Project ST - History Lessons: #11 - 1975 Escort RS

I don't know much about rallying, but this screen grab of WRC winners from Wikipedia suggests that neither car dominated.



The RAC rally, tells a different story:



Personally, if I were to be singing the praises of small Fords in the world of motorsport, I'd be starting with the Lotus Cortina. If I wanted to follow the Focus line back to the Escort then the Mk1's London-Mexico win in 1970 seems like the obvious choice.

This page helps clear things up a bit: www.rallycars.com/Cars/wrc_statistics.html
(listing both the manufacturers and drivers titles, explaining how Wikipedia and Fiatdaft can have conflicting results - although I'm sure rally fans already knew this).

I'm not sure you could say either car dominated, to be honest, but the 131 trumps the Escort as far as I can see. That said, I'm still wondering why we're skipping the Mk1...which (according to that page again!) won the championship in '68 and '69.

I thought these two tables were interesting:

Car Models wins in the WRC

Lancia Delta 46
(HF 4WD 11)
(Integrale 8V 14)
(Integrale 16V 13)
(HF Integrale 8)
Subaru Impreza 46
(WRC 34)
(555 12)
Ford Focus WRC 41
Citroën C4 WRC 38
Citroën Xsara T4 WRC 32
Toyota Celica 30
(Turbo 4wd 16)
(GT-Four 13)
(Toyota Celica GT-4 1)
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 26
(Evo VI 8)
(Evo V 5)
(Evo IV 6)
(Evo III 6)
(Evo II 1)

Peugeot 206 WRC 24
Audi Quattro 23
(Quattro 21)
(Sport Quattro 2)
Citroën DS3 WRC 21
Fiat 131 Abarth 18
Ford Escort RS 17
Lancia Stratos HF 17
Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 16
(Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 9)
(Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 7)
Ford Escort RS Cosworth 10
(Cosworth 8)
(WRC 2)
Lancia 037 Rally 6
Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 6
Renault-Alpine A110 6
Toyota Celica Twin cam Turbo 6
Lancia Delta S4 5
Ford Fiesta RS WRC 5
Ford Escort RS 1600 4
Opel Ascona 400 4
Toyota Corolla WRC 4
Renault 5 Turbo 4
(5 Turbo 3)
(Maxi 5 Turbo 1)
Peugeot 307 WRC 4
Datsun 160J 3
Nissan Violet GT 3
Fiat 124 Abarth 3
Mazda 323 4wd 3
Peugeot 504 3
Mitsubishi Colt 2
Peugeot 504 V6 Coupe 2
Saab 96 V4 2
Talbot Sunbeam Lotus 2
Toyota Corolla 2
Citroën Xsara Kit Car 2
Porsche 911 2
(Carrera 1)
(SC 1)
VW Polo R WRC 2
Audi 200 Quattro 1
BMW 2002 tii 1
BMW M3 1
Datsun 240Z 1
Datsun Violet 1
Nissan 200SX 1
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 1
Mercedes 450 SLC 5.0 1
Mercedes 500 SLC 1
Opel Ascona 1
Opel Kadett GSi 16V 1
Renault 17 Gordini 1
Renault 5 GT Turbo 1
Saab 99 EMS 1
Saab 99 Turbo 1
Subaru Legacy RS 4wd 1
Toyota Celica 1
VW Golf GTI 16V 1



Manufacturers wins in the WRC

Citroën 93
Ford 79
Lancia 74
Peugeot 49
Subaru 47
Toyota 43
Mitsubishi 34
Audi 24
Fiat 21
Nissan/Datsun 9
Opel 6
Renault 6
Renault-Alpine 6
Saab 4
Mazda 3
Volkswagen 3
BMW 2
Mercedes-Benz 2
Porsche 2
Talbot 2

Chapel's article mentions the RAC and WRC.

At this point, I no longer care...it seems facts are underrated. I've decided that the Datsun Violet generally dominated all rallying everywhere, or something, at some point.

Then I'm going to post a picture.



Which is as much proof as you need (unless you actually want any proof, and then it probably won't be enough).

I'd also like to apologise to Ken Block on behalf of Retro-Rides. We're not all idiots, honest.