Innehållsförteckning för January 2016 från Fast Ford

WELCOME TO THE JANUARY ISSUE! “I’m going to start this month by asking you all a simple question: What is Ford’s hottest hatch? The Fiesta? It certainly has to be in with a shout, the ST and Zetec S models are fine examples of a hot hatch, but the lack of an RS-badged example in recent years does mean the Fiesta loses out to other models in the outright aggression stakes. What about the Escort then? Well, with the S1 and S2 RS Turbo, RS2000 and mighty Escort Cosworth in its ranks it certainly puts up a fight, but aside from these examples the rest of the line up doesn’t really cut it as a ‘hot hatch’. So, what it is it then? It’s the mighty Focus of course. With…

FORD ADDICT! Jamie Cairney’s dedication to the mighty Blue Oval means he now pilots this 392bhp Focus RS on a daily basis! Words: Jarkle Photos: Ade Brannan Perhaps it’s a mite cheesy to say nowadays, but it’s hard to overestimate both the power of the RS brand and the intensely loyal scene that’s grown up around it. It’s really not much of an exaggeration to say that the RS is a few steps away from being a religion in the UK, an all consuming passion that plays a huge role in the lives of thousands of individuals across the country. Doing this job we’re fortunate enough to encounter plenty of these individuals and one of the things that stands out is that once you’re in, you ain’t getting out. VXR…

RE-FOCU SSING The mighty Cosworth YB has been shoe-horned into many different fast Fords over the years, but if there’s one model that offers a perfect fit the Mk1 Focus is it. And to celebrate, we’ve got not one, but five awesome examples together for a photoshoot at Santa Pod… Words: Jarkle Photos: Michael Whitestone It’s hard to think of a car more ill suited to a rear-wheel drive conversion than the Mk1 Focus. In the Focus we have a car that was designed from the ground up to be resolutely front-wheel drive, with even Ford themselves rejecting any notion of power to the rear wheels when they came to develop the range-topping RS model. The plan had always been for a transverse engine with the gearbox on the side;…

IAN COLE’S 4X4 COSSIE FOCUS It’s hard to overstate the impact the Evo 2 version of the Focus WRC car made when it was launched onto the world rally stage ten years ago; it looked for all the world like a Group B car re-born, with wings, splitters and vents sprouting fore and aft and a suitably widened track. It’s only logical then that it’s a popular shape when it comes to homage, and few have been done as well as the car you see here. Owned and built by Ian Cole over the last few years, this is undoubtedly the most extreme looking car here and one that looks every bit the modern WRC machine, and that’s no mean feat in a home built car. “It started out as…

3 KIND OF A WINTER WARMERS So your pride and joy is tucked away until spring and you fancy a cheap toy to offer some fun over the winter – check out these winter warmers then… Words: Dan Williamson Snow, salt and slippery roads are a sure-fire way to turn your precious fast Ford into – at best – a pile of rust or – worse still – a mangled ornament at the side of your favourite roundabout. Winter truly is the season to put your proper car to bed and drive something sensible instead. Oh, hang on. Did we just say sensible? No, let’s rephrase that: something cheap, practical, and less of a worry if it’s bumped by an old biddy in the car park. Maybe even less likely…

READERS CARS Engine swapped, or styled to the max? Send us your modded Blue Ovals! LUKE BANNISTER MK2 FOCUS ST Luke’s ST is a long way from the factory spec it once was. In the three years that Luke has owned the Focus he has seen fit to add a Revo Stage 2 map upgrade, full Mongoose exhaust system, Dreamscience induction kit, and Airtec intercooler, so that the five-pot now produces a very healthy 300bhp-plus. Keeping it all in one piece he’s also invested in a block mod and an RS clutch upgrade too. Eibach springs drop the chassis closer to the ground and new Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 rims replace the standard wheels. But he’s not done yet, and claims there is plenty more to come from this…

