Ken Block’s New Gymkhana Ride Is A Tire-Smoking Homage To The ‘70s

The late ‘70s early ‘80s Ford Escort RS is the automotive equivalent to a wet dream. It earned greatness on the forest rally stages in Europe, wrestled by heroic pilots like Björn Waldergård, Hanuu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen. To this day it remains one of rallying’s most iconic machines, and now it’s poised for some Gymkhana fame.

Ken Block, America’s favorite shoe-salesman and the definitive king of the skids, has modified his own 1978 Mk2 Escort RS and turned it into a modern-day Gymkhana drift machine. By modified I mean completely stripped, boasting World Rally Championship-spec suspension and a 2.5-liter naturally-aspirated 4-cylinder pushing a bonkers 333 horsepower (a hell of a lot for a N/A four-banger). The transmission is a rally-spec 6-speed sequential, next to which resides your typical Kenneth Blocketh hydraulic handbrake.

As the video above documents, it’s suitably nuts.

But is it an abomination of the original Escort RS1800? Purists will say that it is, and in many ways I agree. But hell, I’d rather a stanced retro Escort than a glorified hot hatch. Plus, Block’s been dabbling with vintage flair; his last Gymkhana video featured an 845 horsepower 1965 Mustang. Like the Escort, that car bears little resemblance to the original, but it still won us over.