When Ford-UK needed a new rally car for World Championship use in the 1990s, it combined the best of Sierra engineering, the best of Cosworth’s engine-tuning expertise, and a brave approach to aerodynamics, to produce the Escort RS Cosworth. Although this car looked something like the mainstream front-drive Escort of day, it had a four-wheel-drive chassis, and hid much Sierra RS Cosworth heritage under its bewinged skin.
Starting on the basis of a shortened Sierra Cosworth 4x4 platform, and adapting a three-door Escort body superstructure to that, Ford spent time in its wind tunnels, eventually endowing the new car with a large and entirely functional rear spoiler. This, along with other add-ons, louvres and detail changes, produced a car which not only looked aggressively purposeful, but which developed positive downforce at high speeds. As speeds rose, the car was actually pressed further down onto its suspension, loading up the tyres and increasing potential grip.
With 227 bhp available from its 2-litre turbocharged engine in standard form, the Escort RS Cosworth was already a comfortable, reliable, exhilarating and extremely capable road car, but with 300 bhp or more, and a whole host of extra equipment in place, it became a phenomenal rally car. Road cars, equipped with fat and soft-compound Pirelli P Zero tyres, handled like no previous Ford had ever done, and because they were so small and agile, they soon attracted a cult following. The looks, perhaps, were an acquired taste, but no-one ever argued about the abilities of the package.
Road cars went on sale in 1992, cars started winning World Championship rallies in 1993, and by 1995 this had become one of the most successful Ford competition cars of all time. Victory in the Monte Carlo Rally (in 1994 and 1996) established the car’s reputation for good, and in a final evolution, as the Escort WRC rally car, it was good enough for Carlos Sainz to win several world-class events. |
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The problem, as so often with these cars, is that the Escort RS Cosworth was too costly (£23,500 at first) to appeal to the mass market, too complex for Ford’s dealer chain to understand, and far too special for the companies who had to insure it, so Ford never sold more than about 3,000 cars in a year. The final version, shorn of its big spoiler and with a small turbocharger, was a better road car, but not ideal for use in motorsport.
Commercial success, however, was never the most important factor in this charismatic car’s career. By the time the last one was built in 1996, Ford enthusiasts had already christened it a classic, had found ways of extracting up to 400 bhp from its engine, and were defying Ford to produce even better cars in the future.
Although it resembled the mainstream Escorts of the day, the Escort RS Cosworth had four-wheel-drive and an aerodynamic shape.
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