Ken Block puts his Escort through its paces – Video

Ken Block, professional hoon and all-round internet sensation, raised a few eyebrows when he bought an old Ford Escort Cosworth last year.

After all, it's a significant departure from his usual diet of hotted-up Focus and Mustang models. A new video posted on his Hoonigan channel has given us the answer – it's going to be a rally car!

The car will compete in the 2018 American Rally Association Championship, starting with the Oregon Trail Rally and New England Forest Rally. Those races are designed to get Block in shape for a return to the World Rally Championship in October. Don't worry, he'll be driving an M-Sport Ford Fiesta for that event.

Rather than hiding it away in a shed, it's clear Block is planning to put the classic Ford through its paces.

When it was new, the car produced 227hp (170kW) from its 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder engine, put to all four wheels through a five-speed manual.

"I’m legitimately excited about my calendar for this season," Block said.

“I’ve really enjoyed the past few years of rallycross, but I started my race career with rally and my heart has always been with it, so to be able to get back into doing events like these while still doing some rallycross makes me very happy!"

"I love my old Cossie and I’m looking forward to going and pushing that a bit here in America during some events, but then I’m going to the opposite end of the spectrum with the current 2017 WRC Fiesta, which I think is going to be a lot of fun for WRC Spain."

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