On the Ford Heritage site there’s a great brochure about the RS200 that details a lot of what makes it special. Developed with the help of three-time Grand Prix champ Jackie Stewart, the RS200 featured a mid-mounted 1.8-liter, 16-valve DOHC Cosworth-derived inline-four with a Garrett AiResearch turbocharger. In “Standard” form that was good for 250 horsepower, but it being a rally car it was designed to be boosted up to 420 horsepower for “competition.” As a later Group B car, power was sent to either all wheels or just the rear wheels with the help of a locking center-mounted differential. What makes the car stand out, to me, is not its face, which is simple and cute. What I love about the purposeful beauty is the roof-mounted intercooler, which elevates the car into the realm of the sublime. It’s so good. You’d have to be literally crazy to not appreciate it, here, in fully race-spec, being driven by Stig Blomqvist. The good news is that, per homologation regulations, Ford had to build 200 of these things for the road. Here’s one as a police car with a sweet Sierra. The lightbar blocks the intercooler, but the little British police checker pattern makes me forgive them. As good as this thing looks from the front, I think the little short-wheelbase car has an absolute banger of a rear. Those taillights are just rainbows of joy and everything about this car just screams “excited bulldog puppy ready for a walk.” The interior looks great, too. Obviously, Group B didn’t make it. The cars were too fast and too dangerous. This meant that most RS200s actually ended up in other uses, like Rallycross. Here’s a rallycross one looking awesome: And here’s a Pikes Peak one looking killer: Anyway, I just randomly thought of this. How great these cars are. It’s possible you don’t find the engineering beautiful. Sometimes an object can capture the essence of its purpose so successfully and with so little obvious effort that the simplicity is almost overwhelming. There are people who don’t like Brancusi’s ‘Bird in Space.’ It’s fine. Car culture is diverse and speech is free. If you don’t like it you are entitled to your wrong opinion! And I love that car too. It actually reminds me a lot of the interior of a Pontiac Fiero. And I mean that as a compliment…it’s appropriately ’80s performance-functional, blocky shapes, bold simple gauges galore, and everything you need to drive right at hand. I, for one, am on Team Matt in this case. Love the RS200. Matt, two hours before this article: “Now’s the perfect time to import a car from Europe!” Matt, this article: “Here’s the RS200 FOR NO REASON!” He might just be trying to tell us something. And for the record you are absolutely correct, and whatever it was that caused that to pop into your head is (charitably) horribly mistaken. Not at all, but a shared visual vibe with the RS200. https://silodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Mazda-Autozam-AZ-1-2-1536×864.jpg That said, I hear they’re absolutely terrible to drive (Jeremy Clarkson actually crashed one on Top Gear), so maybe not…but also maybe… Now, what I want to know is, could you stuff a modern, safe car under that skin? I presume it could technically be done. Anyway, they are neat cars with great spec. A modern frogeye Sprite on steroids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYUILo6MmkA The cars are awful – throttle response of a two-stroke dirt bike (on/off), handling that was so unstable a car would suddenly pitch sideways for no reason, and zero chance to react when it eventually happened. 959, the legendary IMSA Audi 90, the most angry sounding engine of all time, AWD as a performance enhancer, the homologation cars, I can’t think of a time in motorsport that spawned more awesome and innovative things. Keep in mind that the 80s is about halfway between the “roll bars and seat belts are dangerous” era and present day. I loved every millisecond of it. I wanted one. I still want one. Even though it is not the ideal car for tallish folk who find it hard to do contortions these days. It’s such a brilliant design, purposeful and logical but also just incredibly fun. You want to drive it when you see it, you know? It’s so compelling in that it doesn’t scream “look at me” (like say any product from Lamborghini) but yet radiates a strong “this is a professional’s machine” vibe.
