Ford and Subaru's works rally teams enjoyed great World Rally Championship success in the 1990s and noughties, and were responsible for creating two of the wildest and most potent turbocharged road cars on the market. But they appeared in showrooms for very different reasons.
Whatever your allegiance to a particular manufacturer in the world of rallying, you'd have to be an anti-Ford diehard to deny the success of the Escort during the 1970s and early '80s. The works RS 1800 roundly trounced its opposition until the all-wheel-drive might of Audi's quattro became an unassailable obstacle to rivals with only one driven axle. But that winning streak, while it lasted, allied to the then mainstream popularity of the sport, made a bluechip business case for production-car spin-offs such as the Mexico, RS 2000 and RS 1800. Within a few years, would-be Björn Waldegårds were everywhere on British roads.
But nothing lasts forever, and coincident with the launch of an all-new front-wheel-drive Escort platform in 1980, Ford's works rally team instead started to focus its attention on the Sierra RS Cosworth and mid-engined RS 200, and it wasn't until the end of the decade that, with a new Mk5 production car imminent, Ford turned again to the Escort as both a potential WRC contender and a high-performance road car.
At around the same time, David Richards' Prodrive group had become the de facto works team for Subaru, rapidly scoring rally successes initially with the Legacy and then, from 1995 onwards, the more compact and agile Impreza. Three drivers' titles and three manufacturers' titles followed, and that exposure spawned a voracious appetite among enthusiasts for more hardcore versions of the already quick Impreza Turbo and later WRX production models.
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Denne historien er fra March 2022-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring