THE EVOLUTION OF FORD RALLY RACING
STORY | Glenn Wallace
PHOTOGRAPHY | Brandon Woyshnis
If you stop someone on the street and mention the Ford Escort, it might conjure up the image of an underpowered metallic-green compact, missing a plastic hubcap. Outside the U.S., the name Escort evokes the image of a rally car flung fully sideways, Cosworth engine screaming at 9,000 rpm, twin firehoses of gravel bursting from the rear tires. The European Escort, also built in Australia and South Africa, is the most successful rally and race car, revered to this day, and something of a British hometown hero. The ultimate evolution of the Escort is a turbocharged 350-horsepower rear wheel drive monster weighing just under 2,000 pounds! Built for FIA Group B competition, the RS1700T was codenamed Columbia, after the space shuttle. Just 18 RS1700Ts were built, as well as a few spare shells, making it the rarest of all Rally Sport Escorts. Many were destroyed during testing, some were scrapped, some were shipped to South Africa and further modified. Today four or five are left, of which only two are running. Our bevy of Escorts are from the collections of three local owners. Such a lineup would draw gasps in the UK, so we are thankful for the opportunity to present them here.
J25
Ford’s Rally Sport Escorts all share DNA strands that weave through production and competition cars from a singular moment of conception. In 1967, Ford Competition Department head Henry Taylor and chief engineer Bill Meade were watching the very first Escort prototype being driven around the Boreham airfield. Bill Meade turned to Henry, remarking, “Blimey, that would go like hell with a Twin Cam in it!” A prototype was in a weekend. The Cortina Lotus engine was offset a couple of inches to the left, to allow the twin 40DCOE Webers to fit inside the tiny engine bay. Nor was there room for the battery, which was moved to the trunk. Space was at such a premium that the brake and clutch master cylinders were re-located inside the car under the dash, fed from a single hydraulic reservoir mounted next to the heater plenum and assisted by a remote booster mounted next to the radiator. Suspension and brake upgrades came from the new Ford Capri and upper radius arms were added to the leaf spring rear axle. Bodyshell upgrades included chassis stiffening plates, a “stone deflector” under the trunk floor and a special radiator shroud. The project was given the green light on January 25th and the code name J25.
With its rack-and-pinion steering and lighter body shell, the Escort Twin Cam not only eclipsed Ford’s Cortina Lotus as the fastest car in their 1968 lineup, but it also quickly dominated racing and rally events across the UK and Europe. The strengthened competition-ready “Type 49” shell of the Twin Cam would form the basis of future Mk1 RS Escorts, and it was decided the best way to build them was in a special factory, Ford’s Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO), based at Boreham, the spiritual home of Ford Escort and Rally Sport. Ford entered Escorts in the London to Mexico World Cup Rally of 1970, with Hannu Mikkola winning the event outright. This winning car did not have the Lotus engine of the Twin Cam, but rather a simpler and more reliable pushrod engine with a slightly enlarged capacity. This success was the perfect launching point for Ford’s most popular AVO product, the Escort Mexico, based on a Type 49 shell with a Cortina 1600GT pushrod engine as used in the successful Formula Ford series. The Escort Mexico was the ideal entry level competition vehicle.
The eight-valve Twin Cam was joined in January 1970 by the 16-valve Cosworth BDA-powered Escort RS1600, which eventually was upgraded with an alloy block and Dell’Orto carbs in 1972. The Twin Cam and RS1600 were uncivilized road cars, difficult to keep in tune – most were bought for competition use and very few of these original cars still exist. The grueling UK Lombard RAC Rally, consisting of muddy and dark overnight stages spanning five days, had been dominated since 1960 by Swedes and Finns. In 1972 British driver Roger Albert Clark won the RAC Rally in a Ford Works Escort RS1600 (“Esso Blue”), a watershed moment cementing the Escort as a force to be reckoned with and boosting British national pride.
In 1973 Ford decided to build a more refined RS Escort and introduced the RS2000, with Scheel seats and the ultimate luxury: a heated rear window. The simpler 2.0-liter Pinto engine, featuring an alloy oil pan and bellhousing, delivered comparable performance to the road-going versions of the Twin Cam and RS1600, with improved drivability. A unique “feature” of the Mk1 RS2000 was smaller rear drum brakes, a requirement from Ford Germany to accommodate tire chains. The RS2000 was homologated for FIA Group 1 with many upgrades available from Ford’s RS dealer network including the ubiquitous Cibié driving lights. Boreham offered a “special build” option which included larger fender flares to accommodate wider tires, as well as roll cages, close-ratio gearboxes, upgraded engines and axles, all installed at the factory. Ford had a very clear recipe for the competition and sales success of the RS Escorts: simple suspension and driveline layout, strong and light bodyshell, the most powerful engines that would fit, and an array of factory supported competition parts and information available to all. No wonder Ford coyly called it, “The Car That Won’t Stop Winning.
BRENDA
The Mk2 Escort is the most successful race and rally car built by Ford. Code-named Brenda, it featured a larger glass area compared to the Mk1 and informed by rally experience, increased structural rigidity. I once asked legendary driver, Björn Waldegård, about his favorite competition car. He answered, “No question the Escort was always the best for me to drive,” and quickly added, “well, the Mk2 especially, it was easier to see out the windows as I was driving sideways!” Built in Saarlouis Germany, the Mk2 RS2000 retained the Pinto 2.0-liter engine of the Mk1 RS2000, adding a unique cast “RS” exhaust header as well as a plush interior featuring Scheel and later Recaro seats. British racer Tom Walkinshaw tuned the suspension to perfection, making the RS2000 a smooth, fast, and refined road car, becoming very popular as a company car for sales reps. The nosecone reduced drag by 16%, and the distinctive four headlight setup made the RS2000 instantly recognizable, boosted by a starring role in the British TV series, “The Professionals.” Ford offered many Group 1 homologated upgrade for the RS2000, including a twin 44IDF Weber carburetor setup, uprated cylinder head and camshaft, close-ratio “Rocket” gearbox, and a larger 69-liter fuel tank. It was possible to put all of those options together with the “X-Pack” wide body kit and 13x7” alloy wheels. The Escort RS1800 is the second rarest Escort, with production totaling just 109 vehicles. Featuring a two-barrel downdraft Weber like its sister RS2000 atop a 1.8-liter Cosworth BDA, it was intended that the road-going RS1800 be relatively mild mannered. In Group 4 rally trim, with up to 270 naturally aspirated horses from a 2.0-liter Cosworth BDG, five-speed ZF gearbox, and a five-link fully floating rear end, the Mk2 Escort RS won so many events that it is impossible to count them all. Ford also wanted to make it easy for anyone with an Escort to compete and published the “Ford Escort Rally Preparation Handbook.” Written by Ford Works head mechanic Mick Jones, it contains a complete recipe for building a world-class race or rally competition Escort. The first privateer team to win the FIA World Rally Championship was David Sutton’s Rothmans Escort team, with Hannu Mikkola taking the driver’s crown The Escort Mk 2 RS2000 cuts a dashing silhouette with 16% less drag and 25%/60% reduced front and rear lift. Equally at home storming down a country lane or taking your better half out for a fancy dinner.
COLUMBIA
While the European Mk3 Escort looks similar to the early U.S. Escorts and Lynxes, Dearborn insisted the U.S. Escort would be a distinct design and, as a result, very few components are interchangeable. Ford Europe released the Escort RS1600i, and eventually the Escort RS Turbo Series 1 and 2. They were decent enough road cars, but couldn’t spearhead a factory competition strategy, due to their transverse-engine, front-wheel-drive layout. The RS1700T design opted for a turbocharged Cosworth BDT placed longitudinally in a heavily modified Mk3 Escort unibody, four-wheel independent suspension, along with a torque tube fed rear transaxle attaining a 52:48 weight distribution. The Group B arms race began with 2WD cars like the Lancia 037, Toyota Celica, and Opel Manta 400. Ford knew that the RS1700T could set faster tarmac times than the Lancia 037, but the looming wave of 4WD monsters like the Audi Quattro meant that the RS1700T would never be competitive on gravel or snow. The RS1700T was unceremoniously axed in 1983 and the 200 assembled Cosworth BDT engines were set aside for a more exotic Group B design, the mid-engined 4WD Ford RS200 - but that, as they say, is another story
