So by wins Ford is definitely the most successful manufacturer now. But it is, unintendedly, thanks to Lancia and the FIA that we have a confusion here. And then a variable is, do you celebrate when you caught the most successful, so you are tied most successful, or do you wait until you passed him to be undoubted alone most successful? The previous record holder is Lancia at, in my books, 73 wins. So I wanted to run a big story with Mikko Hirvonen’s victory in the new venue Rally Australia 2009. But Ford held me back.

 

The problem is that by Martin Holmes also very compulsory statistics, Lancia has 74 wins! I personally strictly disagree in this case (by all respect to Martin Holmes, but I am not a fan of copying, statistics should be real and the information should also be researched and we are able to back up what you find in our database). The difference is Markku Alen’s win on the Rallye San Remo 1986 in the gB Lancia Delta S4. First the organisers of the rally disqualified the entire Peugeot team, and when Peugeot apealed the decission, against all sporting rules the organisers denied Peugeot to carry on under appeal. Why it is important to allow someone to carry on under appeal was perfectly proven in the following weeks, the FIA impounded the cars straight in San Remo (before Peugeot could touch them), found them perfectly according to the regulations, Peugeot was right and therefore their result should have been re-instated. However, now there was no result to be re-instated and the FIA had no option but to cancel San Remo’s status as a WRC points qualifier. Even if this decision came after the event had run, the Rallye San Remo 1986 was not a WRC qualifying round, such – in difference to Martin Holmes – we at rallye-info are in the believe a victory in this non-WRC-qualifying event can not be counted as a WRC victory. The case in my eyes being enhanced by the fact that at the point of disqualification Peugeot has been leading the rally (with drivers title candidate Juha Kankkunen, which was why it was so important inding a fair action) and not Lancia at all! So there is a huge question mark if Lancia had won the event at all had the Peugeots, which were legal, been allowed to stay in the event!

 

So for the record hunting 2010 the big question is: Is Lancia at 73 wins or at 74? I wanted to launch this article (to which either way this Lancia 73 vs 74 wins question would be part of) with Ford’s win in Australia 2009. This was Ford’s WRC win number 73 and such (without San Remo 86) they were at the top of the tables, even if in a tie with Lancia. And indeed, Ford uses our database a lot to verify info for occasions like this. But in this specific case Ford wanted to make sure nobody could argue their “We are the Best” claim.

 

Next opportunity would have been Sweden 2010. This for me would have been the best opportunity in this specific situation. Hirvonen in Sweden 2010 was Ford win #74, without San Remo 86 they were all alone the most successful, and even with San Remo 86 they could now claim “Nobody has more wins”. But there was right a number of reasons outside my control that I couldn’t launch the party article, and Ford still didn’t make much fuzz either.

 

So now it is NZ 2010. This is Ford victory #75, nice number as well, and now without a doubt, never mind how you are looking at ties and at the San Remo 86 scenario, now Ford is the best all alone!

 

 

 

One discussion that surely is coming up: Is it right to identify the most successful brand by number of victories. OK, nothing in rallying is that straight forward, and that is why we love rallying, it is not a simple sport for soccer fans watching a green screen, rallying is complex and therefore fascinating. But number of wins? Yes. This is how tennis seedings are done, this is how rally drivers are measured in all time lists. Nearly every weekend we hear Loeb win # 55, Loeb win #56, Loeb win #318.... LOL, but for rallying it is true though. Of course a big mark on Ford’s record is their lack of World Championship titles and I guess everybody has up and down seasons at some point of their career. But even for annual titles, who should win? Should World Champion be that guy who wins the first 4 asphalt rounds in a row and then turns utterly useless in all the remaining rounds on gravel and snow or whatever? Or should World Champion be the guy who can deliver most wins throughout the season in all variety? Surely latter, and that means wins is the tool to measure best in history!

 

For example, sure Citroen does a mindblowing job, having won 5 makes titles in the last 7 years! But where was Citroen in the closer to road cars groupA days, when Ford had the Escort Cosworth? What answer did Citroen have to the all conquering group4 Escort BDA? And shall we start comparing the groupB Ford RS200 to the groupB Citroen BX 4TC? For Citroen’s sake better not! Ford did all that, but Citroen? Maybe Citroen are the best right this moment, but Ford have 75 victories throughout WRC history! Same as Citroen wouldn’t win a World championship with a car that only works in snow, Ford is now the best in rally history overall!

