Retrospective: Ford RS200 – the rally winner that never was

9th May 2019, 9:00am
by

Ford were in a quandary in the 1980s. After the brilliant success of the Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts, the blue oval’s rallying aspirations had turned pear shaped when the much-anticipated Escort RS1700T was axed before it turned a wheel in rally anger. The influx of four-wheel drive and Group B cars had turned rallying on its head, and Ford quickly realised the rear-drive, turbocharged RS1700T was destined to be still born. Enter the RS200 – the great hope for Ford – the car to tackle Audi, Lancia and Peugeot and win the World Rally Championship crown back again.

The rear-mounted engine of the Ford RS200. Photo: Peter Whitten

However, it didn’t quite go to plan. Design on Ford’s new weapon began in the middle of 1983 and by March of the following year the car was presented to the waiting media. The car won first time out (with now-M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson at the wheel) in a British national rally in 1985, but when homologation was delayed until February 1986, the car didn’t get its first taste of the WRC until that year’s Swedish Rally. Ironically, Kalle Grundel’s third placing was the best result the car ever achieved at WRC level.

Kalle Grundel slides through a British forest in the 1986 RAC Rally. Photo: Martin Holmes

The RS200 chassis was designed by former Formula 1 designer Tony Southgate, and Ford’s John Wheeler (a former F1 engineer) also helped develop the car in the early days. About the only thing the RS200 had in common with other Fords of the day was that it used a Sierra windscreen and cut-down Sierra doors, and the original car had a 1803cc BDT engine, which produce around 450 brake horsepower. It is widely accepted that the RS200 had the best chassis of all the Group B Supercars. It had an aluminium monocoque frame with double wishbone suspension and twin dampers on all four wheels, meaning that rough road events like the Acropolis were going to be its forte.

Photo: Peter Whitten

Unusually, the mid-engined machine had the gearbox mounted at the front, meaning that it required two propshafts, however, the upside was far better weight distribution and superb handling. “The suspension was second to none compared with any of the other Group B cars,” Malcolm Wilson remembers. “Given its chance, the car would really have excelled on events like the Acropolis and the Safari.”

Photo: Peter Whitten

Torque split was changeable – 46:54 front to rear on the dirt, and 37:63 for tarmac, but it was in the power-to-weight stakes where the car initially fell short of its rivals. While the opposition cars were producing more power and weighed in at under 1000kg in early 1986, the RS200 debuted with a weight of 1080kg, and a pronounced throttle lag meant the car struggled to match its rivals. But that didn’t stop both Kalle Grundel and team-mate, Stig Blomqvist, from leading the Acropolis Rally, although both later retired through mechanical failures.

The Group B era was perhaps rallying's most famous. Photo: Peter Whitten

The end of the Group B era, however, was nigh. Henri Toivonen’s crash in a Group B Lancia Delta in the Tour de Corse of that year – in which both Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto were killed – saw the Group B category banned by FISA (the governing body of the time) and the RS200’s short WRC career was over. Many believed the car had the most potential of all the Supercars, and for 1987 Ford had planned to introduce an Evolution model of the car, which had a 2.1-litre engine producing over 600 horsepower.

Photo: Peter Whitten

But it wasn’t to be. Like the RS1700T, the RS200 was left on the shelf, and the later evolutions of the car were left to compete with much success in British Rallycross events. It was hardly the crowning glory which Ford had expected, although in their defence, it was the snap decision by FISA to ban the category, rather than Ford’s failure to produce the goods, which led to the car’s disappointingly short life span. A shame really.

The RS200's interior was compact and effective. Photo: Peter Whitten

MAJOR RESULTS

1986 Swedish Rally - 3rd Grundel/Melander 1986 Ypres Rally - 1st Droogmans/Joosten 1986 RAC Rally - 5th Grundel/Melander 1986 British Championship - 1st Mark Lovell 1986 Belgium Championship - 1st Robert Droogmans

Photos: Peter Whitten

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Retrospective: Ford RS200 – the rally winner that never was

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Retrospective: Ford RS200 – the rally winner that never was

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