ESCORT RS2000
(1994 – 1998)
Although the Mk5 Escort RS2000 was launched at the end of 1992 and went on sale soon afterwards, neither Ford’s ‘works’ team nor its very capable customer owners were initially very keen to put it into racing or rallying. The reason, quite simply, was the arrival of the new Escort RS Cosworth, which was a potential outright winner (and quickly proved that…) right from the start. Simply, although the new RS2000 had the new, sophisticated, I4 16-valve 2.0litre engine – which was capable of producing well over 200bhp when race-tuned – this obviously lacked the turbocharged grunt of the Cosworth, and of course it did not have four-wheel-drive.
This generation of RS2000s, therefore, was never developed into a competitive race car. Nor did Boreham find any time, or interest, in making them into credible 2.0litre Group A cars – not as true ‘works’ rally machines, at least, for it was fully occupied with racking up World Championship victories with the Escort RS Cosworth.
In the end it was Gordon Spooner Engineering (of Witham, in Essex) – which was technically very close to whatever Boreham was cooking up at this time – who developed what was universally known in the sport as an ‘F2’ RS2000.
The car had a mountune-built engine producing at least 225bhp, optional (and expensive!) six-speed transmissions, massive six-piston brake calipers, and a well-developed suspension system.
At first this car looked virtually standard (Ford’s Rapid Fit subsidiary was the team sponsor) and it struggled to become reliable, but Gwyndaf Evans steered it to victory in the F2 category of the 1994 Network Q RAC Rally.
A year later Gwyndaf and the team had proved their point by winning the RAC Rally Group A category once again, Gwyndaf also finished second in the British Rally Championship, and GSE also introduced a ‘Kit Car’ derivative of this F2 car (complete with big wheel arch extensions, further technical advances, and an engine producing a sturdy 250bhp!).
In 1996, however, GSE not only had a competitive Kit Car, but Gwyndaf Evans proved his worth by winning two Group A rounds of the British Championship and becoming Champion in his own right. A year later, major World rivals, such as VW, Nissan and Renault had all joined the British battles, so the Kit Car struggled but Gwyndaf still notched up three podium positions and left the team on a high to go on to other teams in the future.
This was the point at which Ford withdrew all support for the RS2000, not only because they thought the car was at its peak, and had their hands full evolving the new Escort World Rally Car, but also because first thoughts were already turning to the incoming Focus WRC project. But that is another story for another day…