 

 

 

Still these World titles. That is why NZ 2010 turned out the most fitting rally to celebrate Ford’s new status as the best. Through a number of exciting circumstances we went into the last, classic, 30km Whaanga Coast stage with 4 drivers having a serious chance of victory! I can’t even remember when last time on a last stage in WRC so many drivers still had a chance. Remarkable is, that 3 of these were all winning stages and leading the rally at certain points. In the end Jari-Matti Latvala won the event, and that means Ford’s record victory came from a guy who had not won a single stage and who had at no point led the rally!!!!

 

That is so much fitting, because how come the most successful make in rallying history has only won 3 World titles? Citroen and before sister Peugeot seemed to come in, win everything for 5 years, then disappear again for 10 years. Surely, mega car, mega team, mega success, but where is the consistency, where is the loyalty to our beloved sport? On the other end of the scale there are teams like Hyundai, Suzuki, Subaru, who win not even rallies for many years, so it is not easy and you still do need a good base car, which Ford obviously had in many eras. But sometimes it is also luck, making previous best of rally history, Lancia, a most wonderful example. We can argue for years if it is now 73 or 74 wins, but whatever it is, 46 of those = roughly 2/3^rd came with the Delta in early groupA, when the regulations meant by pure coincidence Lancia was for years the only one having a perfect car in their road car range. Maybe again material for discussion, by in my personal, humble mind I rate Ford’s record higher, because they won rallies with a larger selection of cars and they always had competition (except the last few years, but even then there is still Citroen, when Lancia had no-one in early gA!).

 

Further, Ford was loyal and enthusiastic about the sport longer even than the WRC exists. So looking through their history:

 

Ford claims in their press work they are involved since over 70 years. But the WRC started “only” in 1973 = 37 years ago? We can confirm, they did not only get involved over 70 years ago, they won Rallye Monte Carlo 1936 = 74 years ago! And that win does not count to the 75 WRC wins, nor does the Monte 53 victory, nor the Safari 55 victory, etc, etc. I really can’t name them all, our server is not big enough for all that text. Just a selection of rally cars Ford used more or less regularly: Anglia through various generations, Fordoor V8, Fairmont, Falcon, Zephyr Mk1 & Mk2, Zodiac Mk3 & Mk4, Corsair, Cortina Mk1 & Mk2 including the famous Lotus ones, from Germany came entries with Cardinal 12M, Taunus 20M RS, Capri Mk1, that is only the cars before WRC, and I likely forgot half of them!

 

One pre-WRC car that must be mentioned is the Ford GT70. That means Ford is the first manufacturer to make a purpose built rally car! That is another confusion with Lancia, as even journalists keep telling us the Lancia Stratos was the first purpose built rally, but it wasn’t, this is Ford’s record! Maybe the GT70 was not successful enough in a big enough variety of surfaces. But in the days Ford only had conventional cars and most rally cars were conventional, Ford came suddenly out with the GT70. It was modelled around it’s name-sake GT40. GT40 was called GT40 for it was 40 inches high, the GT70 was called that because it was launched in 1970. The GT70 was slightly higher than the GT40 (44 inches), shorter, narrower, lighter (but compared to the GT40 also could never fit a V8 engine). more edgy/less curvy design, but there were some design hints and it also carried a mid engine, something to my knowledge no-one before ever tried in rallying! 

 

Ford also was the make with the potentially best performing groupB car, but in typical Ford luck, the project was delayed for a much needed rethink towards 4x4 and when it was launched, it immediately had the speed of a 205 T16, a Delta S4 and a Quattro, but it never got to prove more as the timing was the worst possible, the car only doing 3 rallies in the last season of groupB.

 

But that is a time jump. The GT70 lasted long enough to actually be competing the Lancia Stratos on at least one occasion. Then also throughout the 1960s Ford Lotus Cortina must be the biggest name in rallying of that decade alongside the BMC Mini. The Lotus Cortina led the 15000km London-Sydney Marathon for 3/4er of the distance, only to then drop to 10^th for a comparatively minor rear differential problem at the worst possible moment.

