[microbunny]

The 14th of February 1986 was the day the Ford RS200 was first seen in international competition. In the highly charged days of the Supercars, the Ford was the last of the six purpose-built Group B cars to enter world level motorsport. By general acclaim, the basic production car version, styled by Ghia, was the most carefully developed of these cars in road-going form. It was the only Supercar to be fitted with switchable four or two wheel drive systems and double springs and dampers all round.

The first competition appearance of the car was in prototype form on the national Lindisfarne Rally in North England in September 1985, when now BP-Ford boss Malcolm Wilson scored an easy win. In world championship events, the car only appeared four times (Sweden, Portugal, Acropolis and the RAC). By its third outing, driver Grundel led from the start but the highest finish was on its world rally debut, third place for Grundel in Sweden. By its final world rally, the 1.8 litre engine was producing 500bhp.

Graham Robson, renowned authority on RS200s, confirms that the most successful RS200 rally driver was Robert Droogmans, in a car run by Ford Belgium, who won seven events. RS200s won four national championships, in the hands of Stig Andervang (who won two series), Droogmans and Mark Lovell. Ironically, the most exciting days in the life of the RS200 were lost to rallies. The  second evolution model (RS200E) was fitted with an enlarged engine (2.1 litres) and became unbeatable in the car's later life, in European rallycross.