1986 Ford RS200

The RS200 was born in the era of Group B rallying, undeniably the most extreme period in rally history with all competing manufacturers turning every dial up to 11. The power was immense, the courses dangerous and no matter how high the driver skill was, it was always outmatched by the sheer bravery of piloting these machines at full chat. While Ford’s competitors derived their rally cars out of road cars, Lancia with their S4 Integrale, Audi with their S1 Quattro and Peugeot with their T16 205, Ford took a more extreme route and built a rally car and derived a road car from it purely to tick the homologation boxes.

Produced by Ford Motorsport in Boreham, England, from 1984-1986, the plastic-fiberglass composite body was designed Filippo Sapino of Ghia Design Studio, featuring a mid-mounted engine, four-wheel drive, and a front mounted gearbox for ideal 50/50 weight distribution. The chassis was designed by Formula 1 designer, Tony Southgate, and Formula 1 engineer, John Wheeler so the car had a real recipe for greatness.

Power came from an 1,803cc Ford-Cosworth BDT engine fitted with a Garett T03/04 turbocharger, producing 250bhp in standard road-going trim, although as production progressed more power became available. At the time, Group B regulations required manufacturers to assemble 200 road-going versions of their race-bred competition cars. With time, it has become clear that Ford did not manage to sell 200, with Justin Smith, the Ford RS200 authority, believing as few as 147 were actually sold.

The RS200 presented here, Chassis #113, is very special, having just one former keeper and single enthusiast ownership since 1990 when our vendor purchased the car from Alan Fenwick, on just 152 delivery/transportation miles. Since then, it has been treated to the most outstanding life, accomplishing everything one would do given the opportunity of owning an RS200 from new, including track days at Goodwood, Brands Hatch, Donnington, Silverstone, and Thruxton.

According to our vendor, the RS was used for enjoyment on the road as well and always performed faultlessly, including being stuck in an M25 traffic jam on the return from Brands Hatch. As an owner, he was a member of the RS200 Owners Club Ltd. during the 1990s until it closed, and there are photos of the car attending various Club meets and track days.

Alan Fenwick had been a Director of the club for many years, and there is a lovely period piece written by him for the club on how he came to own #113. Originally ordered by Tom Cahalane of Sun International, California. Thankfully the car never left the UK as Mr. Fenwick bought this allocation, as well as #163 from Mr. Cahalane and #182 from a cancelled ‘Middle-Eastern King’ order which was for an RS200 Evo. #113 was registered G901 TJD, which sat nicely alongside Alan’s other RS200s which wore G801 TJD and G900 TJD.

In this article he states how #113 was fitted from new with the very rare 350bhp power upgrade as well as every Tickford option including electric windows, the rally pod (not currently fitted but supplied with the car) and the rally-specification dog-clutch selector, which allows the driver to control the four-wheel drive torque split with the secondary red gearstick. While this is not one of the 20 ‘S’ specification cars that were sent to Canada to receive these upgrades, #113 essentially has every ‘S’ part except for the extra air intakes.

Within the vast history file there are ten MOT certificates (1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022) supporting the remarkably low mileage of just 8,442. The car saw little use from 2006 until 2016, as other projects took over, but it was kept in dry, secure storage until it was sent away for servicing. There is a copy letter available that was sent to the DVLA confirming that it had been off the road for 14 years.

During its time off the road, the RS was kept inside a sectioned wooden box in our vendor's warehouse during the 1990s so it was protected from both prying eyes and errant forklift trucks, again with photos making it look like the car is being unboxed like a remote controlled car.

On 9th July 2014, #113 was sent away for an age-related routine inspection and delamination was discovered in some areas of the chassis. This was to eventually benefit the car since it meant that a major structural restoration became inevitable. We understand that no other RS200s have been subject to this process due to the sheer difficulty and time-consuming nature of the job. The work was carried out by Arch Motors (who built the original tubs) and there is a letter on file confirming the work against chassis number AM085 with a plethora of photographs and invoices. Two new floors were made and fitted along with a strong back beam within the tunnel that was made to keep everything in place and the floors were replaced one at a time to ensure everything lined up perfectly.

During the overhaul and over recent years, a good selection of items have been replaced including:

• Serviced/replaced fuel pumps, injectors, piping, sound proofing and wiring
• Five new BF Goodrich 225/50R16 92H tyres in July 2017
• Shock absorbers refurbished by Thyssen-Krupp Bilstein 18/3/2015
• Re-bushed with Powerflex bushes from Julian Godfrey Engineering
• New clutch from TechCraft, Warwick
• Six-point, FIA-approved race harness for both seats plus standard retractable belts
• Transaxle rebuilt by one of three individuals who built original units in period for Ferguson
• Brakes uprated to 315 mm diameter in 1990s
• The car has a limited-edition, signed ‘Stig’ steering wheel rather than the standard red one.

It’s supplied with an original Workshop Manual and parts manual included in both paper form and CD as well as Ford Motor Sport Dealer Price List 1988, RS200 Parts List 1988 – Issue 1, RS200 Owners Manual and Service Parts List – Issue 2, all in pdf format.

Make no mistake, these RS200s are blisteringly fast with 0-60mph delivered in just 3.8 seconds, and this is a fully-specified example with all the bells and whistles and with a truly unrepeatable history file, running and driving exceptionally well.

After 33 years of ownership, it’s time for this low-mileage RS200 to find its next home, perfectly suited to any enthusiast or collector alike. This is a real 'pride and joy' example of these very rare 'Group B’ rally cars for the road and #113 in gleaming Diamond White is a must for any collection of Performance Fords or significant motorcars.