 

Maybe this is an example that luck was never really on Ford’s side. In 1979 Ford lost a clear Monte victory by 6seconds after stupid spectators put a barrier of rocks across the road on the last stage. In Monte Carlo 1991 Francois Delecour missed out on a clear debut start-finish victory when a suspension bolt broke on the very last stage. Maybe win #75 in NZ after never leading the ralyy is just fair justice then? Monte Carlo 1987 was equally a joke, first rally of groupA, and gA Lancias looked nothing like the road version, but the FIA checked some papers and decided the rally cars are as homologated, it was the 5000 road cars that were illegal! Then it turned out the Mazda was also not homologated, as the 5000 road cars were never built in the first place! All that was fine, but when Ford was found to carry a Lucas sticker on what should have been a Bosch injection system according to road cars it was based on (At least Ford had the road cars, plus Lucas is Bosch’s UK importer, produces in licence, and such it was the correct item, just the wrong sticker!) Ford was thrown out of the rally and fined a 6-digit sum! However I insist (personal opinion again), in the mid 1990s the Escort Cosworth was the best car out there by a long way, it was let down by ill management, changing drivers and tuners seemingly at random and for no apparent reasons. Still, one definite hick up for this car that Ford couldn’t help was when for 1994 Francois Delecour was celebrated as the clear title favourite, and he underlined it nicely with a dominant victory in Monte Carlo, followed by leading Portugal when his engine went bang. Frankie’s favourite rally, the Tour de Corse that year, would have become a super boring affair, had Francois not just a week before had an accident outside the sport that put him out for the rest of the season and leaving Ford without a lead driver.

 

But I am time travelling again. For WRC records, it is important to follow up from GT70, Lotus Cortina and London-Sydney lead: The Escort Mk1 RS1600. Lotus Twin Cam engine in a smaller shell, marathons again. Before there was a WRC there was an effective marketing trick that I personally believe would work still today. Huge rallies that everyone Joe Public and media can understand as a huge, unique, picturesque adventure. Before there was a World Championship, Ford had the habit of picking a single rally and create all their season around that one event. So happened with the World Cup Rally from London to Mexico in 1970. Ford developed an extra car for that one event, imagine! It was an Escort RS1600, but no more twin cam, engine bored up to 1850cc but still having less BHP than the old 1600cc Lotus, torque, low fuel quality, durability being the points. Also there were changes to the shell for rigidity. Ford won this rally and soon after a road car was launched called Ford Escort Mexico, that turned a bigger success than the Mk1 RS2000, despite the RS2000 having a bigger engine! That is how marketing worked!

 

For example Ford’s 75 wins party press release reads that Timo Mäkinen winning 1000 Lakes (Finland) 1973 in the Escort Mk1 was Ford’s 1^st WRC victory. That is correct, yet still a lame story LOL. In 1972 Ford won the 1^st of 8 RAC’s in a row. Not really a big deal, RAC was just an end of season party, the season highlight everything at Ford concentrated on was conquering the Safari, which they won, with Mikkola turning the first European driver ever to beat the locals on that majestic event! This big rally as season highlight, as World Cup, as Safari, worked so well, that Ford (and every other manufacturer bar Alpine-Renault and Fiat/Lancia) saw no reason to change this marketing strategy for a WRC program.

 

Ford did not ignore the WRC completely. The1st WRC event ever was Monte Carlo 1973, an event utterly dominated by the Renault Alpine A110. Hannu Mikkola in the works Escort came 4^th, meaning he was the best non-Alpine! I would have to ask Ford’s point of view if Chris Sclater and Will Sparrow in Acropolis 73 as the sole drivers of works registered Escorts actually count as works entries, but even if they do, then 1000 Lakes, where Ford won, would have been only their 3^rd ever WRC start! (Haha, asked one contact, and he regards only Sparrow as a works entry in Acropolis, strange, Sclater drove works registered VVX 958L and got the better result!) They also started RAC and Tour de Corse, of which RAC was yet another win. 5 starts, 2 wins, not bad, but there were 13 rallies and Renault & Fiat competed for the titles. And Ford still was 3^rd in the championship from 19(!) makes scoring manufacturers!

 

Following seasons were similar (i.e. 1974 four starts, again with victories in 1000 Lakes and RAC, again 3^rd in the championship). So most remarkable about slow WRC starts may be that the RAC win in 1972 is a most famous win for Roger Clark that everyone seems to remember. But this RAC win was BEFORE WRC! All in all works Ford Escorts won the RAC Rally 8 times in a row, from 1972 until including 1979! This in itself is a World record! The one and only ‘thing’ to come close is if Sébastien Loeb wins Rallye Deutschland this year, it will be his 8^th win in a row in the same event, 5 times in the Xsara, 3 times in the C4, plus Bugalski’s win in the Xsara in 2001, before Rallye Deutschland was a WRC round.

