Escort rally history
For most of the 1970s, the rear-drive Escort was the car to beat on gravel, snow and tarmac. These are the results that made its name.
- 1968
First blood
Within months of launch the Twin Cam was winning internationally. Roger Clark took the Acropolis Rally that year.
- 1970
London to Mexico
Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm won the 16,000-mile World Cup Rally, and Ford named a road car after the victory.
- 1972
Clark breaks through
Roger Clark and Tony Mason won the RAC Rally in an RS1600, the first of eight RAC wins in a row for the Escort, running to 1979.
- 1979
World champions
Ford won the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, and Björn Waldegård took the first official drivers' title. Ford celebrated with the Escort Harrier.
- 1981
Vatanen's crown
Ari Vatanen and David Richards won the drivers' world title in a privately entered RS1800, years after the Mk2 went out of production.
- 1983
The car that never raced
Ford cancelled the rear-drive RS 1700T Group B project, around 18 prototypes in, in favour of the four-wheel-drive RS200.
- 1993
The Cosworth era
The RS Cosworth won in Portugal, Corsica, the Acropolis and Catalunya, then took the 1994 Monte Carlo Rally with François Delecour.