Everyone is on a bit of a retro racing kick these days, so it’s fun to look back to the original footage shot when cars like the Ford Escort slid sideways with Cosworth BDAs howling up to 9,000 rpm.

There’s a few things that share a name and general description both here and in the United Kingdom, but, for some cruel reason, maybe as penance for our misbehavior in 1776, the Brit just have better versions of. Kit-Kats are one example. I want to talk about three examples today, examples that our American readers…

This video depicts Rino Muradore on his way to a Historic Class victory at the 2017 running of the Cronoscalata Cividale Castelmonte Italian Hillclimb. The car’s 2-liter Ford/Cosworth aluminum block BDG engine does the lion’s share of the work, converting screaming engine sounds into speed, presumably through magic.…

Ken Block has owned a 1978 Ford Escort since 2008, but only relatively recently was it rebuilt into the machine you see above. It’s a good machine.

Rise and grind! Time to show your workday who’s boss!

There’s a lot of car stuff out there on the Internet today. Turn your attention here, though, to this MkII Ford Escort RS2000, with a uncorked Pinto engine screaming up a hillclimb. Let me tell you, this is the good stuff.

Probably not.

Hey, remember when Ken Block turned his stage rally Mk2 Ford Escort into a tarmac-spec Gymkhana car? Yes, that was yesterday. Now watch it shred tires like a beast with Formula Drift pro Ryan Tuerck at the wheel.

Before the Mitsubishi Evo, before the Subaru Impreza, before the Audi Quattro there was the Ford Escort MkII. Now Kenneth H. Blockenstriker has one for some hectic Gymkhana action.

This is not a photoshop.

We've all heard the tale of the rally team that snapped their throttle cable mid-race. They stopped and threw away the hood, while one guy jumped in the engine bay and the other drove the rest of the rally at full throttle. But like all good stories, there's more than just glory and a ridiculous photo op.

Security camera footage from the Trackspeed Racing classic car shop shows a pair of thieves using a Land Rover as a battering ram, then hooking it up to a beautiful 1972 Ford Escort MK1, and yanking it right off the showroom floor. This is some straight-up Hollywood style insanity.

Every tried to explain to someone the difference between front-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive? Just show them this video.

Well, it's back in China, who never really had the original ones, so "back" isn't exactly right. Still, Ford did just show this surprisingly handsome little sedan at the Beijing Auto Show, and for those of us who fondly remember Escorts (like the good British one, or even the American shitbox), this is news.

WRC drivers are amazing pilots, but what happens when you take one out of his high-tech 4WD hatchback and stick him in an old Ford Escort?