 

Maybe NZ is a fitting event for Ford’s party for two more reasons: Ford performed miracles when the rally was new. Rally NZ 1977 was the longest stage rally in the WRC ever. Ari Vatanen in the Escort Mk2 managed the rare trick to go off for over half an hour on the first night, only to then miss victory to Fiat’s Fulvio Bacchelli by 90secs, still beating Markku Alen in 3^rd by 20 minutes! Rally NZ must also be the rally with the most dominant result for one model of car: 1979 no less than 7 Escorts were in the top10, in 1978 it was even 8 Escorts, including the top6 places, but that year Rally NZ was no WRC scoring round.

 

The Ford Escort must have been THE rally car of the 70s. Fiat (131 Abarth) & Peugeot Talbot Sport (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus) publically admitted that they designed their cars to be Escort-beaters. But many of the successes came in many national championships. The slaggish start of the WRC is also proven by the success numbers of Ford’s single models. The Ford Escort Mk1, as famous a rally car this is, won onle 4 WRC events! It won many, many more important rallies, but only 4 of them were WRC scoring rounds. The Escort Mk2 topped it with 17 wins!

 

This is partly because from 1977 Ford started to do more full WRC programs, still leaving out odd rallies, but clear target title. 1977 however was the year Fiat meant business with their 131. In their first serious season, Ford was so good that towards the end of season Fiat invited Walter Röhrl, Timo Mäkinen, Timo Salonen & Simo Lampinen all for one off drives! In the end Ford lost the title to Fiat with a laughable 132 to 136 points! The curiosity was that Ford started the season in the old fashion, with Safari being their season highlight. But that year Safari was a WRC scoring round, and Ford not only won the Safari convincingly, but a few weeks later the rough Acropolis with a Safari type car too, and only that put the World title idea onto their mind! So they lost the championship against Fiat’s massive efforts by only 4 points, when Ford in fact never started Monte Carlo and Sweden at the start of the season!

 

1978 is a bit hard to explain. Again taking on Fiat, Ford won their first and last round, Sweden and their obligatory RAC win, and nothing in between, as well as curiously leaving out Monte Carlo again. Ford had an inexplicable mid season low. Maybe bad luck, maybe I could write an analysis for hours, but for here I just say, how do you explain that Ford came only 8^th in both Safari and 1000 Lakes, events they won not only the previous season! Ford again was 2^nd in the title race, again beaten only by Fiat, but this time by a larger margin.

 

1979 was a mega year then. Maybe change of fortune, as Fiat and Ford both had the same drivers and cars as the year before. But Ford was in the top2 in 8 of their 10 starts (leaving out the African rounds). This was winning the makes title by a huge margin! Moreover, 1979 was the year the drivers title was invented, and the first drivers title finale showed the Ford domination: Waldegaard/Ford becoming the 1^st WRChamp ever at 112points with Mikkola/Ford 2^nd at the closest possible margin at 111pts, best non-Ford was Fiat’s Markku Alen in 3^rd already down at 68pts!

 

Unfortunately then something tragic happened. Some rumours about freer technical regulations started to circulate and to everybody’s laughter it turned out Ford would lose Hannu Mikkola, after he tested some kind of a Jeep for Audi. Ford decided it is time to develop a brand new car and it would be a good idea to stop on a high. Latter is absolutely correct. So for 1980 & 1981 Ford handed their works material to the Rothmans sponsored David Sutton team. Now makes world titles would be out of question for the foreseeable future, but somehow the private team around David Sutton gave Ford 3^rd places in the championship both years, plus, amazingly, made Ari Vatanen a drivers World Champion! This is double amazing! With a question mark on Loeb in the Kronos Xsara in 2006, this is the only time a privateer driver won the World title, and more curiously, Ford being the most successful make in WRC history, Ari Vatanen in 1981 = 29 years ago, is the last driver to win the World title in a Ford until today! 

