Ford and Subaru's works rally teams enjoyed great World Rally Championship success in the 1990s and noughties, and were responsible for creating two of the wildest and most potent turbocharged road cars on the market. But they appeared in showrooms for very different reasons.
Whatever your allegiance to a particular manufacturer in the world of rallying, you'd have to be an anti-Ford diehard to deny the success of the Escort during the 1970s and early '80s. The works RS 1800 roundly trounced its opposition until the all-wheel-drive might of Audi's quattro became an unassailable obstacle to rivals with only one driven axle. But that winning streak, while it lasted, allied to the then mainstream popularity of the sport, made a bluechip business case for production-car spin-offs such as the Mexico, RS 2000 and RS 1800. Within a few years, would-be Björn Waldegårds were everywhere on British roads.
But nothing lasts forever, and coincident with the launch of an all-new front-wheel-drive Escort platform in 1980, Ford's works rally team instead started to focus its attention on the Sierra RS Cosworth and mid-engined RS 200, and it wasn't until the end of the decade that, with a new Mk5 production car imminent, Ford turned again to the Escort as both a potential WRC contender and a high-performance road car.
At around the same time, David Richards' Prodrive group had become the de facto works team for Subaru, rapidly scoring rally successes initially with the Legacy and then, from 1995 onwards, the more compact and agile Impreza. Three drivers' titles and three manufacturers' titles followed, and that exposure spawned a voracious appetite among enthusiasts for more hardcore versions of the already quick Impreza Turbo and later WRX production models.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 2022 من Classic & Sports Car.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 2022 من Classic & Sports Car.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
From little acorn s...
The feisty Visa Trophée was an unlikely Group B rallying candidate, and a stepping stone towards Citroën's WRC supremacy
FORD RANGER RAPTOR
OTT workhorse is a kid-pleasing head-turner that mixes business with pleasure
MERCEDES-BENZ SL (R230)
The tech-heavy SL is becoming a sought-after classic with increasing specialist support
By Royal appointment
The overhauled Middlebridge Scimitar continuation was championed by Princess Anne with this, her eighth and final GTE
African Queen
A 1500-mile road trip has retraced this Morris Minor's history, from its first owner to its rediscovered remains, 54 years ago
NOT SO HACKNEYED CARRIAGE
Never mind today’s bloated Chelsea tractors, for millionaire Nubar Gulbenkian the perfect transport for the streets of 60s London was a bespoke black cab
Leading fromthe front
In the 1990s coupé boom, Toyota, Rover and Mazda scrabbled for power with race-inspired tuning, turbocharging and a sophisticated V6
EAST COAST HOME BREW
When ambitious racer Walt Hansgen was unable to buy a new Jaguar C-type, he set out to build his own. How does it measure up?
NATIONAL VELVET
As smooth asvit is rapid and superbly built,this Vanden Plas tourer reveals how Derby Bentleys set new standards of aspirational motoring
Martin BUCKLEY
‘While the BMW drifts round every curve, the chasing Jaguar XJ6 is driven with overstated incompetence’