| It is no exaggeration to say that this model represents the start of a legend, for XOO 262F is the first Escort to win an international rally. Over the Easter weekend of 1968, Roger Clark and Jim Porter convincingly won The Circuit of Ireland and demonstrated the potential of Ford's new small car. The high performance Escort programme had started before the mainstream car's launch in January 1968, when Ford motorsport engineer, Bill Meade, had seen an Escort prototype and said to his team manager Henry Taylor, 'Blimey, one of those things wouldn't half go with a twin-cam in it!' A meeting on the 25th January gave the car its project code (J25) and eventually, with the help of Bob Howe and Walter Hayes, the running gear from a twin-cam Lotus Cortina was shoehorned into a prototype Escort body. The rest is motorsport legend. |
