Innehållsförteckning för September 2022 från Fast Ford

SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE! The best thing I love about the Ford tuning scene is the relentless pursuit for constant development. We’ve seen with it with Cossie YB tuning, then the Mk2 Focus RS/ST platform, and now we’re seeing it with the modern range of EcoBoost engines too. While other car groups seem to plateau when it comes to engine power and outright performance – apart from a handful of special cars – fast Ford owners always continue to push the boundaries. And because of that, what’s custom and one-off today will be mainstream tomorrow, ready for fellow Ford fans to take full advantage of. The latest jewel in Ford’s engine line up has to be the 1.6-litre EcoBoost as found in the Mk7 Fiesta ST; already we’ve seen over 400bhp…

In many ways it’s never been a better time to be a fast Ford fan. We’ve never had it so good when it comes to the standard of cars on offer, and the latest Mk4 Focus ST Edition proves it in one neat package. Finished in a shade of blue similar to an aftermarket wrap or respray, and fitted with adjustable coilover suspension, 19in wheels and Recaro seats as standard, it would seem half the job has been done for us already, especially when there’s nearly 280bhp on tap. But that hasn’t stopped people tweaking the rare limited-edition model – of which just 300 have been built – because a head start to modifying comes in handy when you’ve previously gone the long way around building a feature car. Owner…

QUICK SPEC Mountune m400R ■ Revo RV019 alloys ■ H&R lowering springs ■ 3M wrap ■ Mountune axle-back and sports cat ■ H&R anti-roll bars ■ Tarox brakes ■ Mishimoto intercooler, intake kit, and oil cooler kits ■ Quaife ATB I’ll start on a positive; I think the problems with the tyres are all now sorted. The Pirelli P Zeros seem to suit the car well and I’ve been impressed with their all-round performance so far. And with this being the British summertime, I’ve been able to test them in all weather conditions you can imagine, despite only having had them fitted for a few weeks. One of the wettest days out recently was at one of my favourite events of the year, RS Combe. You can read the full…

Already at the halfway stage of the 2022 season, the Modified Ford Series headed to the picturesque circuit of Oulton Park in Cheshire for rounds nine and ten at the end of June. As a circuit that rewards the brave but punishes the fool hardy in equal measure, we were guaranteed plenty of action. Especially when, on the back of another successful event at Donington Park, the series dedicated to fast Fords drew a grid of 29 cars for the latest event. Racers took to the track in Blue Ovals from Fiesta STs to RS500 Sierra Cosworths, with everything in between. Series organiser Paul Nevill was unfortunate enough not to even leave the assembly area for race one, when his Escort’s master cylinder cried enough and dumped its contents. Hopefully…

NAME STEPHEN SAWLEY CAR MK2 ESCORT RACE SERIES MSN CIRCUIT RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY OF THE CAR “I bought the car from guy who said he raced it once and it tried to kill him. To be fair, when I first drove it, it tried to kill me too. But my friend Ian Peak, who’s rallied for years, helped me set it up, and it became a different car. I also fitted power steering, which made a big difference. We’ve placed second and third several times in our class; the best result coming 15th overall out of 100 cars against modern R5s, which I was pleased with.” FUTURE PLANS “I think I need a bit more power to get to the front, or preferably an R5 Fiesta.” FAVOURITE RACE SERIES AND…

Nagging problems such as finding oil drips on your driveway, having to routinely top up the fluids, listening out for annoying rattly tappets, and always having to cross your fingers and toes at the annual MOT test in the hope your car will pass the emissions are all too often things we have to live with, because the solution is often time-consuming, labour-intensive, and expensive to repair. There are, though, a range of additives that promise to help reduce those emissions, stop the annoying leak, and quieten those rattly tappets. Yet we don’t really know how they work, and instead just blindly put our trust in what it says on the side of the packaging of each product. So, the following questions aim to get to the bottom of it…

SHEL BY GR-1 Carroll Shelby will forever be synonymous with fast Fords, and his legacy for creating special versions of the Mustang, and his hand in the Ferrari-beating GT40 will live on. But he had one more trick up his sleeve that never made it, the GR-1. Looking back now, it appears Ford missed a fantastic opportunity by not producing it. Although Shelby insisted the new car should not be called a Cobra, it bears plenty of resemblance to the Daytona Coupe; itself an evolution of the Cobra to give it a higher, 190mph-plus, top speed for high-speed tracks like Daytona. The long sloping bonnet housing a big powerful engine up front, two small seats in a confined cockpit sitting directly over the rear wheels, and all of the power…

When Jeremy Clarkson first drove a bright orange Focus ST on the telly, he coined its infamous nickname ‘the Ford ASBO’, which inspired thousands of boy-racers to go out and buy one. Loud, brash and seriously fast, these no-nonsense hatches have had their share of street races and dubious mods over the past 17 years. But we’re now starting to see them, and their owners, mature and become almost – dare we say it – sensible. Andrew Weller is one such owner. Having smashed his way through a ton of French hot hatches in his youth, one day he found himself driving a Focus ST170 and, just like that, a love of Fords, and more specifically fast Focuses, was born. Andrew explains, “The ST170 handled well, it was refined and…

