Tim's Trophy - #455

[Paul172sport]

Mate looks amazing. I seriously need to find some time and get over to Wales again and enjoy these roads and scenery too.

Glad to see the trophy getting some action

 

[Starlet_gt]

Can't beat mid and west Wales for some brilliant driving roads.

 

[Brigsy]

Good to meet you mate. Really enjoyed the weekender, the roads were ace. Might do both days next year.

 

[Tim.]

The Trophy has taken a bit of a backseat, partly due to a lack of spare time, and partly because it misbehaved at the worst possible time. To be fair maybe it was letting me know not to neglect it so much.

It was back in early September that I started driving it in anger after a while of being tucked-up in the garage, and for a few days it was fine, but then it started missing here and there, then got gradually worse until it cut-out and needed to be recovered - its first time in my ownership of 12 years:

One fuel pump later and it was back to full fitness again. Unfortunately it meant my annual trip to Wales in #455 was off the cards.

Step forward the replacement… the automatic estate Mondeo diesel.

To be fair it far exceeded my expectations, it was a comfortable companion on the long schleps, and on the more interesting stuff the 200+ bhp did its best to keep things entertaining, as did the engaging front end. At one point I had a great time following a GR86 but the brakes called time on that bit of fun.

Overall it was another fantastic weekend with plenty of miles covered, but the Trophy was sorely missed.

So as things stand the Trophy is on 75,300 miles which is about a paltry 1,000 more than 12 months ago.

The Mondeo on the other hand is taking it all in its stride, the commute up and down the A34, Welsh trips and Cornish family holidays too. This evening it hit a milestone:

I might head back to Wales in the next couple of months, but this time in the Clio.

 

[charltjr]

They never made a Mondeo that was bad to drive, ridiculously good cars for the money

 

[Yosemite Sam]

Only you could set the trip computer up for that. Such a legend. 😍

 

[Tim.]

July 2025 - 77,777 miles

I’ve owned the Trophy for 14 years and in that time I’ve covered more than 35,000 miles.

It’s recently had a service and MOT and is getting used almost every day at the moment, however, the Sachs are not in good shape so they’ll be taken off for a refurb in the very near future. I’ve got a spare set plus a set of cup dampers, I just need to decide which way to go. I’ll probably opt for the cup dampers, keep the brand new Sachs under the bed and put the refurbed ones back on as soon as they’re done.

Hopefully that will be in time for the the 20th anniversary Welsh Weekender in September where nearly 30 Trophys will be getting together. I can’t wait for that, it’ll be one hell of a sight.

Recent photo taken with a rarely spotted Opel Monza:

The Mondeo didn’t have such luck in a supermarket car park. It’s now approaching 120k miles and is still a decent place to be but someone took a disliking to it and left a bit of a mark:

No note, no surprise! So I’ll be getting some quotes to have that repaired.

 

[Steve]

Wow one of the original gang still owns a legend, looks awesome @Tim.

I still remember the Donington event that had big numbers & winning ride in twin seater F2 or F3 car.

On a sadder note the Cadwell event that saw 3 or 4 written off 😭😭

 

[Tim.]

September 2025 - 78,600 miles

The Sachs came off a month ago and were temporarily replaced with Cup dampers so I could keep the wheels turning. Meanwhile the Sachs were very kindly taken by my father to BG Motorsport in Northampton for an overdue refurb.

3 weeks later I get the call saying they’re ready to collect so I drove up to get them. My dad, the legend, only went and paid for them as well. Bloody hero and what an awesome surprise!

They look a lot better than when they came off the car!

Today I took them for fitting along
with some new Sportline springs to replace the Cooksports:

The drive home is only a mile or two at 30mph but it already feels transformed, I can’t wait to get it out on some familiar local roads, then off to Wales for the 20th anniversary get-together to see how it performs there. 20+ Trophys together should be good fun. Let’s see if the weather plays ball…

 

[Tim.]

October 2025 - 80,000 miles

I think it was 34 Trophy’s that originally signed up to the Welsh Weekender celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Capsicum Red 182. For lots of reasons the numbers dropped and to be fair it was probably a good thing - that many cars in one group would have been tricky to manage. Nevertheless, convoying in a group of 15+ virtually identical cars really is quite the experience. Plenty of people at the side of the road giving a thumbs up, big grins, filming and enjoying the spectacle.

As always, Friday morning I set off from Newbury before dawn, destination North Wales. I grabbed a quick bite to eat once over the Severn bridge, then it was off the motorways and dual carriageways and onto more familiar roads…

Heading from the south up through mid Wales then into Snowdonia the car was absolutely faultless all day, the refreshed suspension reminding me just how good this car is, it’s so well-matched to the roads. The weather was pretty kind too, not that warm but bright with good visibility and the sun even came out later in the day so I took a wander across the impressive Pontcysyllte aqueduct before finding my B&B for the night. A very successful day with lots of driving but I enjoyed it so much I just didn’t want to break it up stopping for photos.

Saturday morning was the official start of the event in Llangollen:

Pretty heavy rain to start the day meant a very steady run to the evo triangle (standing water and AD08Rs is not ideal) but after that things cleared up nicely and the pace increased as the conditions improved.

As always, the Llanberis pass provided the most dramatic scenery of the weekend:

While the epic B4391 was a strong contender for road of the weekend:

Lunch in Bala was at the John Lewis Partnership hotel, arranged by an owner who conveniently happens to run a Waitrose store. Good food and a rest before getting back on the road and heading to Aberystwyth but not before a quick snap leaving the hotel:

The whole weekend was excellently organised (well done Andy, great job) and well-attended. It’s a real personal highlight of Trophy ownership as fellow owners are a great bunch of like-minded people.

Sunday the group enjoyed the delightful Aberystwyth mountain road and onwards to the top of the Elan Valley:

After that the rains came and the journey back to Newbury was not pleasant, but overall another absolutely brilliant weekend in Wales and the car continues to be a joy to own and drive. Who knows where next year… the NC500 is calling louder and louder every year. Maybe 2026 is the year.

Thanks for reading, credit to whoever took these photos, thank you 👍

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Here's an old photo somewhere showing a huge group of MK3 Escort XR3's and this line up reminded me of that. What a shot!

https://myclassicuk.com/news/nearly-40-years-since-the-ford-escort-mk3-xr3-was-launched/