For years, many individuals have been baffled once they opened up the Guinness Ebook of Information and found that the world’s quickest accelerating automobile was none apart from a Ford – and a curiously small, virtually goofy trying one which seemed like nothing made on American soil.

That’s as a result of the RS200 was a homologation particular produced by Ford of Nice Britain. It was particularly designed as Ford’s first 4 wheel drive contender for the unconventional Group B class rally racing, however a minimal variety of road-certified examples needed to be made to satisfy homologation necessities.

Since the perfect within the enterprise got here out to assist Ford, together with chief engineer John Wheeler and Tony Southgate, the RS200 Evolution represented absolutely the pinnacle of contemporary racing growth. Whereas over 200 normal RS200s have been made, solely 24 Evolution fashions have been produced to remain forward of the competitors. These included a particular BTD-E 2.1 liter engine geared up with a large turbo to the impact of 580 bhp.

Nonetheless, the ensuing 4 wheel drive monster was ‘the quickest accelerating automobile on this planet’, and as pushed by Stig Blomqvist, a RS200 Evo achieved the 0-62mph (100kph) Guinness world report time of three.07 seconds, a determine that stood for twelve years!

Picture Supply: RM Sotheby’s