We’re eternally thankful there are people who are willing to push boundaries when it comes to tuning. It’s undoubtedly helped support Ford’s legendary brand for many years, and we’re glad to see it’s still occurring. The owner of this Fiesta is Craig Howard, and he’s one of those people willing to go that bit further; with the help of Sitech Racing he’s turned his ST180 into the most powerful in the UK. Boasting over 500bhp, this pocket rocket runs a setup unlike any other to ensure it’s equally at home on the road, race track or drag strip. This isn’t the first time Craig has appeared in these pages, as you may remember his car from the last feature back in April 2021. To bring us up to speed, Craig…

Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Dale, and I work at Meguiar’s UK doing all kinds of marketing and social media stuff. One of the perks of my job is that I get to build really cool cars that we can show off at events throughout the year. If you’ve been on the Fast Car website (www.fastcar.co.uk) or attended multi-marque shows such as Trax in recent years, you may have seen me and my colleague Tom competing in the ‘Tom vs Dale’ build-offs. In recent years we’ve built all kinds of things, including a wide-arch Renault 5 GT Turbo, a customised Merc W115, a race-inspired Jaguar S-Type, and an old-school Volvo Amazon. Well, now we’re back for our third challenge, but this time it’s much more than Tom vs Dale;…

QUICK SPEC ■ Mondeo 2.5T ■ Titanium X ■ 19in Rotiform BUC-M alloys ■ Toyo R888R tyres ■ Scorpion Red Power turbo-back exhaust including sports cat ■ custom wrap by 3M ■ PB coilovers ■ Airtec intercooler Things are progressing nicely with the Rep to Race Car project and the spec list is constantly growing, but there’s still a lot more we need to do before this car is fit for the racetrack. That’s what we’ve been looking at this month, and we’ve ticked off one of the first jobs on our list, which was an intercooler upgrade. An intercooler’s job is simply to cool down the air that comes out of the hot turbocharger before it enters the engine. We need to do this because cooler air is more…

The Safari Rally in Kenya has always been one of the toughest events on the WRC calendar, but it’s a rally where M-Sport and Ford have enjoyed enormous success in previous years. Sadly, that wasn’t the case this year, with the intense event proving to be the ultimate endurance test for the new hybrid Puma Rally1 cars. But despite the results charts showing M-Sport’s best finish was Craig Breen in sixth, it wasn’t all bad news; the Puma clearly demonstrated it had the pace to compete at the sharp end, recording four stage wins and seeing three cars score Power Stage points. The event began in the desert just outside Nairobi, before returning to more representative roads on Friday morning; Sebastien Loeb showed his class and took M-Sport’s first stage…

Most Group B Ford RS200s are now living in semi-retirement, but Steve Harris is different from most owners. He still uses his RS200 the way it was intended when they were built for Group B rallying in the mid-1980s. It’s usually a rallycross car, where it gets rough and tumble, but he joined the Ralli22 group at the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb and posted fastest time in the 700bhp monster. He said, “We thought we’d come and have a play. It’s a replica of the car that Mark Rennison ran in the late 1980s but it is based on a proper RS200 Evolution. “I got it five or six years ago. It was bit of a barn find. It was brand-new and had never turned a wheel. And they wanted to…

Snetterton is one of the best tracks to test at in the UK. It has a bit of everything: fast corners and slow corners, long turns and short turns, big straights and small ones. Every part of a car is tested at Snetterton. It might not offer the same thrills as somewhere like Brands Hatch or Oulton Park, but it’s still a big challenge to nail a lap here. 1 - RICHES After dashing up the Senna straight from the start line or pit lane exit, the first of the 12 corners on the new ‘300’ layout is Riches, a fast double-apex right-hander. It’s a corner where you’ll need to build up your confidence and speed with each lap. Usually, on a track day there’ll be boards to your left…

WHY YOU WANT ONE… ■ Cooler than a snowman surfing on an iceberg, the so-white Series One hits the 1980s’ fashion spot. Park it alongside a Ferrari, and the prancing horse will be overridden by the old Blue Oval. ■ Motorsport homologation – and significant racetrack success – means the Series One has secured its place in Ford history. ■ It has to be said: the Series One is the most investable of all front-wheel-drive Escorts, and you’ll certainly not lose cash by enjoying this fast Ford. WHY YOU DON’T… ■ RS Turbos aren’t exactly fast. A stock 130bhp Series One is left for dead by modern hot hatchbacks, and making it faster simply hammers down the value. ■ Your neighbours won’t be impressed by your £30k Ford Escort; they’ll…

