The car, now officially a Ford Rallye Sport model, was renamed the RS200 ( RS = Rallye Sport, 200 = homologation requirement). RS200 – two part cabin structureīy March 1984 a driveable prototype was presented to Ford management and was promptly approved. The exterior design was done by Ghia’s Filippo Sapino, albeit it had to later be modified to incorporate Ford Sierra parts (for cheaper and quicker ease of service), much to the dismay of Sapino. The chassis was designed by former F1 designer Tony Southgate and Ford’s John Wheeler, a former F1 engineer himself who had also worked at Porsche. The new project was code-named “B200” (Group B – 200 homologation units). However, it was suggested that if Ford had any hopes of winning consistently in the WRC, the requirement had to be quickly put aside in favour of designing a dedicated rally platform from scratch. Originally, the replacement to the RS1700T was planned to once again emulate an existing road-going model (which greatly favoured product placement). At first, there was provisions to adapt the car to four-wheel drive but in early 1983 Ford decided to abandon over two years of work developing the RS1700T and started anew with a bespoke model.
Their new rally weapon was originally intended to be the rear-wheel drive Escort RS1700T but when the car’s conception was finished the winning standard was already shifting to four-wheel drive. Ford RS200Īfter winning the 1979 WRC manufacturer title, Ford completely abandoned competition to concentrate on developing a new rally car for the upcoming Group B category. Notice: Any form of duplication methods (including but not limited to copy/paste of text and screen capture) of the website's content is strictly forbidden. Originally Published in: 2014 (old website) (C) Jay Auger - website owner & author
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