This book describes the birth, development, and rallying career of the original Ford Escort, one of Europe‘s Landmark Rally Cars in the early 1970s, providing a compact and authoritative history of where, how, and why it became so important to the sport.
The Escort Mk1 delivered everything its predecessor, the Lotus-Cortina, had promised. Versatile, accessible, and competitive at all levels, it dominated international rallying throughout the 1970s, and became hugely popular with teams and spectators alike.
| Foreword |
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5 | (2) |
| Introduction |
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7 | (2) |
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9 | (56) |
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9 | (4) |
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The Escort's importance in rallying |
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13 | (1) |
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Phase 2: the Escort RSI 600 |
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13 | (3) |
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16 | (1) |
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16 | (1) |
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Homologation - meeting the rules |
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17 | (4) |
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21 | (7) |
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RS1600 - new wine, old bottle |
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28 | (1) |
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Motorsport development, and improvements |
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29 | (13) |
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42 | (1) |
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Building and running the works cars |
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43 | (1) |
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Personalities and star drivers |
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43 | (22) |
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65 | (55) |
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The works Escort's career |
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65 | (51) |
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Past its best? Which rivals took over? |
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116 | (1) |
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117 | (3) |
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World/major European rally wins |
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120 | (1) |
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Victories in British international rallies |
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120 | (1) |
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Works rally cars and when first used - Twin-Cam, 1850GT (London-Mexico) and RS1600 |
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121 | (6) |
| Index |
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127 | |
After a varied career in the automotive industry Graham Robson has gained a worldwide reputation as a motoring historian, and has more than 160 books to his credit. Born in 1936, and educated at Ermysteds Grammar School in Yorkshire, Graham then went on to study Engineering at Oxford University. He joined Jaguar Cars as a graduate trainee, becoming involved in design work on the Mk II, E-Type and Mark X. Beginning as a hobby, he became a rally co-driver, eventually joining the Sunbeam 'works' team in 1961, and took part in rallies up to International level (once with Roger Clark), but stopped rallying by 1968. During this time he joined Standard-Triumph in Coventry, in 1961, as a Development Engineer, mainly on sports car projects. He then ran the re-opened 'works' motorsport department from 1962 to 1965, this being the period of the birth of Spitfire Le Mans cars, TR4, Vitesse, Spitfire and 2000 rally car developments. Graham Robsons writing began with rally reports for magazines which evolved into a job with Autocar from 1965-1969. He was recruited back to industry at Rootes to run the Product Proving department, then after a brief period in 1972 as technical director of a safety belt company, became an independent motoring writer. Graham has lived 'by the pen' and 'by the voice', not only writing but commentating, presenting and organising events of all types.