 

Ford used the break to set out and develop the Escort Mk3. Not a good base chassis? Ford surely did make up for it in developing a beautiful looking Mk3 RS1700T with Mk2 BDA running gear, turbo charged, RWD, gearbox moving to the rear axle in transaxle principle. Had it not been for the Audi Quattro (Mikkola’s Jeep) and everything had stayed 2WD, this would have been a mega interesting early groupB rally car for 1982! But the project was delayed and then of course there was the Quattro too. There was no better choice but to scrap it all and start from zero once again in mid 1983. The 2^nd attempt was surely brilliant, there is clear evidence that the RS200 would have been the groupB car to beat in 1987. As evidence, Ford utterly dominated the Acropolis 1986, but then lost one car for a crash and the other for a shared wheel bolt. And that was still an RS200 that could be called a prototype for the final version in 87! GroupB in 1987? Right, car debuted in 1986 only 1 event before the first groupB killing crash happened. How very unlucky.

 

Talking of Ford being so loyal to the sport, they had a gap in 1982-1986 and in that time they developed 2 complete rally supercars and both never got a chance to shine. Like 6 years of development for 3 WRC starts! So in a loyalty point of view, at least you can’t claim there was lack of want!

 

When groupA came, Ford sadly then became the perfect show case what was wrong with groupA. I personally am a big fan of groupA. There is a road car relation, the homologation special road cars also need to be sold, the road car relation alone is already interesting, but it also excludes uncontrollable kit car prices, like 750,000 Euros for a WRCar. But the big problem with such regulations, if groupA or the also boring groupN, is that we need corner stones that manufacturers have in their road car show rooms, to not make regulations for only one or two manufacturers, as happened. And in 1987 only Lanca had a 205/Fiesta sized car with 2000cc turbo engine & 4x4. Having to take road cars produced in large numbers, Ford had two options: Sierra Cosworth, best engine, but RWD, such only of use on asphalt. Or the Sierra XR4x4, this one has 4x4, but also a heavy, tired V6 lump of an engine. Ford kept swapping between these cars event by event, but in the end there was only 1 victory of that era, Didier Auriol, Sierra Cosworth, Tour de Corse 1988.

 

And that is another story about Ford. I try not too much time travelling now. Shame Ford didn’t have the right cars for groupA. But Ford is a team (as rules allow, aka not current 2-car & M2 teams) that shows interest in finding and helping new talents. In Ford’s first title winning year Börn Waldegaard & Hannu Mikkola fought for the title, while the job of converting all those 2^nd hand Escorts to small, handy scrap yard parcels was left to Ari Vatanen as #3 driver. In 1987 Portugal young Spanish Carlos Sainz led his first WRC round ever, and he did so in a Ford Sierra Cosworth. France’s Didi Auriol was found same time, same way, winning Corsica. Later in the Sapphire Cosworth Ford gave chances to France’s Francois Delecour and Italy’s Franco Cunico. Interesting it is also Latin drivers Ford keeps helping, even though they do always seem to have at least one Finn. Hardly anybody knows, but had the Escort Mk3 RS1700T project gone ahead, almost definitely Italy’s ERC Jolly Club youngster Adartico Vudafieri would have been in this car! (Ford wanted a 3-car team and had a short list of drivers already narrowed to 5 names: Ari Vatanen, Pentti Airikkala, Malcolm Wilson, Björn Waldegaard & Adartico Vudafieri, of which Vudafieri surely was the biggest surprise and therefore more than just a rumour!) Why however Ford left Colin McRae and Mark Lovell in the cold to take on Alex Fiorio is anybody’s guess. Fiorio was the son of the Lancia team boss, he certainly had a career without any outside help, besides his best result in the same Ford in which Delecour could lead Monte Carlo was a lame 9^th place, on his home round at that. But let’s not forget, it was Ford, and not Subaru or anyone else, who gave Petter Solberg his big break! And Mikko Hirvonen got out of his nappies driving a 3^rd Focus, when 3-car works teams were still allowed.

 

Anyway, following on from early groupA, Ford was maybe a little slow combining 4x4 & turbo, but as said that was not the ideal basic configuration for groupA regs anyway. Ford Motorsport had first to convince Ford of Europe building 5000 road cars, and the managers would obviously be concerned it is a car they can sell. So first came the Sapphire Cosworth 4x4, which was way too big and heavy. Still, considering its size and weight it must have been a good car in other areas, it kept winning groupN with all sorts of drivers and in the important table, Ford was 3^rd with this car in the makes 1992, beating i.e. Subaru & Mitsubishi! However, tragic Delecour’s Monte drama, the Sapphire never won a WRC event in the end.