FORD GT AT FORD FAIR Ford Fair is pleased to announce fan favourite Paul Swift will return for 2022. And this year he’ll have a Ford GT supercar to play with, as well as the full fleet of cars from Paul’s driving experience days too. Paul and his team will be on site from Saturday, August 13, where he will be running one of his driving experience events (book your space at www.paulswift.com), and all the cars will then be prepped and ready for an action-packed show at Ford Fair on Sunday, August 14. The fleet includes a Mustang GT, Fiesta ST, and Puma ST, plus for 2022 Paul has managed to get his hands on the awesome Ford GT too. Expect to see the 650bhp Blue Oval supercar skidding…

WHERE CASTLE COMBE WHEN JULY 2022 RS Combe has become a firm fixture on the RS Owners’ Club events list. Run by the Swindon and Bristol arms of the club, it takes place at one of our favourite tracks, Castle Combe, near Chippenham. The show offers something for everyone, from a hotly-contested concours competition through to club displays and, of course, a full day of track action. Add to this charity passenger rides, drift displays plus entertainment for the kids, and it’s a great family day out. This year, the weather forecast was sketchy and the date clashed with the British GP, but there was still a decent turnout and some cracking cars on show. As well as a great display by the organising Swindon and Bristol RSOC, lots of…

Back in the 1980s, cars didn’t get much more everyday than the Sierra. Families around the world would tackle the daily grind in their Sierra saloons, hatchbacks and estates, and in Thatcherite Britain, seemingly everyone’s dad was punting around in one. Ford made sure there were halo Sierras, giving the popular model some much-needed street cred. There were the turbocharged RS Cosworths of 1986, while the 1987 RS500 version – built for Group A homologation – was a road-going weapon that is today fetching daft prices among collectors. A mere 500 RS500s were built, but these motorsport-derived brutes can’t claim to be the rarest factory-made Sierras roaming the planet. That honour goes to a South Africanonly special, the Sierra XR8, of which just 250 were created in 1984 and 1985.…

Three red flag stoppages played havoc with qualifying at Croft recently. For the Motorbase Performance team, that meant Ash Sutton could only manage one flying lap in his NAPA Racing Focus ST, which saw him start Sunday’s race from P7, while Ash’s teammate, Dan Cammish, was baulked during qualifying and lost half-a-dozen places as a result. Dan would start round 13 from P14. The Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan duo in the sister Focus STs were almost inseparable, with just 0.058 seconds splitting Ollie Jackson in 19th and Sam Osborne in 22nd. After such a disruptive qualifying session, the difference between grid slots was minuscule – Ollie was only 0.8 seconds off pole position in P19. Ash launched brilliantly at the start of the first race of the weekend and…

There were two chances for British GT teams to score championship points at the end of June when Snetterton hosted rounds five and six of the 2022 campaign. Sunday’s timetable saw a pair of 60-minute sprint races following May’s three-hour race at Donington where Academy’s Matt Cowley and Marco Signoretti claimed their first win of the season. The downside for all podium finishers is the success (time) penalty to be served during the next race’s pit-stop. Academy Motorsport and the Mustang won at Snetterton last year, although doing so again in race one would require them to overturn that maximum ten-second success penalty. In Saturday’s qualifying for the first race, Matt Cowley pulled half-a-second over the chasing pack and subsequently improved his time further with his second flying lap, to…

Having a Ford Focus World Rally Car in your garage is pretty special, but if you are a Scot, you want one with a Colin McRae story. That’s just what Graeme Sherry has done with the car best known as X4 FMC, rallied by McRae in Portugal in 2001. For the balance of the season it was driven by Francois Delecour, which included a big accident in Australia. It was rebuilt and later used by Markko Martin and Francois Duval. “I’ve had it just shy of four years now,” says Sherry, who uses it sparingly on suitable occasions, including with the Ralli22 group. “I was lucky: I actually went to buy another one. And that was sold before I got there. Paul Benn said he had another one, but it would…

Ever since it arrived back in 2009, the Mk2 Focus RS has fired up a tuning war the likes of which we hadn’t seen since the Cossie’s heyday in the mid-Nineties. Having seen fantastic results from tuning the Mk2 ST, specialists couldn’t wait to get their hands on the even more powerful full-fat RS model. The factory 301bhp was lifted to 350-to-370bhp almost overnight, using modified versions of similar upgrade components available for the ST, and it wasn’t long before tuners were looking to break the 500bhp barrier. That came and went, but still our thirst for power wasn’t quenched. And then, with accessible aftermarket engine management kits coming to the market, a whole new level of engine tuning began; 500bhp quickly became 600, then 700, and now there are…

Weall love Fords – otherwise we wouldn’t be reading these glorious pages – but for some of us, Blue Ovals are in our blood. Indy Bhogal, the owner of these cars, doesn’t just like Fords, he’s truly passionate about them, and in particular Cosworths. He says, “I’ve loved Fords since I was ten years old. My dad worked for Dagenham Motors, so I grew up around them. Later on, I would drop him to work and see the RS models in the car park, including the director’s Sapphire Cosworth.” Now much older and wiser, Indy still loves a fast Ford and has built his own collection to cover all bases, although at home there’s also a Mk3 Escort convertible with Series One bodykit and a Mercury Grey XR2i that he’s…