A quarter of a century on from when Ford delivered the Escort RS Cosworth, few thought it would be making headlines in world motorsport all over again. It did in 2018. It did because of Ken Block.
The Escort was one of Ken’s favorite cars back in the day – the inspiration clear in the picture which shows François Delecour’s 1993 Monte Carlo Escort in the foreground of KB’s ‘Cossie.’
Talking to Ken for the first time when he’d outlined his plans to rebuild one of the pukka Group A cars, I had one question.
“Side exhaust?”
His smile was a mile-wide.
“David, of course!”
Sadly, that Escort only lasted two events. After a stunning podium with third place on the 2018 Oregon Trail, it crashed and burned in New England. There was, of course, a second, much more modern interpretation of the Escort Cosworth which followed a year later.
The 2018 season delivered a long-awaited return to the World Rally Championship. Being totally mobbed at the ceremonial start in Barcelona demonstrated the WRC still adored Block. Sadly for him, his run in a Ford Fiesta WRC ended prematurely with an accident.
That wasn’t Ken’s first time in one a Fiesta WRC – he used an M-Sport car in Gymkhana 10, donuting the car Sébastien Ogier had driven in Sweden days earlier in sync with a then 16-year-old Oliver Solberg who was sliding the Hoonigan Focus RX car alongside.
Special memories.
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 12 / Rally Catalunya-Costa Daurada Rally de Espagna 2018 / October 25-28, 2018 /// Worldwide Copyright: Hoonigan Racing Division
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 12 / Rally Catalunya-Costa Daurada Rally de Espagna 2018 / October 25-28, 2018 /// Worldwide Copyright: Monster Energy / McKlein
