Ford and MCD aligned car registration numbers with race numbers, so RHK 901M was #1, RHK 912M was #12, etc.

 

This means that - for 1974, at least - if we know any one of either the grid position, the race number or the registration number, we can deduce the others.

 

I have followed this process of elimination through with the 1974 races and the only one that I cannot now conclusively resolve is the Celebrity Race at Mallory Park on 14 July 1974.

 

Does anyone know any one of those three variables for Lella Lombardi in that race, please?

 

Many thanks.

[Rupertlt1]

Mallory Park, Sunday 14 July 1974:

"in the concluding race of the afternoon for Shellsport Mexicos, she took the lead at one stage but drifted out at the Lake Esses to fall back to second and out of contention. Bob Evans again winning here with a last ditch effort which saw him cross the line fractionally ahead of Basil Dagge."

 

The racing ended with the ShellSport

Mexicos. Drawing No 1 Basil Dagge surprised

the F5000 regulars by staying with them and

giving nothing at all away. Tom Belso led for

five laps before Dagge went by and

the Dane lost all chance of a good place after

some leaning by lan Ashley at the hairpin

on the penultimate lap. This let Bob Evans

through into second and a heroic effort on

the last couple of corners brought him across

the line first by an overrider from the enter-

prising Dagge. Considering he had No 15

Ashley did well to take third ahead of Vern

Schuppan, Belso and Nick Whiting, who had

shared the back row with Ashley.

Autosport, 18 July 1974, Page 34

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 02 August 2024 - 02:33.

[Jon Saltinstall]

That’s helpful, thanks Rupert, and eliminates two from enquiries.
Anecdotally, I’ve been told that Lella drove RHK912M again , but I’ve never seen any evidence of that.

[Rupertlt1]

That’s helpful, thanks Rupert, and eliminates two from enquiries.
Anecdotally, I’ve been told that Lella drove RHK912M again , but I’ve never seen any evidence of that.

 

For that to be the case Lella would have had to lead the race, albeit briefly, from 12th on the grid. Possible but unlikely.

RGDS RLT

[Jon Saltinstall]

That is a fair point, Rupert!

[Rupertlt1]

More ShellSPORT Mexico int:

#1 XNO 277L appears on the cover of the programme "Tour of Britain Car Races" Brands Hatch, Sunday 8th July 1973.

Cover Photograph

"A handful of opposite lock for the driver of the Avon-shod ShellSPORT Mexico at a

wet early-season Brands Hatch meeting. The Mexico typifies the road going pro-

duction racers seen here today." (Photograph by David Turney)

Brands Hatch, 4 March 1973, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Races—Tony Lanfranchi—

billed as "The first ever Shellsport Celebrity Race"

MCD introduce the first of the Shellsport Celebrity Races,

In which the day's race and class winners,

plus invited sports and show business stars,

each take the wheel of a Shellsport Escort Mexico

for a 10 lap thrash. Over the whole season, 25 similar

races will be run to find the country's

champion "celebrity."

This will naturally be the last race of the day,

entrants coming from the proceeding Formula 3,

Formula Ford, Group 1 and Special Saloon Car events.

Which all adds up to a thrilling days racing.

Possible Brands Hatch, Sunday 18 March 1973.

Snetterton, Good Friday 20 April, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race

It was wet at Brands Hatch, 23 April 1973, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race

Brands Hatch, Sunday 6 May 1973, DJ Day, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race

There was a FordSport day at Brands Hatch, 27 May 1973, including a ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race

Brands Hatch, 10 June 1973, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race

Brands Hatch, 24 June 1973, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race

Furthermore Sunday 8th July 1973 scheduled Event 12: ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race

XNO 281L driven by Lella Lombardi at Brands Hatch, 29 July 1973

Brands Hatch, 12 August 1973, Pop Stars

#1 XNO 277L  driven by Lella Lombardi at Mallory Park, 26 August 1973

Brands Hatch, 27 August 1973, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race

Brands Hatch, 9 September 1973, DJ Race

Oulton Park, Saturday 22 September 1973, B.R.S.C.C. FordSport Day

Brands Hatch, 14 October 1973, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race 

Brands Hatch, 2 December 1973, ShellSPORT Celebrity Car Race:

—Gerry Marshall, Phil Dowsett, Mo Mendham, Syd Fox, David Hipperson, Bob Shepherd, Jeff Allam, Wil Arif

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, Yesterday, 01:57.