Spoil(er)ed
Ford really should have won the World Rally Championship back then, from 1993 onwards; the chances had never been better. The Sierra Cosworth provided the ideal platform; development had begun as early as 1989, a year before the Escort Mk 5 was unveiled. Just to be clear: the Escort RS Cosworth shares only the doors and roof with the standard Escort; everything else is Sierra Cosworth – chassis, drivetrain. The design was by Stephen Harper of MGA Developments in Coventry, whilst the famous rear spoiler was created by Frank Stephenson (later BMW X5, Mini, Maserati MC12, McLaren, etc.). The Ford was built at Karmann in Rheine.
The idea was clear: the shortened Sierra – with a wheelbase of 2.55 metres instead of 2.61 metres – was intended to shake up Group A. This required 2,500 homologation models, all of which had to be built before 1 January 1993. From this batch, Ford Motorsport then selected the vehicles that were converted into rally cars, whilst the vast majority went on sale. This first series was fitted with an oversized Garrett T3/T04B turbo, which was perfect for racing but gave the road versions a nasty turbo lag; below 3,500 rpm, there was virtually no power.
For the road, the 2-litre four-cylinder officially produced 227 hp at 6,250 rpm and a maximum torque of 304 Nm at 3,500 rpm. This allowed it to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 232 km/h with the rear wing (without it, it could reach 237 km/h). Weighing just under 1,300 kg, the Ford was competing at the time with a BMW M3 or a Toyota Supra, but it also had four-wheel drive (34 per cent of power to the front, 66 per cent to the rear), which made it a very serious sports car on winding roads or in snow. But that’s also how you sat in it; the standard Recaro seats are like vice-grips.
In the 1993 World Rally Championship, Ford won five rounds with the Escort RS Cosworth, but it wasn’t enough for the world title (which went to Toyota). In 1994 there were only two more round wins, and a final one in 1996. The title-winning project had failed – yet on the road, the ‘Cossie’ caused quite a stir; demand was much higher than expected, with over 7,000 units sold. From June 1994, the Ford was also available without a rear wing, but with a version much more suitable for road use, featuring a smaller Garrett T25 turbo. The model shown here is a first-series Ford Escort RS Cosworth.
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