{"id":62157,"date":"2025-04-23T19:18:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T23:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/reviving-a-legend-the-new-mk1-ford-escort-rs-and-its-racing-heritage\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T19:18:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T23:18:06","slug":"reviving-a-legend-the-new-mk1-ford-escort-rs-and-its-racing-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/reviving-a-legend-the-new-mk1-ford-escort-rs-and-its-racing-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviving a Legend: The New Mk1 Ford Escort RS and Its Racing Heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The anticipation surrounding the return of the Ford Escort is palpable, especially with the announcement of the new Mk1 Escort RS set to debut in the summer of 2025. This isn\u2019t just another car rolling off the assembly line; it\u2019s a revival steeped in history and nostalgia, aiming to capture the spirit of the iconic Escort RS2000 from 1968. With only 150 units planned, each will carry a unique VIN, a nod to its heritage, and a promise of modern engineering excellence.<\/p>\n

Boreham Motorworks, the Coventry-based firm behind this exciting project, is not just reviving a classic; they\u2019re reimagining it with contemporary manufacturing techniques. This means using advanced computer-aided design and high-quality materials to ensure that each vehicle meets today\u2019s OEM standards. The result? A car that looks like a classic but drives like a modern marvel, blending the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s particularly intriguing about this endeavor is the meticulous attention to detail. The design team, led by Wayne Burgess\u2014known for his work on the Jaguar F-Type and Aston Martin DB9\u2014has crafted a vehicle that respects the original\u2019s aesthetics while integrating modern performance features. The body dimensions are period-appropriate, but the engineering will include cutting-edge elements like a high-revving engine and advanced suspension systems.<\/p>\n

But while we await the road-going Mk1 Escort RS, Boreham is also introducing a thrilling track-focused variant: the Alan Mann Racing (AMR) 68 Edition. This isn\u2019t just a tribute; it\u2019s a continuation of the racing legacy that the original Escort established. The AMR 68 Edition is designed for the track, complete with all the vintage racing charm and modern performance enhancements. It\u2019s a prototype that pays homage to the original Group 5 Escort, which dominated the British Saloon Car Championship in the late 1960s.<\/p>\n

Driving the AMR 68 Edition is an experience that evokes the raw excitement of motorsport. With a lightweight body and a powerful engine, it\u2019s engineered for performance. The car boasts a retro aesthetic, complete with a vibrant gold-red livery that captures the essence of its racing pedigree. Owners can expect support from Boreham for everything from race licensing to pit crew assistance at historic racing events, making it an enticing option for motorsport enthusiasts.<\/p>\n

The engineering behind the AMR 68 Edition is equally impressive. It features a dry-sumped, Lotus-designed twin-cam engine that\u2019s been fine-tuned for maximum torque and responsiveness. The sound of the engine, especially as it approaches its redline, is nothing short of exhilarating. For those who prefer a more classic driving experience, Boreham will also offer a 1.8-liter twin-cam option, reminiscent of the original racing engines.<\/p>\n

While the AMR 68 Edition is a nod to the past, it\u2019s also a reminder of how far automotive technology has come. The car\u2019s suspension and handling have been meticulously designed to enhance the driving experience, allowing for a level of engagement that modern cars often lack. The thrill of driving this car is amplified by its lightweight construction and the absence of modern driving aids, which means every turn and acceleration feels raw and authentic.<\/p>\n

As you navigate the track, the car\u2019s dynamics begin to reveal themselves. Initially, it may feel heavy and a bit daunting, but as you push it through corners, it transforms into a responsive and exhilarating machine. The balance and predictability of the AMR 68 Edition make it a joy to drive, allowing for playful maneuvers that would be impossible in a more modern vehicle.<\/p>\n

The excitement doesn\u2019t just come from the performance; it\u2019s also about the connection to history. Each lap in the AMR 68 Edition is a reminder of the legacy of the Escort and its place in motorsport history. The attention to detail in its design and engineering honors the original while providing a thrilling driving experience that today\u2019s enthusiasts crave.<\/p>\n

With the Mk1 Escort RS and the AMR 68 Edition, Boreham Motorworks is not just reviving a classic; they\u2019re creating a bridge between the past and the future of automotive performance. The big takeaway? The return of the Ford Escort isn\u2019t just about nostalgia\u2014it\u2019s about crafting a new chapter in a storied legacy. Whether you\u2019re a racing enthusiast or a lover of classic cars, these new models promise to deliver an experience that\u2019s both thrilling and deeply rooted in history. So, keep an eye out for these beauties; they\u2019re set to make waves in the automotive world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Autocar<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Escort is one of several Ford models Boreham plans to revive – the RS200 will soon follow<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mk1 Escort joins the ranks of factory-backed continuation racers, but there\u2019s more to this car than meets the eye<\/p>\n

\n

The summer of \u201925 will mark the debut of an official new Mk1 Ford<\/a> Escort RS.<\/p>\n

