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1998 was the final year for the Escort as Ford's works rally car, as the all new Focus WRC was due to replace it in 1999. The Escort still proved to be a competitive car in it's last year as a works car scoring several 2nd and 3rd places overall, and giving Finnish driver Juha Kankkunen 4th place in the Drivers Championship. Ford also finished 4th in the Constructors Championship behind Mitsubishi, Toyota and Subaru.

The season opening Monte Carlo Rally saw Spaniard Carlos Sainz win in his Toyota Corolla WRC with this car coming second, 4 mins and 28 seconds behind the winners. One nice touch I noted on this model is the tribute to Roger Clark, the British Rally driver and successful Ford driver who died shortly before the 1998 Monte Carlo Rally. His image is represented on both front wings of the car.

Like most of it's contemporaries, the Escort WRC has an advanced four wheel drive system and is powered by a turbocharged 2 litre four cylinder engine, producing around 300bhp. It has a stripped out lightweight interior with a substantial roll cage, sequential gearshift and extra timing and navigation equipment for the co-driver.

Made by UT Models, this 1:18th Escort was considered to be a quality model, and it still is of course. It shows it's age however in certain areas such as the brakes, which are simple flat silver discs, with no callipers and no texture. The rear tailgate does not open either, and the doors and bonnet have fairly crude "dog-leg" style hinges. On the plus side, the paint and graphics on the model are very good indeed, and the racing wheels and tires look great. The engine and interior are nicely done as well. Overall it gets 62.5% which is impressive considering it is an old model in 1:18th terms.