Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2018 i Fast Ford

FOCUS RS RED EDITION Announced at the very end of 2017, Ford have confirmed that the new limited ‘Edition’ version of the Mk3 Focus RS will now be available to UK customers in Race Red. The ‘Red Edition’ was initially only offered to the overseas markets, but a limited run of 300 cars will be sold to the UK too. Each car will benefit from a Quaife LSD, part-leather Recaros, grey brake calipers, black alloys, black roof, door mirrors and rear spoiler, and, of course, Race Red paintwork. Priced at £36,295, production of the Red Edition will begin in February, as production of the Mk3 Focus draws to a close.…

MK2 FOCUS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT Somewhere on these pages, you may be able to find a cunningly camouflaged Focus RS. But you’ll have to be quick… Words DAN BEVIS / Photos ADE BRANNAN Camouflage is a tricky area. It’s meant to help you blend in with your surroundings, right? That’s why army gear comes in a subdued melange of greens and browns, so soldiers can obscure themselves in bushes without being spotted. Or perhaps an arrangement of yellows and beiges, if they’re on manoeuvres in the desert. But how does this translate to cars? Surely camouflaging a car is a silly idea? People wouldn’t see it, and would keep crashing into it. This is where Bobby Webb is one step ahead of the game – his Mk2 Focus RS…

MK1 FOCUS COSWORTH ALTERNATE REALITY The Mk1 Focus RS was a good car but it just wasn’t a Cosworth. Gordon McWilliam felt he just had to correct that… Words EMMA WOODCOCK / Photos ADE BRANNAN You’d like Gordon McWilliam, trust me. The Scottish garage owner is a Blue Oval man through and through, having started his career as a Ford apprentice mechanic, and has owned any and every cool Ford you can think of. “Starting when I was 19,” he explains, “I got into a cycle of buying Cossies on the cheap, fixing them up, having them break anyway, selling them on and buying another. That went on for a number of years before I got into more modern Fords. Since then, I’ve had a run of Focus STs and…

MOTORBASE FOCUS BTCC RS CONVERSION! The Motorbase crew have been busy converting the 2017 Focus ST BTCC cars to RS-spec ready to do battle in the 2018 season… Winter break? What winter break!? With the countdown for the 2018 BTCC season well under way, there was little time to rest on our laurels over the winter months. Nope, no break for us we’re afraid. Pretty much as soon as the cars were unloaded from the truck after the last race of 2017, our 2018 season prep began! And with good reason, we've been making some big updates ready for the season opener in a couple of months! As you can see from the photos, those ‘big updates’ centred around converting the Focuses from last season’s ST-spec to full RS model…

FIESTA ST C ZECH MATE Jay Mitchell started his modifying career with a Skoda. But it wasn’t long before he realised that he was actually a full-on Ford man after all… Words DAN BEVIS / Photos MATT RICHARDSON Modifying cars, like anything creative, is far more complex than it first appears to outsiders. It’s never been about just ambling into Halfords, picking a few bits off the shelf, bolting them on to your car out in the car park, then heading off to bounce off the rev limiter down the high street. (Well, OK, there are plenty of people who do live their lives that way, but their cars invariably turn out to be an absolute mess. Life’s too short for stick-on chrome and five-quid aftermarket DRLs.) No, this hobby…

WHAT'S NEW RS IS BACK IN BTCC! Photos INSYNC MEDIA After some 25 years away from the sport, the legendary RS is back in British Touring Car racing! The mighty Sierra Cosworth RS500 dominated the BTCC for years, until the rule-makers basically changed the regulations to outlaw the RS and give some of the other manufacturers a chance. Since then there’s only been a handful of RS Fords compete in the championship – including Robb Gravett’s experimental naturally-aspirated Sapphire Cosworth from 1991. But now the legendary RS badge is back in the BTCC. The Motorbase Performance team, who have been piloting the Mk3 Focus ST in the championship since 2012 have recently unveiled their 2018 car at Autosport International – the Mk3 Focus RS. Unfortunately, BTCC rules don’t allow the…

fastford CAR OF THE YEAR 2017 WINNER The votes have been counted and we have a winner… Wow! That was a close one! This year has seen more voters than ever, and has produced the closest results we’ve ever seen! Over the past four weeks you have been voting for the car you thought deserved to be crowned Fast Ford Car of The Year 2017, and after more than 2300 individual votes were counted, when it came to the final results there were just three votes between first and second places! Yes, just three! And the winner is... Rich Fox and his amazing Mk2 Focus RS! Nicknamed ‘The Monster’, Rich’s RS has become somewhat of a scene hero over the last few years, going from a standard example to fire-spitting…

ESCORT COSWORTH POLISH ACADEMY If you want a lesson in keeping cars clean, Paul Stonebridge is the man to talk to. He’s got a garage stuffed with concours trophy winners, and this glimmering Escort RS Cosworth is the jewel in a very shiny crown… Words DAN BEVIS / Photos ADE BRANNAN The term ‘concours’ is an often misunderstood and sometimes deeply polarising one. Frequently misspelled ‘concourse’ (that’s a big open area inside a building, like in a station), the notion of a concours car is, in essence, the pursuit of perfection and originality. However, it’s not quite that simple. You see, the classic car world has never before had such a vibrant global concours scene, and the reports you see coming back on social media from the likes of Pebble…

