It’s always a treat to get some
special cars together, but when those cars come in the form of three Escort
Cosworths with nearly 1,700bhp between them, well, that’s just the kind of
thing you need to photograph for a magazine, isn’t it?
Fuelled perhaps by his mates who already
had Cosworths, the red car seemed like the next logical progression. It had
already been converted to rear wheel-drive, so that was one less job to do. The
Monte Carlo replica alloys were already in place and by using his Sierra as a
donor of sorts (same floorpan and running gear after all) he already had $1,700
worth of parts to transform it.
Fuelled
perhaps by his mates who already had Cosworths, the red car seemed like the
next logical progression.
That’s where Dave stepped in. A veritable
walking encyclopedia of all things Cosworth, he was the man for the job. He
helped swap the suspension, the rear beam and all the engine goodies over –
engine goodies such as the S200 Borg Warner turbo for one. Add in the bigger
injectors, the intercoolers, the WRC headgasket, the Autronic ECU and some
mapping wizardry from MA Developments and you’re left with a car running well
clear of 500bhp – and all through the rear wheels no less.
That’s what Len wants though, he likes his
drive to be exciting, to be fun and to be a little bit sideways when the mood
allows! It’s no animal though thanks to the already great chassis, the addition
of bigger brakes and AVO suspension all round. It might be a 500+ bhp monster,
but it’s not a test to drive, it’s simply fun.
Colin (along with Dave) represents the
four-wheel-drive spectrum of Cosworth ownership via his stunning Imperial Blue
example. Though unlike Len, who’s name is new to the V5 of an Escort Cosworth,
Colin has had this car for 13 years. He’s had other Fords too, of course, such
as a Series 1 Escort RS Turbo and a Mk1 RS2000, but it’s the Cosworth that’s
been a part of his life the longest. Though as you can guess, he didn’t buy it
in the state of tune it’s in today. That’s been somewhat of an evolution.
He’s
had other Fords too, of course, such as a Series 1 Escort RS Turbo and a Mk1
RS2000, but it’s the Cosworth that’s been a part of his life the longest.
When it came into Colin’s possession, it
has just 21k on the clock, it was mintier than mint and at just four years old,
it was the car responsible for many a giddy pedestrian’s reaction as it rumbled
by. It wasn’t stock though, having already been treated to a GGR package that
brought it up to just over 300bhp.
Over the years the car has ben used for all
sorts of things, including (cue sharp intake of breath) plenty of track days
when he first bought it. We like that, it’s what the car was built for after
all. However, it was those track outings that opened up Colin’s mind to getting
some more power, after all, 300bhp is really slow, right?
It went through a number of evolutions, and
like Len’s car, Dave was there along the way to help with the work. The first
hike was to 400bhp on a T35, then a T38 pushed it over 450bhp and now, well,
now it’s over 530bhp. Colin can’t give us an exact figure because the last time
the car was on the rollers it span up so fast, so aggressively and with so much
torque that it decided delaminating a tyre would be a good way to go, forcing
the run to be abandoned.
The
new program from GGR requires no extra mechanical work, because the package is
strictly a ECU tuning upgrade. Using the Superchips platform on the Ford Focus
RS 340, GGR was able to increase the performance numbers to 340 bhp at 5,600
rpm, and 397 ft lbs of torque at 3,100 rpm.
So how’s it got to that level of power? As
it stands, the car is still on a stock 200 block, but it’s now been
long-studded. There’s a WRC head gasket, the head has been ported, there are
now eight green injectors on a WRC manifold and, amongst other bits and bobs,
there’s a whopping great Borg Warner twin scroll EFR 7670 turbo. You can see why
it delaminated that tyre now, can’t you? At the point of the run being called
off the readout was 530.9bhp with a crushing 472.1ft/lb of torque. Enough to
easily embarrass the World Rally Car for which the Escort was homologated.
