Harlow Motorsport mk1 cup racer

[Williamspaul]

Not so long ago I was browsing through FB market place and I saw a Clio Williams spoiler for sale £20 I didn't have any use for the spoiler but I decided it was cheap enough and local enough to go have a look and see what else he had I could purchase that I could sell on for more any way I turned up 14 mins from my house and I'm surrounded by a bunch of classic cars and race cars so I ask is there any more Clio bits for sale he replies not not really although there is this as he opens a old dusty gazebo he reveals a MK1 cup racer not only a cup racer but a Harlow car these used to be the front runners back in the day and probably the most desirable ones to buy and also the most colourful witch suits me down to the ground

Anyway I tried to contain my excitement and casually asked it's for sale expecting a high price he said he wanted £4500 witch I agreed to and picked it up later that week

The car was a non runner and was covered in dust had Ferrari challenge bucket seats fitted in the front for some reason and the rear brakes seized on but I got it on the trailer and got it home ready for its recommissioning back into service it had a Williams engine loosely fitted in the bay and came with the original blue printed 1.8 Harlow engine a fibre glass bonnet and a second set of magnesium cup racer wheels needless to say I'm very happ with my purchase here's the first veiw I got of it

 

[RustyMojo]

This could be an interesting thread!

 

[Williamspaul]

After a little digging I've found out the car was driven by a man called David Shaw as a silver car number 9 and later as number 2 car for Harlow Motorsport here's a picture I dug up in its racing days thanks to Richard Northrop I expect he's on here but no idea how to tag him

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

I’m looking forward to seeing this being brought back to life!

Was Harlow motorsport anything to do with Mark Fish?

 

[Williamspaul]

It's quite hard to see in the photo but where the white number square was on the door the sun has faded the paint where the white was and not where the black number two was looks like glue residue but it's not after a month of owning it I also noticed the key would have saved alot of research lol it's nice owning a little piece of history 😊

 

[Williamspaul]

I started with removing the Williams engine got that sold immediately for £1000 I then got shot of the Ferrari front seats £800

After being used in the Clio cup the car was used in endurance racing as most of them were and had a competition long distance racing fuel tank in the boot that also got removed and sold £270 becoming a cheap project this

I've lost the photos of the seats

 

[Williamspaul]

SCreen shorted some from the for sale post

 

[Williamspaul]

I’m looking forward to seeing this being brought back to life!

Was Harlow motorsport anything to do with Mark Fish?

Well they were competitors at the time so not sure how involved they would have been tbh

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Nice. That was a bit of a bargain. Look forward to seeing it come back together!

 

[White16valver]

Total bargain for the spec and kit and history!

Can't believe a Williams engine is a grand now.

 

[green]

Great buy!

 

[Unlucky-Racing]

What an absolute bargain. Can't wait to see this progress.

 

[Williamspaul]

Total bargain for the spec and kit and history!

Can't believe a Williams engine is a grand now.

Can be more 😲😲

 

[Williamspaul]

Looks like I'm going to need a rear sun strip I wonder what the purpose of that was

 

[Coops Mk1]

For reversing quickly into the sunshine

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

All about the branding.

 

[green]

Don’t forget the rear wiper too!

 

[Williamspaul]

Don’t forget the rear wiper too!

Not sure if I'll fit a rear wiper yet ph1 wipers are very hard to find if I come across one I may fit it I break alot of mk1s so we'll see what the future brings

 

[Williamspaul]

Long story short Im going to ruin it by fitting a f4r there's no way I'm driving it with the original 150bhp 1.8 bring on the hate

So the engine is a low mileage 172 ph1 engine I bought a complete car and broke it for the engine sold all the bits I didn't need for more than I bought the car so free engine yay I then fitted 197 cams injectors 182 manifold and a Tessa inlet so I didn't have to cut the bonnet I also had the flywheel lightened and balanced

 

[Williamspaul]

Whipped the subframe off gave it a good wire brushing and a kick of paint

 

[Williamspaul]

So the car was supplied to me with a plain white bonnet it was crying out for some colour I assume the original was damaged and binned a long time ago

Do the Harlow colours on the car (light blue,blue,red) are painted on I don't have time for that so I had it done in vinyl in as close a colour as possible

 

[Williamspaul]

Decided the best way to have the Phillips stereo sticker in the number plate recess was to stick it to a number plate and screw it on with red screw covers

 

[Williamspaul]

So mappings happened and I'm very happy efi did a epic job as usual power everywhere as usual delivered perfectly feels alot quicker than my 190 bhp yellow valver unfortunately due to my excessive camber toe out and slick tyres we couldn't get a accurate power reading luckily power figures are useless other than pub talk I also got spotted along the way looks awesome 😄

 

[Williamspaul]

Got round to fitting the seat properly yesterday and as the original seats are near impossible to find very expensive and apparently only came in medium witch I probably wouldn't fit in anyway I fitted the next best thing the seat out of a MK3 cup racer 👌

 

[sk84life]

Looking good, always wanted one of those sun strips for my (old) Valver. Does this have PAS?

 

[Williamspaul]

Looking good, always wanted one of those sun strips for my (old) Valver. Does this have PAS?

Nope manual 😁 just how I like it

 

[Williamspaul]

Back when it was silver

 

[Williamspaul]

 

[Cookson]

This is awesome, can't wait to see it finished.

 

[RichValver]

Back when it was silver

View attachment 1499079

Prefer it now 👌

 

[Williamspaul]

So the cup racer after a small breakdown on the way to Mallory where all the alternator bolts fell out I must of left them loose oops but the shakedown went well throwing up a few problems mainly the wipers not working after being modified to clear the cage

Also the windscreen isn't connected to the car very well ffs the fuel sender wiring rubbed through blowing the dash fuse a few times before I figured it out and the starter motor wire fell off

Other than these little problems it performed really well it pulls really well and handles better than any MK1 I've ever been in and the tyres are also a different level of awesome slicks were great but it's the wets that really impressed me

 

[Williamspaul]

 

[RichValver]

Awww headlamp fell out ☹

 

[Greeny.]

Looks awesome! good work

 

[Williamspaul]

Wha

Awww headlamp fell out ☹

Whats headlights lol

 

[Williamspaul]

So after my shakedown at Mallory the two biggest issues were the windscreen and the wiper mech the windscreen was easy enough to sort I got a local firm to me to remove and reglue it in place awesome the wiper mechanism had previously been modified to clear the cage however it wasn't up to the job and failed the first time I used it after considering all my options I decided the single wiper conversion was the way to go not what I want to do but it makes so much sense anyway it's fitted and it works and k don't hate it maybe one day I'll be able to find a better solution but right now I just want to get in and drive it

 

[White16valver]

Not sure I agree with swapping the motor but you certainly do good work!

 

[Williamspaul]

I don't agree with swapping the motor either but seemed like the best solution even if it's a temporary one

 

[Williamspaul]

So for some reason I decided it was a good idea to remove all the unnecessary wires from my loom central locking speakers windows etc ended up with a bag full of wires and quite a neat loom

 

[Williamspaul]

As visibility was a big issue at Mallory I decided to put the heater back in they would of had a heater in when it was raced in the Clio cup it was removed later for endurance racing no more steamy windscreen

I had more issues getting the heater blower in around the cage I had to take it apart and re assemble in situ