Fast Ford July 2019

INTRO WELCOME TO THE JULY ISSUE! - Jamie King - Editor Let me ask you a simple question: 'What got you into the fast Ford scene in the first place?' Maybe you were brought-up around them? Perhaps your mates owned fast Fords and you were seduced? Or was it a famous car in a magazine or at a show that inspired you? My point is, there will almost always be a single moment in time that you can look back and say 'Yep, that's when I got into fast Fords'. For me, that day is still very clear in my mind. I was about 12 or 13 years-old, it was the school holidays so I was out with my dad at work (who was a windscreen fitter at the time)…

ESCORT RS TURBO I AM LEGEND When lifelong Ford fan Jon Cassidy bought this RS Turbo recently, he wasn’t just getting a retro Escort: he was buying a chapter of hot hatch history… Words DAN BEVIS Photos ADE BRANNAN Ah, nostalgia. It’s a funny thing, isn’t it? An illogical but beguiling state of mind that leads us to hanker for an age when there was no wi-fi, Instagram, live-pausing, same-day delivery or NFC swipecards. Things were simultaneously worse and better; simpler but perhaps more rewarding… it’s a dichotomy, a conflict that’s probably not worth worrying about too much. Would you give up the ease of today for the freedom of yesterday? There are so many debates tied up within that question it makes your brain itch. It is,…

TECH SPEC ESCORT RS TURBO ENGINE 2.1 ZVH: ST170 bottom end, standard head with Sitech gasket and bolts, 1.3 CVH tensioner, Piper pulley, Zetec Silver Top sump and baffles, Stage 2 hybrid T3 turbo, -31 actuator, Stage 4 Newman cam, solid lifters, EFi flywheel, Ahmed Bayjoo chip, K&N panel filter, modified airbox, full Mongoose exhaust system with 3.5in tail, Spec-R header tank, Bailey breather, Forge dump valve, Radtec front-mount intercooler with twin fans, AutoSpecialists dress-up, Samco boost hoses TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual, AP Racing clutch SUSPENSION Koni adjustables, Rally Design 35mm lowering springs, polybushes BRAKES Brembo 4-pot front calipers, 330mm AP grooved discs on custom Reyland alloy bells, rear Cosworth 4x4 disc conversion, ABS removed, Goodridge braided hoses, RS2000 handbrake cable WHEELS & TYRES 8x17in Compomotive MO ex-WRC wheels (Group A…

WHAT'S NEW NEWS See what’s going down in the world of fast Fords... FORD ANNOUNCES FOCUS ST WAGON Ford’s ST models have always offered accessible performance in practical and usable packages, sometimes arriving in unexpected bodystyles. While the concept of the fast estate may be well established in the modern era, it was still something of a radical notion back at the turn of the century, when Ford decided to offer the Focus ST170 (and Mondeo ST220) in estate form. This allowed family-friendly practicality combined with some pretty devastating performance, and it’s a tradition the sub-brand has continued to the present day. The previous-generation Mk3 Focus ST was offered in estate form and, as of May this year, we know that the current Mk4 Focus ST will also be brought…

NEWS IN BRIEF DIRENZA ENTER FOCUS CUP The Focus Cup represents a very accessible form of motorsport: a popular model of car that’s well served by the aftermarket, in a race series that centres around affordability and parity for both fresh-faced newcomers and seasoned professionals. And for the 2019 season, our friends at Direnza will be entering a racer sporting their natty new livery. Like all cars in the series, their race car is based on a three-door Focus 2.0 TDCi Zetec S – perhaps not the obvious choice, but this makes it a better showcase of their skills in tuning, race prep and, of course, the talent of the driver. The car’s performance figures are impressive, up from the stock 134bhp to a much-more-like-it 175bhp (with torque rising from…

WHAT'S NEW NEW STUFF The latest gear on the Blue Oval scene HSD DUALTECH COILOVERS From £524 The range of prices for coilovers is huge, and you essentially get what you pay for: you may not need five-grand’s worth of remote-reservoir race shocks for your family daily driver; on the other hand, a set of £200 eBay coilovers aren’t exactly going to be the last word in comfort or precision. What most people require is the best-in-class of the entry-level spec, and that’s just what you get with HSD’s DualTech coilovers. They have a twin-tube design and low-gas pressure tech, as well as high-end Japanese spherical bearings and 14-way damping adjustment. And the good news for Mk7 Fiesta owners is that they’ve got 20% off until the end of July…