earlier this month, we all got to watch as racer and professional hooligan ken block pit his subaru wrx sti rally car against his baja-bound trophy truck. the unlikely competitors duked it out on a timed rally stage, with a predictable victory ensuing for the subaru. not satisfied with this single bout of automotive shenanigans, block is back with another video in which his ford escort rs "cossie v2" and his wife's ford fiesta r2 join to compete in a 2000-hp shootout.
block and his crew decided to make things simpler this time around. instead of sending all four cars down a rally stage, a basic out and back course was devised. all four vehicles would start from a dead stop in a box of cones before accelerating to a marked hairpin. after completing the turn, the driver simply would to accelerate back down the straightaway and get stopped in the box. fastest time wins.
like the subaru wrx sti featured in the last clip, the cossie v2 is a serious rally-prepped machine. the ford features a 2.0-liter escort wrc engine, which produces around 375 hp. that is about 45 more than subaru, but the cossie v2 is also slightly heavier at around 3400 pounds. both cars utilize a six-speed sequential gearbox and all-wheel drive, so the two appear evenly matched on paper. the same can't be said for lucy block's fiesta r2, which only makes 197 hp from its 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder. the r2 is a lightweight, tipping the scales at just 2240 pounds. that's three times lighter than the 6450-pound geiser bros g6 trophy truck, but the truck packs 1100 hp under the hood. each vehicle brings its own set of strengths to the competition, which proved closer than one might think.
block drove his trophy truck and the wrx sti, while jax redline was tasked with piloting the cossie v2. despite taking a two year hiatus from the driver's seat, lucy block was responsible for taking her r2 through the course. less of a controlled test than last time, but perhaps even more fun as a result.
unsurprisingly, ken and his subaru dominated the show, dropping a 13.7 second run through the course. the escort rs secured second place with a best time of 14.9 seconds. the trophy truck struggled to do any better than a 15.7 second pass, rearing the front end the whole time. the plucky little r2 had significantly worse road conditions to deal with than the others, and as such a slight time deduction was made in the name of fairness. the r2's best adjusted time was 18 seconds.
while we're not sure that this test proves anything, it does make one wonder how to get their hands on four rally-ready machines. this sort of challenge seems like it would be great fun among friends, regardless of which vehicle you're stuck with.
from: road & track