296bhp, 10,000rpm, 800kg: the Mk1 Ford Escort RS is BACK

The Mk1 Ford Escort RS has returned, not as a million-dollar ground up rebuild of a rusty donor car, but as a very new and very shiny continuation version of a Seventies icon that looked and sounded amazing.

Boreham Motorworks, the company behind this officially licensed ‘continumod’ that gets continuation chassis numbers, appears to have nailed the whole ‘looks and sounds amazing’ brief, because a) it looks amazing, and b) with the more powerful engine option, it’ll sound amazing.

Primarily because that second engine option is a new ‘motorsport-derived’ 2.1-litre nat-asp four-cylinder bearing double overhead cams, forged steel conrods, a billet crank, motorsport-spec fuel and ignition, and a weight of just 85kg.

It’ll also rev to 10,000rpm and produce 296bhp along the way, matched to a five-speed dogleg gearbox and a bespoke titanium exhaust system “tuned for performance and exhilarating sound”. Safe to say the noise will be fairly unhinged.

Boreham’s offering another engine variant – a standard-fit 1.8-litre ‘Twin Cam’ with fuel injection and a dry sump – kicking out 182bhp on its way to 9,000rpm. That’s allied to a four-speed manual ‘straight-cut’ gearbox. Both are of course, rear-wheel-drive.

Speaking of straight cuts, Boreham’s built this new Mk1 RS to tolerances the “original pencil draughtsmen would not have considered possible”. The original Ford blueprints were pulled out of the archives and the original Mk1 fully scanned using frickin’ lasers.

That’s so Boreham could a) rebuild the RS to the same shape and dimensions as Ford did back in the 1970s, but also b) make it stronger, more efficient, stiffer and handle a bit better too.

As such, it designed and manufactured new jigs and fixtures for the body assembly, deployed carbon fibre for the bonnet, boot lid, and inner structures, steel for the main body panels (reinforced and with wider inner arches), and aluminium and titanium for the floating rear axle.

Speaking of floating rear axles, Boreham has fitted an ATB limited slip diff and coilovers to give new buyers a taste of old RS performance. It also hasn’t fitted power steering. Or ABS. Or traction control. Or a brake servo. Boreham describes the experience as ‘visceral’ with “controllable oversteer”. You will perhaps describe it rather more fruitily should you not be on your A game. Especially when you consider Boreham is targeting a weight of just 800kg.

Wheels look good, no? Tiny, too. They're 15s on wide tyres, hiding fairly modest brakes by today’s standards – 260mm/four-pots up front, 264mm/two-pots on the back. Inside looks good, too. The usual suspects are present and correct – leather, Alcantara, harnesses and carbon and a full roll cage – along with heated screens and air-con. Those dials are an especially lovely touch. Ditto the dash design and covering. And the outside? Classic.

Design director Wayne Burgess – whose first car was a Mk2 Escort – has subtly enhanced the original RS shape. The quarter bumpers and indicators were removed, the grille surround is now aluminium, while the headlights “are inspired by the classic lights often taped over during racing”. That’s cool. Spot the new door handles, taillights and mirrors, too.

“Recreating the Ford Escort Mk1 RS for a new generation is not just about building a car,” said Boreham Motorworks boss Iain Muir, “it’s about honouring a legacy that has inspired driving enthusiasts for over half a century.”

Said enthusiasts will still need fairly deep pockets, mind. While it’s not a million-dollar ground up rebuild of a rusty donor car, prices start from £295,000, and production will be limited to just 150 cars. For that outlay, you get a two-year/20,000 mile warranty, and a production date of Q3 2025.