Freddie Mapp -"Escort Specialist"
A few weeks back we at Sleeper Forest had the opportunity to visit Freddie Mapp's garage. It's interesting how race car drivers never really leave the race track, they just "race" in an another way.
A few weeks back we at Sleeper Forest had the opportunity to visit Freddie Mapp's garage. We never got to meet him as a race car driver, his glory days were before our time in the 80's but we got to meet him as the mechanic. It's interesting how race car drivers never really leave the race track, they just "race" in an another way.
Archival footage from the "The Barbados Rally Club" & Kaieteur News
Our friend "Sicky Back", gave us the invite.
We got the invite to tour the garage from friend of ours, you may have seen pictures of his 1jz swapped Toyota Cressida on some of our Instagram post, it's pretty great.
We got to see just few of the cars on the outside, they were works in progress. We deemed it the inline 6 alley, every Toyota with the space, received the inline 6 treatment. Some twin turbo, some single turbo, these machines were being built for drift, they were definitely not lacking in power.
Among these cars was something a little different and special but that's a secret...for now.
Once on the inside we were greeted by the smell of oil and metal. The garage wasn't much different from any other garage except for the six pieces of Caribbean automotive history laying around in the form of six ford escorts. They were just taking a rest from the hard work they put in over the years, catching some dust, winning races is hard work you know.
Way in the back of the garage was this blue escort shell it once carried a single cam engine, however it was modified to be a twin cam engine.
The engine started with a single over head cam, that was driven via a push rod method from the crankshaft, but with this conversion, the first cam, spun a second cam via a gear, and this allowed more airflow into the head, more air = more power, and more power = more fast. This was automotive magic and ingenuity.
Further to the front of the garage, we found more Escorts, one MK1 with the Cosworth 2.0L 16v turbocharged engine, makes around 300hp as well as his Mk2 Escort, the one he used consistently in rally. They were covered in tools and parts.
This really reinforces the fact that we need experienced persons to be able to carry on the passion and love for Motorsport to a younger generation, so it can continue grow. As Freddie stepped away from racing his mechanic shop continued to grow, taking the time to work with clients and help those he can.
We really appreciated the tour, and the chance to be able to photograph these amazing machines.
- Sleeper Forest Team
I found a Shed in France
I traveled to Martinique late 2016 around September time, it has been a long time since I was there about 10 years, so I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived. It's vastly different car wise compared to Barbados
I traveled to Martinique late 2016 around September time, it has been a long time since I was there about 10 years, so I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived. It's vastly different car wise compared to Barbados where I come from, almost no Japanese cars were there,mostly European cars and the odd Japanese car there came from the US market because of the prevalent use of left hand drive so even those looked different. Highways filled with Fiats, Renaults, Peugeots and Citroëns were the norm.
I really wondered what car culture was like over there, I saw a few cars some "hella flush" others just slight cosmetic modifications but nothing major, I guess I was looking at the wrong generation.
One morning during breakfast my uncle was showing me some cars that he loved from back in the day. I asked him if any were still around, I haven't seen many interesting cars since I got here, I was beginning to get a little worried about how things were shaping up, and then he just casually said yeah, up the hill there's some. “What do you mean up the hill? “ He just said my friend has a few , we can go look this afternoon, I was a bit apprehensive, I expected to see some old cars lying around, but I had no idea what I was in for. That evening we took a stroll up the hill, me with my camera in hand to a shed.
We exchanged greetings and he opened the shed for me, and sitting there were two gems, first one I noticed was covered by a sheet, but I immediately knew what it was, 1966 Fiat Abarth 1000 TC Corsa
This was one of my favorite cars from classic rally and to see one up close in person was unreal, he kept it unchanged from the factory cosmetically, and mechanically.
A quick breakdown on the specs of this car, the engine is about 982 cc with a single overhead cam along with dual carburetors it makes about 112 HP. The engine is situated in the rear of the car and the car is rear wheel drive, it weighs about 580 kg. Classic European solution to speed, take as much weight out of the car as you can. With a decent power to weight ratio it makes itself a fun car to drive around small roads with.
Classic European solution to speed, take as much weight out of the car as you can. With a decent power to weight ratio it makes itself a fun car to drive around small roads with.
The other car in the shed was another Fiat, a Fiat X1-9 designed by Bertone. It has a mid-engine rear wheel drive layout. Its 1.5 liter engine outputs about 85 hp and it weighs in at 914 kg. It was still in the process of being restored when I came in and saw it
He had one more car to show me, but I'll save that for another post.
Coming soon, until then, enjoy motoring - Alex