FORDS YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED #75 MCLAREN MUSTANG Aside from winning multiple Formula One Championships, McLaren may be best known for producing exotic supercars such as the P1, 12C, or the simply-insane F1. But McLaren was building performance road cars long before then, and in particular building fast Fords too! Back in 1980 Ford had just formed its Specialist Vehicle Operations arm (not to be confused with the British Advanced Vehicle Operations or Special Vehicle Engineering divisions) and immediately after, in 1981, a collaboration with McLaren was on the cards. McLaren was already world-famous for its success in motorsport, and while Brits remember the team’s endeavors in Formula One, McLaren was also highly acclaimed over in the USA for its success in the Indy Car and Can Am series’. And…

INSPIRATION, MANIFESTATION! The build of Daryl Stanley’s 300bhp Series 2 RS Turbo might not have happened had it not been for the Ford-themed automotive project progress reports that he was monitoring online... Words: Dan Furr Photos: Daniel Pullen PassionFord is a forum that has opened the eyes of Blue Oval enthusiasts to a huge number of top-notch automotive projects over the years. Indeed, Ford fans have revelled in posting pictures and detailed progress reports direct from their workshops, garages and driveways while they wield spanners around their Sierras, Escorts, Fiestas and whatever else they happen to be tinkering with. Documenting the build of a car in this way delivers the perfect solution for individuals who want to keep track of the work that they’ve carried out on their pride and…

A BOLT FROM THE BLUE This awesome Performance Blue Mk2 Focus RS is chucking out 503bhp on standard engine internals thanks to its owner’s determination to squeeze every last drop of power out of Ford’s factory five-pot... Words: Dan Furr Photos: Michael Whitestone Telford resident, Sam Breeze, recalls the cheek-clenching moment that he spun his Mk1 Focus RS sideways into a roundabout. “The car suffered a lot of damage that day!” he confirms, acknowledging the fact that the vast majority of insurers would have labelled the Imperial Blue belter as a write-off. Ouch. Instead of cashing in his policy, however, our Sam decided to remove his Rallye Sport’s salvageable parts before selling them to fellow Blue Oval enthusiasts. “I didn’t see the point in repairing the…

BALANCING ACT Will Radford’s desire to balance fuel economy with performance has resulted in the creation of this stunning Mondeo ST TDCi… Words: Jarkle Photos: Matt Dear Ford of Europe has something of a reputation for turning out beltinglypowerful mid-sized saloons, from the early days of the mighty Lotus Cortina in the ‘60s, through the various sporty Escorts of the ‘70s, up to the infamous Sapphire Cosworth of the ‘80s. All true performance icons and quite capable of giving contemporary supercar offerings from Italy and Germany a damn good hiding, a fast Ford re-defined what a sporty saloon could do, and whetted the British public’s appetite for more of the same. By the time the mid ‘00s came around Ford, and many other manufacturers, had seen their focus (no pun…

ALAN WILLIAMS’ RWD COSSIE FOCUS Alan’s FoCos stands out amongst this company by dint of its slightly subtle nature, Alan opting to swerve the more popular RS add-ons in favour of ST170 bits. This particular car has had a somewhat checkered history and was actually one of the very first Focus shells converted to RWD by Andrew Gallacher Motorsport, though by the time Alan bought it in 2009 it was looking a touch worse for wear. He could see the potential in the project from the moment he clapped eyes on it though, and resolved to “get it functional as a temporary toy before I have to grow up and get married!” The car’s time spent under a tree had done it no good and Alan soon made the decision…

OLIVER HAMPTON’S RWD COSSIE FOCUS The very fact that Oliver was able to buy his car as an all-singing, all-dancing, fully-converted Focus tells you all you need to know about the popularity of this conversion and the undiminished appeal of the old school YB. Oliver bought the car a few years back and there was never any question as to what he intended do with it; life as a track car beckoned. The previous owner had spent considerable time and effort convincing the RS interior to fit properly and it certainly looked good, but the added weight penalty wasn’t something Oliver could accept or live with, and within a week the interior was bare once again. “There was never any question of it being used for anything else to be…

