To rallying folks in a pitch-black

This car is the most famous MkII of all. It won the world rally championship for Ari Vatanen in 1981, run by a privateer team after the factory had abandoned it. David Sutton Motorsport built this car specially for the final round, the Lombard RAC Rally. The Finn took second place behind one of the dominant new quattros, sealing the championship for himself and co-driver David Richards, now boss of Prodrive which builds WRC-winning Subaru Imprezas.

Before he retired from rallying and became an MEP, Vatanen was perhaps the wildest exponent of the style the Escort best thrived upon: pedal to the metal and tail hung out all the way, sometimes dragging on the floor with the inside front waving. Not for nothing is there still an annual rally in the UK called the Harry Flatters, an affectionate nickname that suited his exuberant style so well.

Vatanen appeared able to screw more out of a MkII than any other living soul, and the car still moves him now: ‘I can still hear it... to rallying folks in a pitch-black night at Kielder forest the beautifully singing BDA engine sounded like the masterworks of Sibelius. The Escort suited my style as a glove fits a hand. It was so easy to drive that it must have guessed what I wanted to do. I always drove the Escort flat out into each corner, and we’ll see what happens. Side numbers were usually the first thing that spectators saw - and I had a smile on my face. The panel beaters got plenty of practice, though...’

Escorts have probably started more people in rallying than any car except Minis. The Mk2’s wins were legendary: they won 17 World Rallies between 1975 and 1981, starting with Timon Makinen in the RAC and taking the drivers and makes titles in 1979. Ford reckons RS1800s have won more rallies, at world, international and national level than any other car in the world, and we don’t dispute that.

But the name is a misnomer. Standard cars from the factory - only 108 or so - displaced 1835cc and breathed through a weedy twin-choke Weber. Rally cars were punched out to the full 2 litres, like the last RS1600 Mk1s before them, breathing through enormous Webers and sometimes fuel injection for a best of over 270bhp. And if you can’t beat ‘em, join them. Its contemporary rivals - Talbot Sunbeam-Lotus, the Vauxhall Chevette HSR and the Nissan 240RS were really all Escort clones.

Though it’s the (then) ultimate incarnation of the rear-drive Escort, it looks terrifyingly standard inside, save for the spare coil and ignition pack sitting out of harm’s way up on the parcel shelf: the catch tray on the transmission tunnel is no more than a cut-down gallon plastic bottle. Underneath it’s all a boy-racer’s dream. Billies/four-link Atlas… and leaf springs, even if for forests these were articulated at the front between special nylon rollers (so-called ‘slipper springs) to change the rear axle’s roll orientation under roll and therefore handling characteristics. In the days before electronic tripmeters and telemetry, there’s a complicated double cable drive for the Halda with gearbox on scuttle to average the distance reading between the front wheels

There’s a neat connection too between some of these cars too: this Mk2 lives at Beaulieu now, owned by the National Motor Museum Trust, but it was built for Vatanen by David Sutton Motorsport. The following year, the Sutton team moved over to the new Audi quattro, running the cars for Audi Sport. And in 1983 won the Lombard RAC Rally with the quattro below.

More:
Saab 96 Sport
Mini Cooper S
Porsche 911T Rallye
Ford Escort RS1800
Lancia Stratos
Audi quattro A2
Subaru Impreza 555