Ford to relive glory days of rally at Goodwood

Ford UK will celebrate 40 years of motorsport at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed with a mix of the new and the old.

Featured at the event is the victorious Ford Escort (pictured) driven by Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm in the 1970 London to Mexico rally. Starting at Wembley Statidum, the gruelling rally finished 16,000 mile (25,808km) later in Mexico City. Escort was a rally success across the 1970 event, taking 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 8th places, the acclaim later leading to a commemorative model, the Ford Escort Mexico.

No stranger to competition, the little Escort will return to motorsport 40 years on, entered at Goodwood in the event’s challenging 1.16 mile (1.87 km) hill climb.

Demonstrating a modern link with models long since passed, the new, limited-edition Ford Focus RS500, finished in a special, hand-applied matte black foil finish will also appear at Goodwood, a timely reminder of Ford's more current motorsport success.

In May, the Focus WRC piloted by Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila won Rally New Zealand providing the Ford with its 75th win and making it the most successful manufacturer in the history of FIA World Rally Championship.

"There is a direct customer benefit that results from motorsport development helping to advance production car engineering," said Ford UK motorsport manager, Gerard Quinn.

"This was evident from the early days of the Ford Escort and with the Focus WRC now in its final season it is appropriate that the lessons learnt have helped to create a new icon for the road in the shape of the Focus RS500."

Both Ford models will be raced by guest drivers throughout the Goodwood Festival of Speed which is held this year from July 2 to 4.

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