FACEBOOK CARS Upload your car and we might print it in the mag! SHOW US YOUR FACEBOOK FAVES Want to see your car in Fast Ford? Well it just got even easier. Simply take a nice, non-blurry, un-watermarked image that’s reasonably large, then upload it to our Facebook page. We’ll pick our favourites at the end of the month and print them next issue. Please DO NOT send us photos via private message, we won’t be able to repost them for you. Post a picture from a smart phone or tablet: • Go to the Fast Ford page • Scroll down and click on ‘more posts’ • At the top of the screen it will say ‘share photo’ You WON’T be able to view the pictures on a smart phone…

FIESTA ZETEC S RED/BLACK EDITION WE JUMP BEHIND THE WHEEL OF THE HIGHLY-ACCLAIMED 1.0-LITRE FIESTA TO SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT… Ameasly 1.0-litre? In a ‘fast’ Fiesta? Surely that’s not right? I mean, how much fun can a tiny three-cylinder engine really be? Well, the answer to that is “massive amounts of fun!” You see, the Fiesta Zetec S may be fitted with a puny 1.0-litre engine, but it’s the award-winning EcoBoost engine. And unlike lesser models with their 100PS and 125PS variations, the motor in the Red and Black Editions kicks out a mighty 140PS! That’s more punch on a litre-for-litre basis than a Bugatti Veyron! And that’s exactly the model we’ve been putting to the test this month; the Fiesta Zetec S ‘Black’. To stand out…

BRIDGING THE GAP Jamie Robb’s superb Spirit Blue Mk3 Focus ST proves that Sport Technology Fords can be just as exciting as their Rallye Sport relatives... Words: Dan Furr Photos: Chris Wallbank It doesn’t seem that long ago that a car wearing an RS badge was the only option available when it came to demonstrating your enthusiasm for owning a seriously fast Ford. Admittedly, the world famous Rallye Sport emblem is still regarded by many to represent the ultimate in Blue Oval performance, yet four-wheelers blessed with the increasingly popular Sport Technology hallmark have spent the past few years doing a fine job of muscling in on RS territory. A case in point has to be the Mk3 Focus ST. While the automotive press works itself into a frenzy over…

ANDREW DINSDALE’S 4X4 COSSIE FOCUS Now we’re not going to suggest that Andrew’s car can match Alan’s in the sleeper stakes, but in some ways it’s every bit as subtle and understated. Looking for all the world like a ‘common or garden’ Mk1 RS, Andrew’s pristine car actually sports one of the best four-wheel drive setups we’ve ever seen beneath the bay of a Focus. Even more surprising is the fact that Andrew’s tackled the whole build himself, with this very publication being to blame for getting him started in the first place: “I was browsing Fast Ford a few years ago when I saw a YB-powered Focus and that pretty much forced my hand and made my mind up for me, I had to build a four-wheel drive one…

LEE WATERMAN’S RWD COSSIE FOCUS Another understated car, Lee’s Focus looks just like a regular, Imperial Blue, front-wheel drive Mk1 RS. Lee’s another who bought their YB’d Focus as a complete and running entity, reasoning that it’d be the ideal base for a part time track car and B-road toy but still offered plenty of scope to put his stamp on the build. “The conversion had been carried out by AG Motorsport, so I knew the work would be to a high standard,” Lee recalls. “My original plans were to work on improving its handling and to get more power out of the engine.” The need to fettle and improve upon the YB became even more acute when, midway through a lap of Brands Hatch, it gave way in spectacular…

THE ONLY WAY IS ESSEX! Forget a night out with Joey Essex at the Sugar Hut, the only place for Ford fans to be each month is at the Essex Ford Meet… “A dedicated indoor area holds the top 25 VIP cars” WHO Essex Ford Meet WHERE Chelmsford, Essex WORDS AND PHOTOS Dan Sherwood Ford has always had a tight connection with Essex, and Essex with Ford. Which is understandable, as the Blue Oval’s UK headquarters are based in the heart of the county in Brentwood. But the link goes much deeper than one of mere logistics, in that the people of Essex are well known for their seemingly unwavering love and support of the brand to the point of it being something of a stereotype. Of course, the Southend…