 

The Escort Cosworth then at long last came in 1993, and in its very first season the Escort Cosworth won 4 WRC events and came 2^nd in the makes championship, beaten only by a (soon doubtful to be legal) Toyota team narrowly with 145 to 157pts.

 

Unfortunately in following years the Cosy was handicapped by Delecour’s sidelining accident, and a drivers and team swapping mess. So after the strong debut season with 4 victories, the Cosy could only win another 4 rallies in the next 3 years. Maybe this is related by coming 3^rd in the title race also, but sorry, some lean years started, and 1995 & 1996 Subaru became champion because they were the only team fighting for the title. Ford came 3^rd and last even behind Mitsubishi, who were only interested in the drivers title for Mäkinen! And the mess still wasn’t quite over when in 1997 came the Escort WRC, now with Malcolm Wilson having 6 weeks notice to employ a team, rent facilities, design, develop and build a WRCar version of the Escort. How on Earth did they come 2^nd in the makes 1997? Oh, sorry, Mitsubishi never wanted to beat them. And 1998 they were 4^th out of 4. After all, Escort WRC won 2 rallies, Acropolis and Indonesia 1997, both even being 1-2s!

 

Big shame Boreham is gone, but when the Focus came, entirely new model, but still Malcolm Wilson’s team, new car, new very strong drivers, continuity in the team running and developing the car. One curiosity is that in the Ford party press release Malcolm Wilson claims the Safari 1999 win as his favourite. Sure, debut win on the hardest and most recognisable rally there is. But if you talk to Malcolm longer about this, I bet he will admit that at the time this was not a good victory. Very strange claim. But Colin McRae is a rough and demanding driver, the Focus a brand sparkling new car that is bound to have niggling problems. A Safari victory as a debut victory for the Focus on its only 3^rd start ever is mega, and if you have forgotten some Colin and media words and just stare at the results, for a new car this Focus was not that unreliable at all! Towards the end of the 1999 season I count 4 Colin crashes in a row, that is not the car’s fault? Still, new car able to win a tough Safari, public expectations have gotten so high after that show that the car could not keep up with these extremely high expectations and such got a name as being unreliable. It wasn’t unreliable at all, but if you remember the cars that won their 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd WRC event, 205 T16, Delta S4, Xsara WRC, none of them did so on Safari!

 

Beyond that the Focus is also a brilliant example how things changed in the modern times – and maybe at the same time an example that this is not simply about modern times, but something the rules could maybe do something about. We have more rallies per season than ever before, but we also have only two makes now.

 

Focus Mk1 won 16 WRC rallies and came 2^nd in 2000, 2001, 2002 & 2004, as well as 3^rd in 2005 in the makes World championship final standings. So interestingly, talking of modern times, Focus Mk1 competed 7 seasons, from 1999-2005, and won 16 rallies in this time. This puts it about equal with the legendary Escort Mk2, which won 17 rallies in 6 years 1976-1981 (well, starting with winning RAC 75, only half season, but then 80&81 being not full works any more)! We remember this was the golden era of WRCars. When the Focus Mk1 had its best seasons, say 2000-2002, 2^nd in the championship, that was when we had 7 manufacturers and 3 car teams, we were almost guaranteed 20 works cars on the events! We are a far cry from that today! Ford had to fight for those victories and the winning records in a time frame are surprisingly comparable to the Mk2 Escort in the later 70s!

 

Focus Mk2 such becomes Ford’s most successful rally car, but with a hick up: Focus Mk2: NZ was win #27 for this model, that is more than 1/3^rd of Ford’s total! The car gave Ford World Championship titles #2 & #3 in 2006 & 2007, followed up by 2^nd places in 2008 & 2009. Sadly the way the championship is today, and half expecting Ford to be able to make better cars than an Argentinian ice cream manufacturer, 2^nd in the title race means they are the worst make out there! 2^nd is last! Haha, sounds so nasty, but in all honesty, this car is good, this team is good, OK, Citroen and Loeb are hard to beat. But I honestly believe if we would have 7 manufacturers today, like we had in the Focus Mk1 days, OK, surely the Focus Mk2 would not have 27 wins now, maybe half of that, but Ford would still be good enough for 2^nd places in the title race, never mind who tries to take them on!

