PH Carpool: Ford Escort RS2000
This PHer likes the unloved Mk6 Escort so much he's building two rally cars from them!
Car: Ford Escort RS2000 stage rally car
Owned since: 2012
Previously owned: Countless modified Escorts and Orions, including 2x Mk6 RS2000s, a couple of 2.0 Zetec Escorts and a mint Orion 1600E. A Volvo 850 T-5, Ford Sierra Sapphire and a Honda Civic SR also featured, while a Vauxhall Vectra diesel was probably the low point. The current fleet stands at this Escort, a Renaultsport Clio 172 Cup, an Escort Equipe, my daily VW Golf R and an RS2000 F2 Kit Car.
Well it was meant to be a cheap way into rallying...
"I've always been into Fords and, for some reason, the much maligned Mk5/6 Escorts. When I was a teen, I knew a couple of older guys who had modified Orions and I thought they looked smart, so I ended up with one as my first car. It went from there and I ended up having loads of Orions and Escorts; from standard base model snotters to quite heavily modified versions. I'm a big rally nut and, other than Colin McRae in a Rothmans Legacy, some of my most vivid childhood rallying memories are of the F2 era. While the likes of the 306 and Megane Maxi are the obvious choice, my love for Fords meant I fell for the RS2000 F2 in a big way. The screaming engines, wide body work and do-or-die driving style was a great combination. I studied Motorsport Technology and Automotive Engineering at university so getting into rallying was inevitable really. This car actually belonged to a friend of mine and, when he was offered a Lancia Delta HF 4WD rally car that he absolutely HAD to have, I bought the Escort from him as a 'cheap' way into rallying. It hasn't worked out exactly as I planned, but I'm getting there slowly."
What I wish I'd known:
"What a big project it would become! I've owned loads of Escorts over the years so I didn't really have any concerns. I knew what to look for, but it has turned into something of a mammoth rebuild. I bought the car as a 'ready to go' concern but, being a bit obsessive, I wanted to make a few changes to try and improve the car's performance. When I started to dig a bit deeper, I found some corrosion and it escalated from there. What was supposed to be an interior freshen up has turned into a full rebuild! Despite being fairly standard mechanically, the car has been chopped around a bit over the years. I've chopped it around even more, so the challenge is making everything fit, as very few standard parts work with it anymore. It's got bits of RS2000, Escort Cosworth, Sierra and even Focus in there, so everything requires fabrication and a lot of thought."
Yellow rally cars are faster than white ones, right?
"The look of it now it's coming back together. Sadly it's still a way off driving again, but in its old form it had some slightly odd wheel arch extensions and was very much a 'clubman' type car. The new Cosworth type arches and yellow paint have totally transformed it. It's all starting to look a lot more purposeful and hopefully, thanks to better brakes, a better gearbox and less weight, it should perform a lot better than it used to. At times it drives me totally crazy as every job takes a lot longer than you expect, but there's a lot of pleasure in seeing it come together."
Things I hate:
"Not being able to drive it! It's taken four years of working on-and-off to get to this point. I bought it with a view to getting into rallying quickly but it's taken much longer than it should have done. Real life often gets in the way, as any PHer will no doubt tell you. I'm just itching to get out and enjoy it now. I miss the lairy exhaust note, hearing stones clattering the floor and the aggressive limited slip diff. There isn't really anything I hate about the car itself, as I've changed everything I didn't like. I suppose you could say I hate the fact it doesn't have a 280bhp, 9,000rpm engine and sequential 'box though. Lying on the floor in the middle of winter, getting peppered with weld spatter is also up there with some of the more unpleasant experiences I've had."
Not full F2, but that's what the other one's for!
"The car didn't cost a huge amount. It was more than a regular RS2000 would have cost in 2012, but about what you'd pay for a nice road car now. Running costs? Well, there haven't been many of those as it only did a couple of hundred road miles before being taken apart. Thankfully I've done all of the work myself or with help from friends which has kept costs to a minimum, but even the cost of parts soon adds up. Much of the cost has been in time; redesigning and fabricating things to save weight and make it easier to maintain. A good friend, Mat Lewis, and his dad, Adrian, run MDA Motorsport in Cheshire. Mat has an Escort Maxi that I help run on events and he has been a great help to me in return. Grinspeed did me a really good deal on the M Factory gear kit, so kudos to them for helping out a rallyist on a shoestring budget too.
"Parts costs for these cars are definitely increasing and some items are getting hard to find. The RS2000 was unloved for a long time but, with Cosworth and RS Turbo prices rocketing, people are starting to wake up to their classic potential. They're a really underrated car and the engine has a lot of character. So many have been scrapped that odd bits and pieces like brackets, panels and trim are now getting less and less easy to get hold of. I expect the costs to go up considerably when I hit the stages too of course."
Where I've been:
"Nowhere, for obvious reasons! Apart from a few road miles, it's not moved under its own steam for a couple of years. It will soon be time to change that though."
Should be testing over the winter...
"Finish it! Kind of on the home stretch now; fitting parts for the final time and trying to bring things together. Hopefully I'll start shaking down and testing over the autumn/winter, ready for some events in 2017.
"This car has only got me deeper into the rally scene; helping other people out with their cars and writing about motorsport around my day job. My obsession with F2 Escorts has grown and grown, to the point where I have a website about them as well as the usual social media accompaniments. I now own a proper Escort F2 Kit Car, by which I mean I own a big pile of bits that used to be an Escort F2 Kit Car. That's the next big project, as well as restoring a nice little low-owner base model Mk5 Escort I have. Oh, and maybe converting the Clio 172 Cup into a track car. Then maybe replacing the Golf R with a Renaultsport Megane. Oh dear...
.Whenever I am looking for a shed now there is never one available!
It may be an unusual choice, but it's good to see something that was a bit unloved in it's day get some love now!
Seeing as these have the magic letters "RS" in their model description I'm wondering if they may be the next Fast Ford that goes ballistic price-wise! (One thing is for sure, I'm never going to afford another MKII RS2000 again)!
A turbo isn't a prerequisite for an RS badge in my view. I think these cars are really underrated and a lot of the negative comments come from those that have never driven one. The engine has bags of character and, with a few tweaks, they are extremely capable.
As for the Clio, I agree it would be better, but I bought it long after I got the Escort, so it was too late lol. Clio will undoubtedly get the rally treatment at some stage though, I love it.
Escort has changed a lot since I submitted this. Just waiting for driveshafts and wiring loom now really.
A turbo isn't a prerequisite for an RS badge in my view. I think these cars are really underrated and a lot of the negative comments come from those that have never driven one. The engine has bags of character and, with a few tweaks, they are extremely capable.
As for the Clio, I agree it would be better, but I bought it long after I got the Escort, so it was too late lol. Clio will undoubtedly get the rally treatment at some stage though, I love it.
Escort has changed a lot since I submitted this. Just waiting for driveshafts and wiring loom now really.
Strangely, the Golf is probably the car that I would get rid of first. It's extremely capable and a really great all-rounder, but has the personality of an empty carrier bag.
It will be going in the spring and I don't think I will miss it at all to be honest!
I must say, I couldn't give a monkey's which axle is doing the driving to be honest. A car of any configuration can be great in my view. I'd never claim that the MK5/6 Escort is the greatest RS product ever produced but, in my experience, most of the criticism is unfounded and based on the poor reception that the cooking MK5s got and usually comes from people who have never even driven one.
Here is my current one, I have owned it 3 years now, only drive it in the summer on dry days. 
Here is my current one, I have owned it 3 years now, only drive it in the summer on dry days. 
A credit to you
I was just trying to find the clip from old Top Gear when Tiff and Tony Mason drove one on the Tour of Cornwall as part of the Rallye Sport series they did for this model.
They actually got pretty good reviews at the time they were new - ultimately the forgotten Tipo Sedicivalvole won most group tests in this class - these usually tied or pushed with the Civic VTi for 2nd/3rd. Place
A credit to you
I was just trying to find the clip from old Top Gear when Tiff and Tony Mason drove one on the Tour of Cornwall as part of the Rallye Sport series they did for this model.
They actually got pretty good reviews at the time they were new - ultimately the forgotten Tipo Sedicivalvole won most group tests in this class - these usually tied or pushed with the Civic VTi for 2nd/3rd. Place
You're right, they got decent reviews at the time. People just seem to lump them in with the cooking models though!
As I said, criticism usually comes from those that have never driven one.
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