CLUB MEET FORD SPORT SOUTH WEST WHERE MORES MOTOR COMPANY, SOMERSET WHEN OCTOBER 2017 We join the South West branch of Ford Sport as they host a club meet at Mores Motor Company… Words & photos JAMIE Car meets are nothing new. I mean they’ve been going on pretty much since the car was invented, but Fords have car meets in their DNA. In fact, it was at one of these early meets – that turned into a race! – where a young Henry Ford took on, and beat, the most successful racer of the era, Alexander Winton, in 1901. The publicity that followed was enough to convince investors to back him, and in 1903 the Ford Motor Company was born. But with car meets taking place every weekend for…

FF TECH CODE BREAKER Thought all Cosworth YB engines were the same? Think again. Here’s the full list of different versions produced between 1983 and 1994… The Cosworth YB is one of the most legendary engines of all time. Not only did it provide Ford with huge motorsport success in both Touring Car racing and World Rallying, but it was also the main attraction of the now iconic Sierra and Escort Cosworth models. And as we’ve seen over on page 50, the YB engine has been fitted to pretty much every Blue Oval model ever made at one point or another. Its status as a Ford champion is unquestionable. But if you thought that all Cosworth YB engines were the same, then think again. Over an 11-year period of constant…

FORD HEROES KEITH DUCKWORTH One half of Cosworth, Keith Duckworth was partly responsible for the legendary YB engine, and that alone makes him a Ford hero! If you think you haven’t heard of Keith Duckworth… oh yes, you definitely have. His surname was merged with that of Mike Costin to form the legendary Cosworth. Of course, Keith was far more than simply half of an iconic engine builder. Born in Lancashire in 1933, he served in the Royal Air Force for two years after he finished his education, before going on to study engineering at Imperial College London. Upon emerging in 1955 with a BSc, he strolled straight into Lotus and started designing gearboxes. After three years at Colin Chapman’s firm, Duckworth joined forces with fellow Lotus employee Costin to…

JUNIOR WRC IS GO The 2018 FIA Junior World Rally Championship is gearing up for the new season, and the first competitors have now been selected. Entries from all over the world (including Italy, Chile, Ireland, Latvia, New Zealand, Sweden, and the UK) will do battle behind the wheel of identical M-Sport-built, 1.0-litre EcoBoost-powered Fiesta R2s for one of the biggest prizes in world rallying. The Championship will see drivers compete on snow, asphalt, and gravel to really test the drivers’ abilities on all surfaces, and the prize on offer is something really worth fighting for – a brand new Fiesta R5 complete with 200 tyres from Pirelli and competition fuel from Panta, ready to contest the 2019 WRC2 Championship!…

WHAT'S NEW NEW STUFF Latest gear on the Blue Oval scene SCORPION 114MM DAYTONA TAILPIPES £POA Scorpion Exhausts have just released a new, larger, 114mm version of their most popular ‘Daytona’ style tailpipe. As with other tailpipe designs, the new 114mm version is offered in highly polished stainless or black ceramic coated finishes. The new 114mm Daytona tailpipes are available for the Mk2 Focus ST and RS models, and the new Mk3 Focus RS too, where the larger design really fills the exhaust cut-outs in the rear valance to give a more aggressive appearance. For full details head to the Scorpion website. 01773 744123 www.scorpion-exhausts.com DIRENZA FOCUS 1.0 DE-CAT PIPE £119.99 Direnza have added to their impressive range of Ford upgrades with this new de-cat downpipe for the…

ESCORT SERIES ONE RS TURBO RAGE WITHIN THE MACHINE Hidden under the skin of Steve Grove’s immaculate Series 1 RS Turbo is a savage 450bhp Sierra Cosworth engine and 4x4 transmission waiting to be unleashed! Words and photos DAN SHERWOOD Back in 1984, when the Series One Escort RS Turbo was launched, the shove from its 130bhp 1.6-litre turbocharged engine seemed pretty rapid. Wrapped in a sharply creased bodyshell with a jutting chin spoiler, arch extensions, sideskirts and rear spoiler it looked every inch the hot hatch – especially as it only came in motorsportspec white. Unfortunately, due to numerous delays from Ford HQ before the model finally hit the streets in 1985, the competition had moved on, and the Escort’s aging chassis came in for a fair bit of…

FAST FLEET Check out what’s been going on with our projects this month… JAMIE FOCUS RS It's been a bit of a slow month for the RS, tight deadlines and poor weather has meant the Focus has barely turned a wheel - but Jamie's planning more upgrades very soon... MARK ESCORT COSWORTH This month we welcome regular reader and serial feature car owner, Mark Hudd, to the fleet... along with his all new Escort Cosworth track car project! DAN SIERRA COSSIE Slow progress we're afraid. Dan's been enjoying th Focus too much, but hopes to crack on and finish the Cossie too, hopefully very soon! MOTORBASE FOCUS BTCC CARS The Motorbase crew have been very busy over the winter months, converting the Focus BTCC cars to RS spec! Check out…

FF TECH BUYER’S GUIDE FOCUS ST225 Fun, fast, and practical - the Focus ST is one of the best Blue Ovals around. Here’s our tips on how to bag the best example you can... Words DAN WILLIAMSON / Photos MATT RICHARDSON “…an image that soon hit the headlines when Jeremy Clarkson nicknamed his rowdy Electric Orange test car the Focus ASBO” VITAL STATISTICS MADE 2005 to 2011 PRICE WHEN NEW £17,995 to £21,095 PRICE NOW £2000 to £8000 POWER 222bhp @ 6100rpm TORQUE 236Ib.ft @ 1600-4000rpm TOP SPEED 150mph 0-60MPH 6.5 seconds NUMBER BUILT 22,361 It’s everywhere. At every Ford show, every track day and every concours competition. And with every reason. The Focus ST225 is the one hot hatch that every fast Ford fan should own – because it’s…