1977 - Ford Escort - BDX 1975cc
RACES : 40
STARTS : 38
FINISHES : 35
OUTRIGHT WINS : 7
CLASS WINS : 13 in all
FASTEST LAPS : 5
( plus 1 x Escort one make race )
+ 1 result known known
1977 HONOURS :
CLASS WINNER BRDC ESSO UNIFLO
2ND IN CLASS BARC FORWARD TRUST
3RD IN CLASS BRSCC CENTURY SUPREME
March 20th 1977 : Tony dices with his old friend and rival Mick Hill in the Beetle-Chevy V8 in the BRDC ESSO UNIFLO opening round. Often up against some much more highly powered true Supersaloons Tony was able to consistantly pick up championship points across all the championships due to running in the 2500cc class and not directly up against the 'big bangers'. Having said that Tony`s speed and consistancy were again superb ,with an astonishing 30 podium finishes from 38 starts . The highlight being winning the BRDC ESSO class.
May 15th 1977 : Tony made just this one appearance in Supersaloons during 1977, here at a rainy Croft where he eased the old Escort to 4th overall. As you can see the Escort now has its 5 Shell star stickers for its 5 class wins thus far prior to the race having won number 5 a week earlier at Thruxton. This photo by Tony Todd captures the atmosphere well on what looks a pretty damp English summer day. The first 3 Supersaloon rounds had no 2500cc split until it was introduced at round 4. Tony would have been 3rd in class on the day as the lesser powerful cars coped better with the conditions.
This scanned photo out of a period magazine is a fair illustartion of the rear spoiler Tony had fitted to the old Escort for 1977. Here he has stuck his Nottingham Sports Car Club's 'Alan Pond' sticker over his ESSO Uniflo one for this Pond championship at Cadwell on June 19th . His favourite circuit he used to win on Bikes back in the 50s Tony won the race outright. He repeated the feat a month later in a BRSCC Troy Tires round with the same fastest lap time of 1 minute 38.4. The lap record on the full circuit being 1 minute 36.8 set by Nick Whiting in 1975. With Cadwell using the full circuit Tony`s 'club' circuit lap record for special saloon cars over 1300cc from 1972 remained intact.
September 24th 1977 BARC Forward Trust round. Wearing the Shellsport stars with pride. This side view shows the new for 1977 rear spoiler off well.