Taunus Record Breaking

Over the course of 142 days in 1963 a standard specification, 1200cc, 40 hp Ford Taunus 12M travelled 356,273 kilometres (221,378 mi) around a disused race track at Miramas, France at an average speed of 106.48 km/h (66.16 mph), completing 71,443 laps. Along the way, 108 world records were broken, including the highest average speed of 106 km/h. On an October night, at 284.275 km, one of the drivers had fallen asleep and had gone off the road, with the car flipping over several times. Due to the regulations, repairs were only allowed to be carried out with the tools on board, which took 11 hours. The car was beaten back into drivable shape with the jack and wheel wrench and continued! After that event, the windows of new Taunus appeared with stickers with 'Weltrekord' '356.000 km non-stop'. For customers who asked whether front-wheel drive was reliable, the Miramas-Taunus was 100% showroom spec

1973 TC1 - Monza, Italy

In 1973 Ford attempted a record attempt across a series of distances & times, across different engine classes, resulting in 13 world records. The event was called the 240hrs of Monza & drivers of the calibre of F1 driver Jackie Stewart were utilised. Sadly in the process of completing the attempt, one of the team drivers, David Bartropp was killed when the Escort he was driving crashed.