TEACHER’S PET

Everyone remembers what car their driving instructor had, it’s an instrumental part of all of our formative motoring experiences. Most likely it was a poverty-spec hatchback, all scratchy interior plastics and scuffed hubcaps and dual-controls, something chosen to be functional and utilitarian. Not a car you’d fall in love with, but merely a tool to educate, a means to an end. We’d wager your instructor probably didn’t have a Series 1 Escort RS Turbo with tiger stripes…

Now, we have to point out that Thomas Ross doesn’t take his students out for lessons in this RST, it’s not his work car. Makes quite a statement though, doesn’t it? After a hard day of explaining biting points and wheel-shuffling, an old-school hot hatch is quite a way to unwind. It all makes perfect sense really, as these cars have been under his skin since day one: “I always