ESCORT RS1600i
(1982 TO 1985)
Originally invented by Ford-Germany Motorsport for use as a ‘class car’ in German saloon car racing, the Escort RS1600i (whose engineering and tune-up equipment was based on that of the XR3 Mk3, rather than the SVE-developed XR3i which had only recently been put on sale). It went on UK sale at the end of 1982, was homologated for motorsport use on 1 January 1983, and immediately started to appear in rallies and circuit races later that year. The ‘works’ rally cars were built and maintained by RED of Merseyside, while Richard Longman’s Datapost-sponsored cars raced in the British Touring Car Championship.
In both cases, the exploits and development of these 150bhp-normally-aspirated cars was soon overwhelmed by the new Escort RS Turbos (see right) which followed, but they were at least credible. In the BTCC in 1983, Richard Longman and Alan Curnow soon chalked up regular class wins and podium positions against other formidable little machines such as the latest 16-valve VW Golf GTIs. While in 1984 they improved still further, and completely dominated their class with Longman finishing second overall in the entire Championship. A year later Longman’s main personal interest was in racing the newlyintroduced Escort RS Turbos, but several privatelyowned RS1600is – including the Brooklyn car of Chris Hodgetts – continued to notch up class win after class win in the 1.6-litre category, which helped deliver the Manufacturers’ Championship crown to Ford for the second successive year.
The ‘works’ rally team, which appeared only in 1983 and used Malcolm Wilson and Louise AitkenWalker as the drivers, had less success. Notably because the standard transmissions were frail and often broke down, so their high spot was taking two seventh overalls (on the Circuit of Ireland and the Welsh events), though Malcolm Wilson also won his class in the RAC rally that ended the season, and the programme. Louise, though, managed to take fifth place in the Czech Skoda rally of 1984, which was really the height of its success.
Ford’s problem at this precise time was that Stuart Turner’s arrival had inspired a great upheaval in the team’s activities; the Escort RS1700T project was scrapped, and with much work immediately going into the genesis of the all-new RS200 Group B car. Even so, both Wilson and Louise realised they were marking time in their careers, but struggled gamely on. However, RED disliked the cars so much that they only ever built three of them, and never attracted any private-owner sales.