Ken Block has shared some exhilarating footage of his Ford Escort Cosworth competing in the recent International Rallye Du Valais high in the Swiss Alps.
The rally driver, made famous by his series of Gymkhana videos, crashed his original Ford Escort Cosworth during Maine’s New England Forest Rally back in July 2018. Not one to dwell in mourning the death of his prized rally car, he tasked a team of experts to build a replacement.
Responsible for building Block’s new Escort Cosworth was a shop by the name of MDV in the UK. As the original car was absolutely destroyed by the crash and subsequent blaze, the new one was built from the ground up.
Phoenix: Ken Block Puts His New Ford Escort Cosworth Through Its Paces
The stage featured in this video is precarious to say the least. Filled with narrow roads and tight hairpins, this stage clearly isn’t suited to novice drivers; one mistake and you’ll be flying down a very steep hill holding on for dear life. At one stage (skip to 2:55 in the video), Block has a near-miss when a huge dose of understeer almost sends him off the road, while his co-driver can be heard exclaiming “Oh Jesus!”.
In a nod to his original Escort Cosworth, Block had the car’s turbocharger, part of a wheel, and part of a fender ground down to fine flakes of metal and then incorporated into the new Cossie’s eye-catching paint scheme.