Wealden Racing Mk2 Escort

​SVG Motor Sport's Craig Rainer is a keen motorsport competitor racing this very special Mk2 Ford Escort. Craig is the driver, but the car is owned and run by a team of enthusiasts under the banner of Wealden Racing. These pages are dedicated to the car and include news and updates throughout the season as it races at circuits across the UK.

About Wealden Racing

Wealden Racing have been campaigning and improving their MKII Cosworth Powered Escort for more than 20 years with SVG Motor Sport mechanic and engineer Craig Rainer at the wheel.

They have enjoyed great success in Ford Saloon Car Championship, taking class honours for several years and winning the championship crown outright in 2009. In recent years, they have been competing in the Blue Oval Saloon Series run by the Classic Touring Car Racing Club. This series is exclusively for Ford Cars, was started by the Team in 2009 together with other Ford Saloon competitors.

Wealden Racing has enjoyed exposure from national magazines such as Classic Ford, Performance Ford and Fast Ford, local press and national shows such as Max Power Live, at Birmingham’s NEC drawing interest from many quarters.

History

Craig and the Team started racing 1997 entering their then Ford Escort 2ltr Pinto. In their first year, they managed to finish 3rd in class, while throughout the season steadily improving the car. They replaced leaf springs with a four-link adjustable rear suspension, uprated the brakes and made several other minor adjustments. As the car was improved so did the results and two years later they took their first class title.

More improvements over the next three years took the car from the Pinto to a Cosworth engine and saw them take the Ford Saloon Car Championship overall title in 2002.

The defence of the title in 2003 finished with the team as runner-up by a very narrow margin. 2003 also saw the team start a new project – building their current turbo powered Cosworth Escort from a brand new shell, taking the car into Class A.

The new cars first full season was 2005 season and the team managed to complete every round finishing joint first with Malcolm Wise only missing out on the class title due to roll-back race wins.

The next three seasons racing saw steady results, but with stiff competition the overall class title eluded them.

At the end of 2008, the team decided that it was time for a change and spearheaded a move to create a new series under the banner of the Classis Touring Car Racing Club. Together with several other Ford Saloon drivers BOSS was born.

The inaugural season for BOSS saw the team winning their Class in the first seven races. However, it was not to last as the car was beginning to show its age and they failed to finish three out of the last four races. They still took the Class 1 title but had to settle for 3rd overall in the Series.

The Team have been competing in the BOSS Series since then and have been constantly striving to improve the car. It is now developing 600bhp, larger wheel arches, side skirts and spoilers now adorn the car and for the first time, it now runs on slick tyres. Further modifications are to come and news will be posted on this website.