Race Retro Classic & Competition Car Sale 2020 21st - 23rd February 2020

Classic Cars - Saturday 22nd February 2020 Race Retro Classic & Competition Car Sale 2020 102 • There are probably less than half a dozen worldwide with this nominal mileage of 1,195 (atoc) • Powered by an 1,803cc, turbocharged, Ford-Cosworth ‘BDT’ producing 250bhp in road trim • Finished in Diamond White. Upgraded interior with red seats and leather steering wheel • Late-production car road car (184/200) confirmed as being factory-built • Finally registered in 1993 when L20 ORS (L200 RS) became available • A report by RS200 aficionado, Justin Smith, will be available prior to the sale • The Ford RS200 represents a truly classic era of modern rallying and this road-going version is in fantastic condition with incredibly low mileage. What an opportunity Ford had been working on a turbocharged machine that could compete with the new breed of Group B Rally cars like the Audi Sport Quattro, Peugeot 205 T16, the Lancia Delta and their remarkable 037. Unusually for Ford, the solution proved elusive and, with the Escort RS 1700T failing miserably, they were forced to return to the drawing board and start all over again. The result was the RS200. However, Ford had now become ‘late starters’ and was effectively three years behind. The car was styled by Ghia and, unusually, the bodywork was entrusted to a company who knew a fair bit about building fibreglass cars.... Reliant. The chassis engineering was looked after by F1 gurus Tony Southgate and John Wheeler. Ford bosses demanded that it must have four-wheel drive and it was built around a space frame chassis, Kevlar bodywork, and a potent mid-mounted engine courtesy of well-proven race engine builder Brian Hart. Add to this an innovative front-mounted gearbox for better weight distribution and balance plus a variable torque split differential from Ferguson and you had a real beast of a car. The result was spectacular. At the peak of its powers in the hands of star drivers like Stig Blomqvist the larger 2.1 litre Evo engine was claimed to be pushing out around 650bhp, it was rumoured that even 700/800bhp was used. It looked like Ford finally had the package to win and things were looking promising after Kalle Grundell came home 3rd in the Swedish Rally of 1986. However, the fickle finger of fate was soon to be pointed at Group B. Tragedy struck on the opening stage of the Portuguese Rally when Joaquim Santos lost control of his RS200 and sadly three people died with many others injured. Marc Surer also crashed his RS200 in the Hessen Rally killing his co-driver. This was the beginning of the end for Group B Rallying and the final nail in the coffin was hammered in when Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto lost their lives on the Tour de Corse when their Lancia Delta left the road. This really was the end of Group B, and it was also the end of an era for the fastest, most dangerous, most spectacular period in modern rallying. As a result, after just one year in competition, it was all over for the RS200 so it never got to show off its full potential, however, it did prove that it had enormous promise with many of the cars being spectacularly successful in Rallycross particularly in the hands of Norwegian Martin Schanche. FIA Homologation Rules for Group B required the construction of at least 200 road-legal vehicles and Ford LOT 419 Registration: L20 ORS Chassis Number: SFACXXRJ2 Engine Number: GL00184 Estimate: £175,000 - £225,000 1986 Ford RS200 More Images Lot 419 Bid On Lot 419