ROAD/RALLY MK2 ESCORT
He might spend his days hurling R5 Fiestas through Welsh woodlands, but WRC hopeful Osian Pryce’s Mk2 proves that the rich tradition of rally driver-owned Escorts is alive and well.
He might spend his days hurling R5 Fiestas around, but Osian Pryce’s Mk2 proves that the rich tradition of rally driver-owned Escorts is alive and well.
Almost by definition, rally drivers are a breed apart. This won’t be at all surprising if you’ve ever had the good fortune to watch onboard footage of, say, Kris Meeke hammering Moll’s Gap in a Metro 6R4, or of course Frank Kelly, the most famous Tarmac Escort-chucker since Bertie Fisher departed this mortal realm.
To put it another way, rally drivers know full well that trees and dry-stone walls don’t flinch and that it’s invariably the car that comes off worst whenever the two are introduced, and yet they press on regardless.
That professional rally drivers are so ready to shrug-off the risks associated with piloting an internal combustion engine through a slimy forest probably says as much about their innate need for adrenaline as it does their skill set, but there can be no denying that doing so demands a massive amount of testicular fortitude.
Crychan calling
All of which begs the question, what do rally drivers do to unwind once the Fiesta R5 has been shuttered for the evening? Well, if you’re Osian Pryce, one of the fastest drivers to emerge from the principality since David Llewellin called time on his professional career, you build yourself a Mk2 Escort, the purposeful looking four-door here.
Now being a Welshman — and a Welsh rally man at that — there was no way that Osian was ever going to have anything but warm feelings for the second-generation Escort. You could say it’s in his blood, or at the very least, his gravel.
“I’ve always loved Escorts, to the extent that my first ever rally car was a Mk2, a car I still own and am slowly building to historic Group 4 spec. This car though, the fourdoor, that was bought as a replacement for another, far rustier Mk2 I’d owned since I was a teenager, and it’s evolved since then.”
Evolved is the operative word too, as for a long time it looked as if the project would move forward in the most glacial of increments. After all, Osian had a professional rally career to found and forge, and as such
his attention was understandably focussed on more modern, mundane offerings.
Polish out
Then, midway through 2017 and while competing in Rally Poland, one of the fastest rallies of all (think Finland with less bends), Osian had the biggest off of his career. That both he and co-driver Dale Furniss emerged from the totalled, three-wheeled M-Sport Fiesta R5 largely unscathed says much about the innate strength of current rally cars, but some of the damage took rather longer to make itself apparent, and longer still to heal.
The Polish off rather tainted the remainder of the 2017 season, and while the following year began well (so much so that Osian was leading the British Rally Championship for the opening portion of the season), any hopes he harboured of mounting a title challenge were dashed by a run of rotten reliability as mid-summer gave way to autumn.
“Come the end of the 2017 season, and I was a little fed up with rallying if I’m honest. The bruises on my back from the Polish crash had stopped me fully enjoying Rally Finland which followed, while the lack of consistent reliability meant I ended the 2018 British Rally Championship feeling a bit down-heartened.”
At least Osian still had the Escort, a fundamentally solid example in faded Venetian Red. It would soon prove to be just the restorative automotive tonic required to help revitalise Osian and rekindle his love for cars — and old, rear-wheel drive cars in particular.
“I decided that now was the time to take the plunge and to get the project rolling, so I began by borrowing choice parts from the clubman-spec Mk2 my Dad bought when I was 14. I eventually took the engine, brakes, hubs and a few other, choice parts for my own build, and these effectively acted as the foundation stone for the car you see here.”
Pinto pedigree
The engine in question is a Pinto, albeit one originally built by none other than John Yeoman, a man with a handy reputation amongst the rallying Escort faithful, and it’s an engine Osian counts as one of the best of its type he’s ever encountered.
“It’s not just me that thinks it’s a brilliant example either, Meiron Evans of Wales Motorsport Fabrication agrees with me! He did the shell preparation so is responsible for the strengthening, added gussets and the six-linked back-end, but he also gave the Pinto a basic health check and did the valve seals. He reckons it has some of the best head work he’s ever encountered.”
Further evidence of this particular Pinto’s potency came when Osian took the completed Escort for a rolling road session, always a somewhat nerve-racking experience for anyone who’s finished building their own old Ford. Because as much as a dyno session
“THE ESCORT PROVED TO BE THE JUST THE TONIC TO HELP OSIAN REKINDLE HIS LOVE OF OLD, REAR DRIVE CARS”
provides the opportunity to learn just how effective your tinkering has been, you also have to listen to your pride and joy being given the mother of all thrashings by a stranger, and with just a fan to provide vital cooling.
“I’d decided to go for a walk around the town rather than waiting around to watch my car being given lots of stick, but in the end my curiosity got the better of me and I came back to the noise of what I assumed to be two different engines being run-up on the dyno. I peeked my head around the corner to find that no, it really was just my Escort, sounding for all the world like a works BDA.”
Anyone hoping to learn the precise makeup of Osian’s dyno-proven 205 bhp mild Pinto will be disappointed as the man himself is keeping mum about its exact spec, but it’s very definitely a case of a once humble engine since rendered significantly greater than the sum of its constituent parts.
Pryce refocuses
Looks were just as important to Osian as performance, which explains why his four-door now looks so unimpeachably brilliant from any angle you choose. It’s also a product of design rather than mere coincidence or evolution, Osian having decided long ago how he wanted it to look and drawing to a somewhat unexpected source for inspiration. “I was lucky enough to own a Mk3 Focus RS for a period a few years ago and fell in love with how it looked, sat atop black wheels and with stunning blue paint. It planted the germ of a seed of inspiration in my mind, which is how the Escort came to be painted in a similar but distinct shade of blue and with contrasting black wheels.”
Old Ford therapy
It’s abundantly clear from chatting to Osian that building his dream Mk2 Escort has been more than just a labour of love; rather it’s proved a therapeutic exercise, a means of re-igniting a partially diluted passion for cars in general and rallying in particular. Given the challenges associated with forging a professional rally career in the modern era, this is very good news indeed, both for Osian himself and Welsh rallying.
As if to underscore the therapeutic powers of Mk2 Escort spannering, the completion of the car last spring coincided with a pronounced upswing in form and fortune on Osian’s part, with an outright win on the inaugural Rali Bae Ceredigion and a fine drive to ninth (in a Mk1 Escort) on the gruelling East African Safari Classic the clear highlights.
With the aforementioned Group 4 Mk2 complete, his passion for chucking gravel reignited and Covid 19 banished (hopefully), few would bet against Osian adding rather more gilded Escort entries to his CV in 2021. Cymru am byth.
“LOOKS WERE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS PERFORMANCE, WHICH IS WHY THIS MK2 LOOKS BRILLIANT FROM ANY ANGLE”