Ford Escort RS Cosworth – Motorsport

The Escort RS Cosworth was an homologation special and its sole role was to incorporate parts that Ford planned to use in their rally cars to ensure success in International Rallying. It was available as a road car from 1992 – 1996 in limited numbers from Ford’s Specialist Vehicle Engineering (SVE) team, combining the hand-assembled engine expertise of Cosworth and the coachbuilding crafts of Karmann. Powered by the familiar 2-litre turbocharged, longitudinally-mounted, Cosworth-developed engine driving all four wheels, the Stephen Harper-designed car was engineered in Boreham with final assembly by Karmann in Germany.

The potential of the Escort was evident in its first ever event, the 1993 Monte Carlo Rally, where Delecour and Biasion came second and third respectively. The Escort continued to be very competitive throughout the 1993 and 1994 seasons but it was a ‘one-off’ guest drive by Tommi Mäkinen that provided the long-awaited win on the 1994 ‘1000 Lakes’ Rally, the first of many high profile, top flight rally victories. Additionally, and true to Ford’s grassroots philosophy, the Escort Cosworth provided a platform for National Rallying and Club enthusiasts throughout the world to enjoy ‘off the shelf’ competitive support, securing its status as a true Ford icon. Production figures suggest only 7,145 Ford Escort RS Cosworth examples were ever produced with the final examples entering production in December 1995 and leaving the factory in early 1996.

The SVE-built road cars were offered in three main variations; the ‘Motorsport Base’ was a pared-back homologation road car with minimal equipment (no electric windows, sunroof, air con, radio etc.) and some strengthened body points aimed squarely at rally teams and competition-minded privateers, providing the ideal base for motorsport preparation straight from the factory to enable customers to take straight into competition prep, the ‘Standard’ was the normal well-equipped road car and the ‘Lux’ was a higher-spec road car with luxury and convenience features.

This original UK-supplied new, right-hand drive, RS Cosworth car was first registered on 26th May 1995, and was supplied new by Seatons Ford in Yeovil, Somerset, a Ford RS Dealer. It’s a factory-built, Motorsport Base car finished in Auralis Blue, one of the model’s rarest colours and exceptionally scarce in Motorsport specification as the majority of competition customers wanted a car finished in white to fully enhance their sponsor’s logos.