The Escort Cosworth History

Escort RS Cosworth

Available :- 1992 to 1996

The Escort Cosworth was based on the outgoing Sierra Cosworth floor pan, although this Escorts basic shape looks the same as the every day Mk5 Escort the rear 1/4's were built to be a little longer. This made the mating of the shell to the floor a little easier.

Engine

The Cosworth YBT engine was based on the Sierra Sapphire 4WD Cosworth unit.
Bore 90.8 mm stroke 77mm
Compression ratio 8:1
Weber-Marelli electronic fuel and engine management system
Garrett T3/T04 turbocharger factory set at 0.8 bar boost pressure.
Max power 227bhp at 6250 rpm with max torque 220 lb.ft at 3500 rpm.
The engine was mounted longitudinally in the Mark V shell, compared to the MK5 RS2000 which was mounted transversely.
The engine ran on Unleaded Fuel and used a catalytic converter on the exhaust system. This restricted the exhaust system flow considerably. The engines has a green painted cam cover to indicate an Unleaded fuel version.

Body

The 2 door shell needed extensive modifications by Ghia to use the larger Cosworth engine and transmission.

Tilt and Slide FFSR (Factory Fitted Sun Roof), Electric windows and mirrors, Central Locking, and Tinted Glass, were all standard equipment.

The rear tail gate featured a large double whale tail spoiler, bringing back memories of the Sierra 3 door Cosworth. The Escort was later available with a smaller rear spoiler which was necessary for type approval in countries such as Switzerland.

Transmission

Permanent four wheel drive with 34/66% front/rear power split 5 Speed MT-75 manual five speed gearbox. As used in the 4x4 Sierra Cosworth.

Suspension

Independent front and rear Fichtel and Sachs gas telescopic dampers with 28 mm front anti-roll bar and 22mm rear. Power assisted rack and pinion steering with 2.45 runs lock to lock.

Trim

Front Recaro seats, with adjustable head restraints were used.

Various trim levels were available:- Motorsport & Lux, Leather was an optional extra.

Later a limited edition was available named 'Monte Carlo', these were produced in a new range of colours and included Oz styled wheels as used on the WRC cars, a new cloth trim with Monte embroidered in the seats and various other items exclusive to the Monte.

Later Escort Cosworths used a smaller T25 Turbo unit and revised ECU, this made the car a little more driveable in standard trim than it larger T3 turbo version.

At the end of Fords Escort Cosworth run it was offered without the Large upper rear spoiler.

History

There was no Escort that could be homologated as a rallycar as it had to have turbo and four wheel drive. So a new variation of the Escort model had to be produced. Ford knew they had a great engine in the YBG that sat in the the Sierra Saphire, so Ford's master plan was to simply put the engine, drivetrain and suspension of the Sierra Saphire 4wd into a modified and strengthened Escort shell. But, to Ford's dismay I suppose, it was simply not possible so a new chassis and body had to be built specifically for the Escort RS Cosworth. After 400 new parts a new car was born: more than twice as stiff and strong a standard Escort Chassis. The Escort Cosworth shares only 50% of it's body panels with the standard Escort. The most prominent features of the new body is: New hood with two vents helping in the removal of hot air from the engine compartment. New wider front arches with air exits from the engine in front of the doors. New wider rear wheelarches. New Front bumper with huge air intakes and low front spoiler with adjustable splitter. New low rear bumper. All this creates a car that not only counters the aerodynamic lift at high speeds but creates downforce too. At 180km/h the downforce is 45N at the front, with the splitter at it's middle position, and 190N at the rear.
Ford did not have the space to build the Escort Cosworth, so the car was put together by Karmann in Germany. The production of the Escort Cosworth started on the 19th of February 1992.
The Escort RS Cosworth was Ford's new rallycar and was much more successful at it than it's earlier brothers; the Sierra Cosworth in two and four wheel drive versions. The total count of victories came to 8 in group A, and after the modifications that were made to the car to make it a WRC car, it scored two more victories.
In 1994, after the 2500 cars required for homologation were produced Ford put a "new", more civilized engine into the Escort Cosworth. The new engine is basically the same old engine in a new package. It has smaller turbo (Garrett T25) and fords own eec4 engine management system. This lead to more low-rew punch, but less boost available above 5500rpm. The new Escort RS Cosworth was produced until early in 1996 when EU put a new set of noise regulations for cars to work, and the Escort Cosworth couldn't pass those without modifications. For some reason Ford then decided to stop the production instead of changing the car so it would be within the new noise regulations. And that was the end to the Escort RS Cosworth. The last car rolled out of the factory on the 12th of January 1996. Then 7.145 Escort Cosworths had been produced.