Reimagining an icon: Wayne Burgess on the new Ford Escort Mk1 RS

Most vehicle reveals follow a similar recipe – the lighting dims and music swells to make the unveiling truly dramatic (and hide the electric hum) – but not this one. As the doors slid back to reveal the Ford Escort MK1 RS the soundtrack and lighting came from the car itself, showing off a dynamic new engine and the race car ‘X’ tape-inspired DRL’s. 

Few nameplates carry the cultural weight of the Mk1 Escort, and among the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ was the general feel that effort by Boreham Motorworks meets these exceedingly high standards. 

The company describes the Escort RS not as a restomod, but a continumod. Developed through an official licence agreement with Ford Motor Company, it has been built as an entirely new vehicle from the ground up – with these new components re-engineered using modern materials. 

The result is a careful balance of preserving the character and motorsport intent that made the car iconic, while engineering it to modern standards. A newly developed steel body, lightweight carbon-fibre bonnet and boot panels, and a bespoke powertrain sit alongside analogue instrumentation, mechanical switchgear and a driver-focused cabin intended to preserve the tactile qualities that made the original Escort so engaging. 

To learn more about the thinking behind the design, Car Design News sat down with DRVN Automotive Group design director, Wayne Burgess, who led on design. 

Car Design News: When approaching the design, where did you start? 

Wayne Burgess: We were lucky to have several examples of both the racing Escorts and modern Escorts from Ford’s heritage production. The first thing I did was spend time with the design, absorbing what is essentially such a functional, pure piece of design. 

I realised that the Mk1 has got superb proportions – a tiny front overhang, the front axle is pushed forward, a great dash to axle dimension, the cabin sits slightly rearward and then it’s got this slightly longer rear overhang with a really elegant tail.

I realised as I was describing the car, those are attributes that you find in sports cars – I’ve used those words to describe performance Jaguars before – and aesthetically, this car is up there with contemporary Italians of the time like the Alfa GTV. Then you add the muscular stance that you get from the racing wheel arches that push the wheels out of the body and it possesses a real presence. 

CDN: How big is the design team behind this? 

WB: In the last 12 months there’s been four of us. The CAS design was done by Dan Simons and Sean Macfaden, digital visualisation by Ryan Lewis and CMF support by Francesca Dobrinska. I love working collaboratively in small groups and throwing ideas around. 

CDN: What have you kept the same and what have you changed – and why?

WB: On the exterior, all the A-surfaces are really close to the Alan Mann 1967 and 1968 Racing Escorts, because we saw that as our unique point of difference as we have Alan Mann cars in the group. Those cars are the originator of those bubble arches. 

Where we’ve sought to modernise, is all the bits that you bolt onto it – grill surrounds, badging, door handles, road wheels – all while being respectful to the original Ford designs. The interior was much more freehand because the interior of the original was so basic. There were just two vents in the middle of the dashboard that blast out either hot or cold air – which was just ambient temperature air [laughs]. I thought the gauges were aesthetically unique, so we kept those, but then we added toggle switches for all the additional kit and HVAC controls. 

Everything is billet-machined aluminium and stainless steel, so we can go to town and get into the tiniest details. For example, the knurling on the door handles is a scale version of the knurling that’s around the vent vessels and it’s a scale version on the door plate. That consistency of detail is throughout the car. 

I’m a plane nerd, so the lightweight bonnet hinges are very much inspired by the fuselage on a Spitfire – because I’m from Stoke-on-Trent which was where designer of the Spitfire was raised. 

The DRL design is inspired by the ‘X’ black taping that race cars have taped over their lights that hold the glass together in case of a crash. I thought it would be great if we could use that as graphic inspiration for the DRLs – it’s simply, honest and a cool thing to do. 

CDN: Are there any easter eggs on this car that we wouldn’t notice at first glance? 

WB: We’ve got hidden ‘B’ monograms – one on the headlamps below the projector unit, on the nose of the door mirrors, in the taillights and more. I always say, if you want to learn about a car, wash it by hand and you find these little things on your journey.

CDN: You’ve designed so many cars – have you learnt anything new with this project? 

WB: Designing engine hardware, bonnet hinges and the fixing points for rolls cages was something I never expected to be doing. It’s difficult to think of different solutions because in my previous lives this would have been engineering’s responsibility.

CDN: What can we expect next from Boreham Motorworks? Any chance that we will see the 1980s Group B RS200? 

WB: It’s in the pipeline.