The Story of the Mk 1 Escort

Sports Seen, £10.99.

Forget the drab title. While there may be more cachet to The Lamborghini Legend or Maranello: The Movie, the first evolution of the modern-day Escorts has a rich competition pedigree.

This covers most of the story, from the car’s launch in 1968 to its eventual capitulation, in competition, to the Escort Mk2. There is plenty of entertaining archive footage from the early days, including the car’s very first competitive foray in a rallycross event at Croft.

While the production and script are first rate, the only minor niggle is that little attention is paid to the car’s racing heritage, though there is some interesting footage from the 1971 ETC finale at Jarama. This is presumably due to the absence of suitable material; is there no celluloid record of Dave Brodie’s ‘Run Baby Run’, one of the most charismatic sights on British racing circuits in its day? Although circuit coverage is consequently slender, highlights of the 1974 Tour of Britain battle between Roger Clark and Gerry Marshall provide more than adequate compensation.

The tape runs for just over an hour. The Story of the Mk2 Escort is similarly well produced, and is available at the same price from the same source. SA