The Escort Cosworth Was The Stepping Stone Between the RS200 and the Focus WRC

When you look at this car, it looks a lot like a track performance car, with it's whale-tail spoiler. But the Ford Escort RS Cosworth was actually a rally special. The car was modified from a regular Escort by modifying the engine mapping and adding a turbocharger. It was also permanently four-wheel-drive and used Recaro sports seats. Only just over seven thousand were made.

In terms of it's motorsport history, it won ten events between 1993 and 1997- seven between 1993 and 1994 and two in the WRC championship between 1996 and 1997. Francois Delecour won four of the events- Portugal, Corsica and Spain in 1993 and Monte Carlo in 1994. Carlos Sainz won all three of the WRC era- Indonesia both years and Acropolis 1996. The others were Acropolis 1993 (Miki Biasion), San Remo 1993 (Franco Cunico) and Finland 1994 (Tommi Makinen). Other famous drivers included Bruno Thiry, Juha Kankkunen and Ari Vatanen. It was also F1 Safety Car in 1992 and 1993.

Recently the Escort Group A has had a bit of a revival when Ken Block bought two to add to his Hoonigan collection. However, one caught fire and burned down at the end of last year. In terms of the road car, it's now a collector's car, admired by both rally and hot hatch fans. Overall, the Escort has been one of the legends of the Hot Hatch industry, morphing into the Focus RS in 2000.