IN THE late Nineties the MkII Escort was too new to be officially adopted as a classic, yet it had too much motorsport cred and was too much damn good fun to be ignored. So it is without doubt one of the founding fathers of the retro movement.

   The only drawback is that the MkII has now become a victim of its own success and is now out of the reach of grass-roots retroheads, let alone clubman rally drivers. When the price of a decent MkII Escort is increasing year-on-year, how on Earth can a mere mortal afford to take one rallying?

   If this is a problem that you’ve been toying with, then you’ll want to hear what Richard Higgs how to say, because he manages to compete in a MkII Escort.

   “When I left school, I started a mechanic’s apprenticeship and in those days, it wasn’t about being a part of the ‘Max Power’ brigade it was about motorsport. Living in Wales, rallying is in the blood anyway plus my brother influenced me because he was competing too. So I got into rallying about 25 years ago and in those days it was road rallying – it was all about getting from A to B in the fastest time possible.

   “Then of course families and mortgages come along and rallying was put on the back burner – but when the kids grew up and moved out, about five years ago, I got back into it,” says Richard.

   So has Richard got an off-shore account in the Cayman Islands or has he taken a sensible approach to competing with a MkII? Well, the great news for all of us interested in snorting sideways ’Scorts is that Richard has managed to do this on a sensible, real-world budget – all of which begs the question: how?

L to R: Richard's not always this lonely - co-driver is his 17-year-old son, Mike. 2-litre twin-carb'd Pinto is a bit of mystery. All this needed replacing after it went up in flames.