The Ford RS200 is a mid-engined,
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
that was produced by
Ford Motorsport in
Boreham
Boreham is a village and civil parish, in Essex, England. The parish is in the City of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Parliament constituency. The village is approximately northeast from the county town of Chelmsford.
History
Boreham is listed i ...
, UK, from 1984 to 1986. The road-going RS200 was the basis for Ford's
Group B
Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...
rally car
Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...
and was designed to comply with
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
homologation regulations, which required 200 parts kits to be produced and at least one road-legal car to be assembled. It was first displayed to the public at the Belfast Motor Show.
History
Following the introduction of the MKIII Escort in 1980, Ford Motorsport set about developing a rear-wheel-drive, turbocharged variant of the vehicle that could be entered into competition in
Group B
Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...
rally racing, and dubbed the new vehicle the
Escort RS 1700T. A problem-filled development led Ford to abandon the project in frustration in 1983, leaving them without a new vehicle to enter into Group B. Not wanting to abandon Group B or simply "write off" the cost of developing the failed 1700T, executives decided to make use of the lessons learned developing that vehicle in preparing a new, purpose-built rally car. In addition, Ford executives became adamant that the new vehicle would feature all-wheel-drive, an addition they felt would be necessary to allow it to compete properly with all-wheel-drive models from
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
and
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
.
![Ford RS200 - Race Retro 2008 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Ford_RS200_-_Race_Retro_2008_01.jpg)
The new vehicle was a unique design, featuring a plastic-
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
composite body designed by
Ghia
Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Turin ...
, a mid-mounted engine and four-wheel drive. The cars were built on behalf of Ford by another company well known for its expertise in producing fibreglass bodies -
Reliant
Reliant Motor Company was a British car manufacturer based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England. It was founded in 1935 and ended car production in 2002, the company had been known as "Reliant Motor Company" (or RMC for short) until the 1990s w ...
. To aid weight distribution, designers mounted the transmission at the front of the car, which required that power from the mid-mounted engine go first up to the front wheels and then be run back again to the rear, creating a complex drive train setup. The chassis was designed by former
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
designer
Tony Southgate
Tony Southgate (born 25 May 1940, Coventry, England) is a British engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was res ...
, and Ford's John Wheeler, a former F1 engineer, aided in early development. A
double wishbone suspension
A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design for automobiles using two (occasionally parallel) wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckle ...
setup with twin dampers on all four wheels aided handling and helped give the car what was often regarded as being the best balanced platform of any of the RS200's contemporary competitors. The Ford parts-bin was raided to help give the RS200 a Ford corporate look; for example, the front windscreen and rear lights were identical to those of the early
Sierra and the doors were cut-down Sierra items. Small parts-bin items like switchgear were also used to save development time and expenses.
![Ford RS200 (3874941131)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Ford_RS200_%283874941131%29.jpg)
Power came from a , single turbocharged Ford-
Cosworth "BDT" engine producing in road-going trim, and between in racing trim; upgrade kits were available for road-going versions to boost power output to over . Although the RS had the balance and poise necessary to be competitive, its power-to-weight ratio was poor by comparison, and its engine produced notorious low-RPM lag, making it difficult to drive and ultimately less competitive. Factory driver
Kalle Grundel
Karl-Erik "Kalle" Grundel (born 2 October 1948) is a Swedish former rally driver and military pilot. He made his international breakthrough in 1982, driving a Volkswagen Golf GTi for Volkswagen's factory team. He achieved his first and only podiu ...
's third-place finish at the 1986
WRC
WRC may refer to:
Broadcasting stations
* WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States
* Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area:
** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...
Rally of Sweden represented the vehicle's best-ever finish in Group B rallying competition, although the model did see limited success outside of the ultra-competitive Group B class. However, only one event later, at the
Rally de Portugal
The Rally de Portugal (formerly: Rallye de Portugal) is a rally competition held in Portugal. First held in 1967, the seventh running of the race, the 7º TAP Rallye de Portugal was the third event in the inaugural FIA World Rally Cham ...
