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Fast Fords: Colin McRae’s rally Escort outshone at auction by £590,000 Sierra

McRae and Perthshire farmer's son Robert Reid shared the 1976 MkII Ford Escort in their only outing together before taking separate routes to become rallying World Champion.

The Hackle Rally-winning 1976 Ford Escort shared by Colin McRae and Robert Reid. Image: Silverstone Auctions
The Hackle Rally-winning 1976 Ford Escort shared by Colin McRae and Robert Reid. Image: Silverstone Auctions

A fast Ford with a prestigious Scottish motorsport pedigree is still looking for a new owner.

Lanark legend Colin McRae drove the 1976 Mk II Escort to victory in the forests of Perthshire before his rise to fame and the 1995 world title.

He won the 1990 Hackle Rally in it – with Perthshire farmer’s son Robert Reid in the navigator’s seat.

Reid also went on to become a rallying World Champion – in 2001 as co-driver to Englishman Richard Burns.

Reid remembers the Escort footwells filling with water on the way to victory in the Perthshire forests. Image: Silverstone Auctions

The 57-year-old is now one of the top figures in world motorsport as the FIA global governing body’s Deputy President for Sport.

So the Escort has a unique history as the only car the Scots pair ever competed in together.

It stayed with the McRae family for 30 years before becoming part of a private collection.

The car went over the block in a Silverstone Auctions sale of competition cars with hopes it could fetch almost a quarter of a million pounds.

Bidding was brisk before stalling at around the £165k mark.

And despite the hammer not falling on the rally car, it was another fast Ford which was the star of the packed sale.

Stratospheric Sierra

If buyers thought £250k was a hefty estimate for an Escort, none were prepared for the eye-watering £596,000 one determined buyer shelled out for a Ford Sierra.

The astonishing bid at the Race Retro sale obliterated the existing world record price for the family hatchback.

The car was the Sierra Cosworth RS500 version which Ford introduced in the mid-1980s.

Sierra Cosworth RS500
The world-record beating Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 sold at Race Retro. Image: Silverstone Auctions

It had distinctive styling and outrageous performance for a family car of the era.

The gleaming black 1987 model was in time-warp condition with just 5,192 miles on the clock.

And the Sierra powered past its £150k – £180k estimate to reach £530k.

With fees added, the £596,250 total smashed the previous £135,700 record for a Cossie set in 2022.

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