Even tapping out that sentence feels surreal, but allowing\u00a0a little bit of wiggle room for semantics and technicalities, it\u2019s the truth. Every car will even have a fresh VIN stamped into a bona fide, Ford-signed plate beneath its featherlight carbonfibre bonnet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each of the 150 examples aims to be a spiritual and mechanical successor to the Escort RS2000 of 1968, to the extent that the chassis numbers will pick up where the old-timers\u2019 once ended.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all being masterminded by Coventry-based Boreham Motorworks, which is more than just an evocative name and striking typeface.<\/p>\n

Boreham is a sub-division of newly formed mothership DRVN Automotive, which has lately brought together a gaggle of expert white-label engineering firms with the vision of creating the ultimate throwbacks (the \u2018355 by Evoluto\u2019 is also DRVN\u2019s handiwork).<\/p>\n

Boreham will be remastering a selection of household-name fast Fords from the past, having last year negotiated a decade-long brand-licence agreement with Ford. The Escort<\/a> and RS200<\/a> will be the first two projects to break cover. And then? You can guess.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The main point \u2013 and the pivotal factor in Ford\u2019s decision to get on board with the initiative \u2013 is that the cars are being manufactured to contemporary OEM levels of fit, finish and materials quality.<\/p>\n

Think computer-aided design-engineering based on laser-scanned original blueprints; modern tolerances; wildly evocative, neo-analogue powertrains that capture the fierceness of yesteryear, only with today\u2019s high precision, high output and, of course, reliability.<\/p>\n

Images of the reborn \u2018Escort Mk1 RS\u2019 have already drenched the internet so you\u2019ll have seen how Boreham Motorworks is balancing current aesthetic cues with a body that is period sympathetic in its dimensions.<\/p>\n

The look of the car is the work of Wayne Burgess, of Jaguar F-Type<\/a> and Aston Martin DB9<\/a> renown, though Ford\u2019s former VP of design, J Mays, has stuck his head into the studio. All of which is very interesting and, assuming you have \u00a3295,000 going spare, nice to know.<\/p>\n

But then why, you\u2019re possibly wondering, do the photos on these pages show a Group 5 Escort racer by Alan Mann Racing (AMR) being hustled along, jaw-droppingly pretty as it is?<\/p>\n

In short, this is where the fun starts. While Boreham is putting the finishing touches to the road-going \u2018Mk1 Escort RS\u2019 we\u2019ll get to drive this summer \u2013 perfecting the retro-modern cabin, finalising the damper tune and administering\u00a0a chef\u2019s kiss to the intake roar of what promises to be a 10,000rpm mill, good heavens \u2013 that\u00a0car\u2019s DNA can already be found in this 1968\u00a0AMR Escort, winner of the British Saloon\u00a0Car Championship in the hands of Aussie motorsport renaissance man Frank Gardner.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Except, of course, it isn\u2019t the real McCoy. It\u2019s a prototype for the 24 doppelg\u00e4nger continuations Boreham will build alongside AMR, arguably the authority on historic racing Fords and headed up by Alan\u2019s son, Henry.<\/p>\n

This track-only Ford Escort Alan Mann 68 Edition uses the same body as the upcoming restomod road car so has benefited from the new jigs and tooling.<\/p>\n

But unlike the road car, it comes ready to race with all its period accoutrements and old-world mechanicals (albeit remanufactured), plus an FIA technical passport.<\/p>\n

Cartoonish gold-red livery gleaming, it\u2019s charming to a fault, and Boreham will support owners with everything from gaining\u00a0a race licence to providing a pit crew at established historic racing events.<\/p>\n

Though Boreham\u2019s road and racing cars bear little similarity beyond the dainty shell and mechanical layout, there\u2019s an element of historical symmetry in launching the racer first.<\/p>\n

Mann Sr first prepared the Mk1 Escort for racing duties in 1968 but it was another two years until the hot Escort RS1600 hit dealerships.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now, as then, road car follows race car. What\u2019s more, while the original Group 5 Escorts were concocted in AMR\u2019s Byfleet workshop, final assembly now takes place just around the corner, at the firm\u2019s modern base in Chobham.<\/p>\n

Even without the bulging trademark Alan Mann arches and the promise of an 8200rpm redline (9200rpm is possible on the hottest cams), this \u2018old\u2019 Ford would elicit a tingle of anticipation rarely experienced with modern cars, at least until you get to the extraordinary stuff.<\/p>\n

In the pits, Henry assures me the Group 5 car will bear scant relationship to the upcoming road car, not least as it is devoid of vibration damping and, to be period correct, has unservoed brakes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simply you, the deeply dished steering wheel and just over 200bhp flowing to the 172mm-wide rear Dunlop crossply tyres through an English axle. Details on the road-going Escort RS remain vague, but we know it will attempt to meld engagement with modern drivability and grip.<\/p>\n

