Ken Block will resurrect fire-destroyed Ford Escort Cosworth rally car

RALLY driver and YouTube sensation Ken Block, famous for his Gymkhana series of stunt videos, has announced his latest project: to resurrect his fire-destroyed Ford Escort Cosworth Group A rally car.

Well, sort of — Block’s revived “Cossie” won’t be the same car that went up in flames during July’s New England Forest Rally, rather an all-new build, with the car’s construction being documented for a YouTube video series that’s due to air in 2019.

WILD day for @AlexGelsomino and I. We were running in 3rd overall in the New England Forest Rally (with a gear box problem), pressing on to finish Stage 4 when I turned into a tighter left corner and downshifted. The box didn’t shift when I wanted it to (because mechanical issue), and when it finally did, it threw me into the inside of a corner and into a big rock. That rock sent us rolling over twice. We landed on our wheels, and I was ready to get going again because we were shiny side up. Buuuut as you can see, a fire started REALLY quick. Alex and I got out safely, but the car thoroughly burned right there on the stage. Luckily the incar action was caught on my helmet mounted @GoPro. #thatsrally #wewillrebuild #BlockEscortCossie

A post shared by Ken Block (@kblock43) on Jul 20, 2018 at 7:43pm PDT

And the new Escort also won’t be an exact replica of its predecessor, as Block confirmed the new Cosworth will feature “some very key improvements”. We wouldn’t be surprised if one of those tweaks ends up being a more effective fire extinguisher system…

After the build is completed, Block plans to parade the finished Ford in a “Cossie World Tour”. This will primarily involve the car being entered into “some of [Block’s] favourite stage rallies around the globe”, though the driver hadn’t ruled out doing additional performances, such as Gymkhana stunt demos.

Thanks to video work completed before it met a firey end, Ken Block’s original Group A Cosworth will have a posthumous starring role in the forthcoming GymkhanaTEN stunt film, and an Amazon Prime series called “The Gymkhana Files”, which starts on November 16.

Tweet to @J_S_Allen Follow @J_S_Allen

Ken Block rolls Escort Cosworth rally car, watches it go up in flames

Watch Ken Block go off-road in Terrakhana, the new gymkhana

Video: Ken Block beats the train in Gymkhana Nine