Thanks to Neville Nash (very helpful) I understand why and how the front suspension was swapped from Triumph to Escort Group 4.
Neville was very helpful and pleasant to deal with – thanks to ecorthvn for the information.
Thanks to Martin Smith for the images
The Max Irwin car is as I remembered it – don’t recall the black turbo car though.
(it would have had the Triumph front end when those photos were shot)