Ford Escort MkII - DJM Motorsport Ultimate Escort - Colin McRae

Colin McRae grew up watching his father rallying and always felt the Escorts, usually travelling sideways, sounded and looked fantastic. However, any Escort MKII is underpowered and lacks traction compared to a WRC car so Colin decided to modify one. Initial discussions with Newark-based husband and wife team Dave and Julie Plant of DJM Motorsport focused on independent rear-suspension but McRae engaged them to build the entire car in early 2003. The finished car emerged in 2004 and is surely the ultimate rally Escort. Colin was immediately impressed and talked enthusiastically about this 1970s rear-wheel-drive normally aspirated Mk2 Escort being quicker on the stages than a WRC Focus. Awesome!
Did you know? Colin McRae treated the build of his ultimate rally Escort with as much seriousness as he would the development of a new WRC car. He completed over 600 miles of flat-out gravel testing before settling on a specification for the suspension, and each aspect of the car was treated in a similarly exhaustive fashion. There were no corners cut during the build either. In order to save weight composites expert Julie Plant made up a perfect Escort MkII dash in Carbon fibre weighing just 750g.A standard dash weighs 10kgs! However only the bonnet and boot lid are in Carbon/Kevlar, the other panels are in steel, partly for durability and partly because Colin wanted the car to look as much like a standard rally Escort as possible.