 

Ford is kind of a weird, maybe tragic case. Most successful manufacturer wins less titles in 37 years than Citroen does in 4 years. But the selection of cars they gave us fans and the sport is amazing, and they all were good or we find good reasons for them when for one of them things didn’t go so well. I.e. early groupA, the Sierra Cosworth was surely the fastest 2WD car out there, and remember them coming 2^nd & 3^rd in Finland & RAC 87, this 2WD car worked surprisingly well on gravel as well, but it still was a 2WD car in a 4WD Lancia World. Ford has only won 3 makes titles in 37 years? Or 30 years given the slow WRC start and the forced 1982-1985 break. That’s the best manufacturer? Would have to do that experiment, but if I counted all time makes points of all seasons together, I am confident Ford would be leading that too. Alongside their 3 makes titles, they have come 11 times runners up and 10 times 3^rd, that is 24 top3 championship results in around 30 attempts!

 

In the drivers, strange Ford never won a title since privateer Vatanen 29 years ago. Just to show how close Ford came to winning titles repeatedly, the 1993 co-driver World Champion is Daniel Grataloup – in a Ford Escort Cosworth! Did you know that? Nobody cares about the co-drivers, not aided by this was the only season co-driver and driver World Champions sat in different cars. In 1993 drivers World Champ Juha Kankkunen had his navigator Juha Piironen fall ill mid season and Francois Delecour in the Ford was so constantly fast that his co Grataloup got some silverware!

 

Cars collecting Ford’s wins:

1)      Focus Mk2 (WRC) – 27

2)      Escort Mk2 RS1800 – 17

3)      Focus Mk1 (WRC) – 16

4)      Escort Mk5 Cosworth – 8

5)      Escort Mk1 RS1600 – 4

6)      Escort Mk5 WRC – 2

7)      Sierra Mk1 Cosworth – 1

Totals 75

 

Most successful manufacturers all time:

1)      Ford – 75

2)      Lancia – 73 (74)

3)      Citroen – 63

4)      Peugeot – 48

5)      Subaru – 44

6)      Toyota – 43

7)      Mitsubishi – 34

8)      Audi – 24

9)      Fiat – 21

10)  Renault (& Alpine) – 12

11)  Nissan (& Datsun) – 9

12)  Opel – 6

13)  Saab – 4

14)  Mazda – 3

15)  BMW – 2

15) Mercedes – 2

15)  Porsche – 2

15)  Talbot – 2

19)  Volkswagen – 1

 

There were more manufacturers. But not all successful. So theoretically Ford is first in a far larger list. Citroen could beat them maybe, being 12 wins behind, but that will take a while, Ford is not hanging around. Citroen should beat Lancia maybe early next year. Just imagine PSA would run a different strategy and let Peugeot carry on rather than drag Citroen in without history. That would be 111 wins! But they didn’t, so that is very much a theoretical number. Less theoretical is that i.e. Hyundai tried 4 years in vain to get results and did not even manage a single podium finish on a single rally. And Volkswagen was actually extremely lucky to be in that list at all. They won the 1987 Bandama Rallye only after sadly legends Henry Liddon and Nigel Harris died in a plane crash during the rally and all teams bar Volkswagen withdrew out of respect. You could have won that rally using a bicycle. I believe if we counted all manufacturer points of all seasons together, we would have some 30 makes and still Ford at the top!

 

And maybe for finals, Ford is a glorious brand to carry that “Most Successful” tag. 7 cars contributed to Ford’s list of wins. And it should be more to justify Ford’s heritage. But when there was no WRC, which rallies to you count? See alone the legendary Ford Lotus Cortina, Rogr Clark won the Acropolis 68 with it, and Bengt Söderström was so much a crash happy character that Ford insiders kept telling “We suffered a bent Söderström”, but he delivered victories in in RAC (66) & Sweden (67) to name just two of many. Way long time ago the Zephyr Mk1 managed to win events as diverse as Monte Carlo and Safari. The Capri RS2600 managed wins on ERC level. And surely a 1969 Safari win should count, adding the Ford 20M RS to the list. Shame it is hard to identify before WRC which events should count as most important in the World, I reckon Ford has produced easily 15 World level rally winning cars!

 

See also our now updated Ford makes story and list of cars with descriptions: http://ford.rallye-info.com/carmake_profile.asp?sid=2&make=1