, a Ford RS200 was involved in one of the most dramatic accidents in WRC history, claiming the lives of three spectators and injuring many others. Another Ford RS200 was crashed by Swiss Formula One driver
Marc Surer
Marc Surer (born 18 September 1951 in Arisdorf) is a former racing driver from Switzerland currently working as TV commentator and racing school instructor. He participated in 88 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September ...
against a tree during the 1986 Hessen-Rallye in Germany, killing his co-driver and friend Michel Wyder instantly.
![SchancheBreitenederMelk1989](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/SchancheBreitenederMelk1989.jpg)
The accident at Rally Portugal set off a chain reaction and the RS200 became obsolete after only one full year of competition as the
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
, the governing board, which at the time controlled WRC rally racing, abolished Group B after the 1986 season. For 1987, Ford had planned to introduce an "Evolution" variant of the RS200, featuring a development of the BDT engine, called later as
BDT-E, displacing , developed by Briton
Brian Hart
Brian Roger Hart (7 September 1936 – 5 January 2014) was a British racing driver and engineer with a background in the aviation industry. He is best known as the founder of Brian Hart Limited, a company that developed and built engines for mot ...
. Power figures for the engine vary quite a bit from source to source, depending on the mechanical setup e.g. boost levels, power output ranges from to ; although most typical output was at 8,000 rpm and at 5,500 rpm of
torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...
. The ban on Group B racing effectively forced the E2 model into retirement; however, more than a dozen of them were successfully run from August 1986 until October 1992 in the
FIA European Championships for Rallycross Drivers
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English language, English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: Peo ...
events all over Europe, and Norwegian Martin Schanche claimed the 1991 European
rallycross title with a Ford RS200 E2 that produced over .
![Ford RS200 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Ford_RS200_001.JPG)
One RS200, which found its way into circuit racing, originated as a road car; it was converted to
IMSA GTO specification powered by an over-750 BHP 2.0 litre turbo BDTE Cosworth Evolution engine. Competing against the numerous factory-backed teams such as Mazda, Mercury and Nissan, with their newly built
spaceframe
In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with ...
specials, despite being a privateer, the car never achieved any real success to be a serious contender and was kept by the original owner. A parts car was built in England and later used to compete in the unlimited category at the
Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. The track measures and has over 156 turns, climbing from the sta ...
, where it was driven by Swede
Stig Blomqvist
Stig Lennart Blomqvist (born 29 July 1946) is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 an ...
in 2001, 2002 and 2004
Seeking Sponsorship and driver for Ford RS200 GTO racecar for Pikes Peak Race!
and in 2009 by former British Rallycross champion Mark Rennison.
The RS200 was designed from the ground-up as a purpose-built, mid-engined rally-supercar, and the 200 homologation road-legal models were essentially a by-product of Ford wanting to race the RS200 and show off their technology capabilities in the increasingly popular World Rally Championship. It was also designed by engineers who had extensive backgrounds in motorsports, and the engine had a smooth power delivery and functioned more like a racing car engine, as opposed to every one of the other highly modified production-based engines that Audi, Lancia and Peugeot had in their cars. The other famous Group B cars were all based on front-engined production models- and in both the Lancia Delta
The Lancia Delta is a small family car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Lancia in three generations. The first generation (1979-1994) debuted at the 1979 Frankfurt Motor Show, the second generation (1993-1999) debuted at the 1993 Genev ...
S4 and the Peugeot 205 T16's case - hatchbacks, and in the Audi Quattro's case - a luxury coupe. Although the Group B-spec S4 and T16 cars were mid-engined, they still originated as front-engined cars. Lancia's predecessor to the Delta S4 - the 037 - was also a mid-engined Group B supercar, but it was based on and had originated from Lancia's mid-engined Montecarlo production car.
Production
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
homologation rules for Group B
Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...
required the construction of at least 200 road-legal vehicles, and Ford constructed these 200 units with spare parts for another 20+ units put aside for the racing teams. Those chassis and spare parts were later also used to build a couple of non-genuine, so-called ''bitsa'' cars.
