JRST - I am biased by very bad roads in my country and my more rally oriented handling experience then track handling, but form little what I know about setting up Escort Cossie I would go for:

-8x16 wheels for road, if you can afford 8x18 wheels for track (altough extremly stiff tire on 8x16 wil be almost as good). May be slightly smaller ET then standard (ET15?), the lighter rim the better, so try gong for real pro wheels like Speedline, Compomotive, if budget allows magnesium

-rose-jointed adjustable TCA's in front (I have those - great!)
-rose-jointed adjustable rear setup -> Zoo Beam, preferably the lighter one.
-fully adjustable coilover suspention -> I think I will go for new kind of AVO's
-if needed - adjstable front top mounts or compstruts/whishbones + remote mounted front ARB
Somebody wise to set it all up!

To further help the handling diff upgrades (if it's 4x4):

-centre and front first (front ATB)
-rear (www.gearboxman.co.uk is the place to go for those I think)



I don't have MUCH comparision between different setups but this is sensible way of doing it I think. I currently have completly powerflex kit on mine, wront TCA's from ZOO Motorsport and Bilstein shocks with progressive springs by Lesjofors. + centre VC Grp N. It's quite fine altough there are too many downsides which I would like to remove.