These cars were racing saloons de-tuned for road use. They could be easily upgraded using Ford special equipment, often astonishing other road users by their remarkable acceleration and handling. These cars also lent themselves to tuning by other companies to gain that extra horsepower on the track. Ford introduced a cheaper model with the Escort Sport that looked like the Mexico and RS shell but without the strengthening welds and a 1297cc engine. The RS 2000 has the 2-litre power plant from the Cortina specially modified to suit the Escort and used the Cortina 2000 gearbox.