A total of 24 of the 200 original cars were reportedly later converted to the so-called "Evolution" models, mostly marked by their owners as "E" or "E2" types. Ford's first intention was to mark the FIA-required 20 "Evo" cars as series numbers 201 to 220 but as this was actually not necessary according to the FIA rules they later kept their original series numbers (e.g. 201 = 012, 202 = 146, 203 = 174 et cetera).
The original bodywork tooling for the Ford RS200 was latterly bought by Banham Conversions
Banham Conversions (Banmoco) was a coachbuilder and manufacturer of kit cars from the late 1970s until 2004. The company, based in Rochester, Kent, was founded by Paul Banham who started off as a coachbuilder converting vehicles into convertibl ...
, who used it to make a kit car
A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor ve ...
version based on the Austin Maestro
The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car (and two-door van derivative) that was produced from 1982 to 1987 by British Leyland, and from 1988 until 1994 by Rover Group, as a replacement for the Morris Marina and Austin Alleg ...
. Due to being a basic rebody of the Maestro, the Austin-Rover engine ancillaries are actually to be found at the front of the vehicle.
Specification (Group B rally car)
Engine
* Longitudinally-mounted, mid-engine, four-wheel-drive layout
In automotive design, an M4, or Mid-engine, Four-wheel-drive layout places the internal combustion engine in the middle of the vehicle, between both axles and drives all four road wheels.
It is a type of car powertrain layout. Although the term ...
*Head/block aluminium alloy
An aluminium alloy (or aluminum alloy; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There are two principal ...
/aluminium alloy
* 4 cylinders in line, Nikasil
Nikasil is a trademarked electrodeposited lipophilic nickel matrix silicon carbide coating for engine components, mainly piston engine cylinder liners.
Development
Nikasil was introduced by Mahle in 1967, and initially developed to allow Wankel ...
integrated liners
*5 main bearings. Water cooled, electric fan
*Bore:
*Stroke:
*Capacity:
*Valve gear: Dual overhead cams, 4 valves per cylinder, toothed belt camshaft drive
Compression ratio: 7.2:1. Bosch Motronic
Motronic is the trade name given to a range of digital engine control units developed by Robert Bosch GmbH (commonly known as Bosch) which combined control of fuel injection and ignition in a single unit. By controlling both major systems in a si ...
engine management system and fuel injection
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All comp ...
. Garrett T3 turbocharger
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
/boost pressure .
*Max. power: at 8,000 rpm
*Max. torque: at 5,500 rpm
Transmission
*5-speed manual, AP twin plate paddle clutch with cerrametallic linings
Final drive: Spiral bevel, ratio 4.375 to transfer ratio of 1.15
Suspension
*''Front'', independent, double wishbones, twin coil springs and telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar
*''Rear'', independent, double wishbones, twin coil springs and telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar, adjustable toe control link
Steering
*Rack and pinion, a small quantity of cars also had hydraulic power assistance. Steering wheel diameter 14 in, 1.8 turns lock-to-lock,
Brakes
Dual circuits, split front/rear. Front diameter ventilated discs. Rear diameter ventilated discs, no vacuum servo. Handbrake, mechanical fly-off and hydraulic centre lever acting on separate, mechanically operated rear calipers.
Wheels
Ford magnesium alloy, 6–8 in rims (8¾ in and 11 in option for racing tyres). Tyre dependent on conditions (Pirelli
Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...
Monte Carlo intermediates 245/40 16 on test car), 16 in diameter, pressures dependent on tyres used.
Dimensions and weights
*Length:
*Width:
*Height: variable
*Wheelbase:
*Track (Front/Rear): 59.1/58.9 in (1,502/1,497 mm)
*Weight:
Performance
Top speeds:
Acceleration from rest:
''Standing 1/4-mile:'' 11.4 sec,
''Standing km:'' Not known
''Acceleration (s):''
References
* ''Heightened Perception'' - Autocar 12 November 1986 issue
External links
Ford RS 200 Information
{{Ford Motor Company vehicles
RS200
Rally cars
Sports cars
Group B cars
Rear mid-engine, all-wheel-drive vehicles
Cars introduced in 1984