Think Quaife diff, coilovers, trick ECU and 225-section rear tyres\u00a0of a modern compound. No ABS, traction\u00a0control or power steering, mind you.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For our racing car today, the coup de gr\u00e2ce lurks in the details. The Tillett buckets and pedal layout are set to Frank\u2019s preferred positions (let me tell you, the great man worked hard for his rev-matched downshifts), while the little Bakelite gearknob, which you grasp to fling the H-pattern \u2019box through its four speeds with surprising ease and accuracy, is from his very car, XOO 349F.<\/p>\n

Henry admits this continuation effort, while objectively more exciting to drive than the original, doesn\u2019t have the same aura as 349F (how could it?), though it still feels very evocative to me.<\/p>\n

It helps when the big oil light ahead of you on the dash is purloined from a GT40, as it would have in period.<\/p>\n

For this prototype, it\u2019s an item AMR had in its bin of rare parts, though for the perfectly finished 24 customer cars, it will be remanufactured \u2013 along with the door handles and other touchpoints \u2013 to look authentic but have 2025 build quality.<\/p>\n

Given the only slender parallels between this racer and the upcoming road car, my time on M-Sport\u2019s wonderful test track<\/a>, where inky black graffiti from shaken-down World Rally cars is still abundant on the circuit surface, is less about journalistic endeavour and more about hedonism.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It starts with the newly minted motor, which is very similar to but usefully torquier than that used in period. It\u2019s a dry-sumped, Lotus<\/a>-designed twin-cam overbored to 1840cc and inhaling fuel through twin Weber 45 carburettors.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a beguiling device, demanding to live its life beyond 4500rpm and roaring with a gruffness that solidifies into something approaching an outright howl as crank speeds rise, and rise, and rise.<\/p>\n

In the road car, you can have the headline-making 10,000rpm, fuel-injected 2.1-litre motor and, with 296bhp on tap, boy is it going to make for an outrageously rapid Escort.<\/p>\n

But Boreham will also offer a 1.8-litre twin-cam similar to this one, with the Webers and straight-cut gears. And, actually, I wonder whether that won\u2019t be the format to go for. Choosing would be a lovely problem to have.<\/p>\n

While spookily free of rattles and with no signs of period-racer tiredness, dynamically the 68 Edition doesn\u2019t feel at all advanced these days. Hardly surprising. However, back in the late \u201960s, the Group 5 warriors were spaceships, with inventive suspension and clever engines.<\/p>\n

For an indication of the attention to detail, on the Mann Escorts the mounting points for the Watt\u2019s linkage were repositioned further forward on the differential casing to improve the centre of gravity and roll centre.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the front linkages borrowed heavily from the know-how of the superstar GT40, with Len Bailey taking the lead on design. He joined AMR direct from the Ford Special Vehicle Operations in Slough, where Ford\u2019s Ferrari-slayer<\/a> had been developed.<\/p>\n

One touching strand of the story is that Jim Rose, who brought much of Bailey\u2019s genius to bear with his world-class fabrication skills, has been involved in the supply for parts for the continuation cars.<\/p>\n

As our laps unfold, so does a familiar story when it comes to racing cars (especially old ones). What starts off as a heavy, faintly recalcitrant driving experience morphs into something a bit spiritual as you begin to commit to corners and get the car into that all-important window of adjustability.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s no hardship in something this tiny and predictable, however animalistic and intimidating the initial sensory overload.<\/p>\n

These front tyres don\u2019t give endless grip to lean on but it doesn\u2019t matter because the back, stiffened for today\u2019s duties compared with a recent outing at fast and flowing Thruxton, loves to rotate.<\/p>\n

At the risk of sounding crass, the car wants to be backed in on a trailing throttle, and then comes alive, smudging all four tyres laterally to beautiful effect.<\/p>\n

Lurid body roll takes some adjusting to but it turbocharges the fun factor as the 68 Edition throws some outrageous shapes. Then, on the straights, a bit of kerb, greedily taken through a fourth-gear flick-flack, focuses your attention.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With modern suspension you\u2019d breeze through but here there\u2019s a touch of jeopardy underpinning those sugar-sweet looks. I rather like that. And ultimately you can really lay into this continuation in a way you would never in Gardner\u2019s original.<\/p>\n

Never mind the lack of roll-cage or fire extinguisher, or the bodily consequences of getting it badly wrong: the thing\u2019s so special it needs to be insured on a fine arts policy. Meanwhile, its progeny has all the safety kit and needs much less maintenance.<\/p>\n

Back to the pits. And breathe. What a cracking car. How many of these see gruelling historic racing, and how many will simply function as the ultimate track-day toy, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Either way, the 68 Edition is a hell of a curtain-raiser for Boreham\u2019s street-legal restomod. That car could \u2013 and given the resources behind it, probably should \u2013 be extraordinarily special.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}