Innehållsförteckning för October 2023 från Fast Ford

July saw the Model Car Concours return to Bicester Heritage with Scramblers, the official membership club. A cars-and-coffee meeting with a twist to fire up the summer holidays, the Model Car Concours II Assembly was devised as an inclusive gathering to give the young and young-at-heart the chance to share their automotive passion and bring their cherished models to display. In keeping with the focus on promoting the hobby to the next generation, Bicester Heritage resident Motorsport UK laid on perhaps the most family-friendly of all competitive events with a Scatter Rally/ Treasure Hunt setting off from its HQ in the Command Works. Entrants were provided with a map of checkpoints and list of questions to answer on the way to the finish at Silverstone, where a goodie bag also…

It’s an inescapable fact that, after decades of success and desirability within the genre, the Ford-badged hot hatch is an endangered species. So the new Track Pack for the Focus ST is an important development, taking a fun-focused model that represents the dusk of an era and brightening it up a bit. Hot on the heels of the ST’s midlife update, and building on the success of the limitedrun Focus ST Edition (which came equipped with KW coilovers, lightweight flow-formed wheels and an e-LSD), the Track Pack bundle is a £3,000 package which amps up both the fleet-footedness and the styling of the ST. It includes a set of two-way adjustable coilovers, manually tweakable for compression and rebound; the ride height is also adjustable, and comes from the showroom set…

Although this year saw the Festival of Speed celebrating its 30th anniversary, 2023 could very well have gone down as Goodwood’s annus horribilis. It rained so much on the Friday that it all started to get a bit Glasto ’97, while the weather warnings for severe winds proved so concerning for all involved that, for the first time in the event’s history, it was cancelled entirely on the Saturday. …but you can’t keep the FoS down, and in spite of the meteorological setbacks, it once again proved to be a sensational spectacle. The weather on the Thursday and the Sunday was just dandy and, as is always the way with this show, there was an unbelievable number of new models debuting in amongst a plethora of rare and desirable old-school…

DALE MASTERMAN RANGER KING CAB IT’S TWINS! The engine’s in build for the Meguiar’s Ranger, and the custom turbos have arrived When you think of pickup trucks and what powers them, it’s got to be something pretty meaty hasn’t it? An engine that serves up a lot of torque, with readily deployable power to cart whatever payload you’re carrying about without any stress or drama. If you’re a farmer with a Hilux, you might have a torquey diesel. If you’re in the States and you’ve got an F-Series or a Ram, obviously it’s got to be a dirty great V8. So what about the Ranger? Well, when it was new you could get these with a Mazda four-pot or a Cologne V6, or a whole bunch of diesels. But for…

The dust has settled on a phenomenal weekend for NAPA Racing UK, taking the qualifying, race 1 and race 2 clean sweep as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship exploded back into life at Croft Circuit. It was a sea of blue and yellow at the front of the grid, after Dan Cammish blasted to pole position in qualifying, with Dan Rowbottom in second and teammate Ash Sutton in third, marking the team’s first ever 1-2-3 lockout. With all three tyre choices on offer, Sutton opted for the medium compound, while both Dans went for the advantageous soft tyres for the first race of the day. As the lights went out, the Ford Focuses made the perfect getaway as the NAPA team headed down to turn one in formation,…

If a vehicle’s exhaust emissions are high, most people add an injector cleaner to the tank and hope for the best, so do yours actually work - and if so, how? Yes, we have photographic evidence of a blocked injector before and after treatment using our fuel injection cleaner. When mixed with the fuel in the tank, and the engine is running, the agents of injector cleaner pass through the injector nozzles together with the fuel and remove some of the deposits. In the end the nozzles are cleared of these encrusted deposits. The automotive lab APL tested the injector cleaner: one engine ran with petrol only, the other one with petrol and injection cleaner. After sixty hours the first engine collected 0.3 gram of deposits at each valve, whereas…

Sensible people require sensible cars. It was traditionally the preserve of the estate car, and nowadays the SUV: for successful family living, you need something practical and spacious and frugal, as you inexorably transition into being someone who wears a lot of khaki corduroy and watches Songs of Praise and makes jam for the WI. Your dad’s straight-laced mate has such a vehicle, because he’s got a couple of big dogs to ferry about the place and he finds it useful when he needs to take old furniture to the tip. He bundles the family in along with a bunch of camping gear and hauls them all over Europe. But who says family cars need to be sensible? There is another way. A fun way. And as you’ll deduce from…

Benji Howes has been running his own detailing business for some years now, and right from the start this spotless Fiesta Zetec S has always played an important role as a showpiece for his handiwork, in addition to acting as his daily driver. In that time, we’ve seen it gradually evolve into the ST180engined stunner it is today. I’ll start by mentioning that Benji’s business is based just up the road from me, and I pass his car almost every day. As a snapper for FF, it’s hard to miss his eye-catching Race Red Fiesta parked outside his premises, primarily because it always appears to be ultra clean, no matter how miserable the weather happens to be. While that alone would warrant huge respect for his efforts, even more impressive…

Ford Performance has never taken on the Dakar Rally, but that’s all set to change. “To lead the charge at Dakar has been a goal of ours,” said Mark Rushbrook, Ford Performance Motorsports’ Global Director. “We cannot underestimate the enormity of the challenge ahead of us. We need to finish and learn first with Ranger T1+ and partners like M-Sport and NWM, who bring their expertise to bear. Together, we can do amazing things in the sand dunes of the Arabian Peninsula.” Leading the charge into the 2024 Dakar Rally, taking place on January 5-19th, will be a purpose-built Ranger racing in the Rally Raid T1+ category. Test races are expected to include Spain’s Baja España Aragón and Morocco’s Rally du Maroc. For 2025, Ford Performance and M-Sport are developing…

Well, that was pretty excellent, wasn’t it? The weather may have been supremely unpredictable for much of this year, and Ford Fair certainly gave us a bit of everything – wind, rain, sun… mostly sun, so we’ll focus on that bit. (We’ve got the sunburn to prove it!) And there to enjoy it all were Ford fans in their thousands, descending upon Silverstone with a staggering array of Blue Ovals – heavily modded, bone-stock, concours, race, stance, drag, retro, rat, OEM+, Euro, VIP, it was all there and all incredible. Every available slot was filled, adding up to over 3,500 cars. The show’s headline sponsor, eBay, proudly presented Liam Stolton’s rotary-engined Mk3 Escort (recent star of an entertaining video you can find on Fast Car TV’s YouTube channel), as well…

With a population similar in number to that of Maldon in Essex or Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, the island of Guernsey is a curious little place. Indeed, positioned far nearer to France than England, the Channel Islands are nigh-on as close to Paris as the crow flies as they are to London. With its bright blue pillar boxes and temperate climate, it’s like seeing England in a twisted parallel universe, and the scaled-down population means that there’s a real feeling of community. Ady Bougourd, owner of the Ultimate Green RS you see here, is the island’s only commercial tyre technician, which as you might imagine keeps him very busy. And the fact that he’s created such a top-tier Focus suggests that there must be a vibrant car scene out there in…

NAME JOSH PAYTON CAR MK2 CORTINA RACE SERIES MODIFIED FORDS HISTORY OF THE CAR The car was bought as a rolling shell, and from that to what you see now was built by Josh, his brother Jack, mate Matt, and help from others in their workshop at home when needed. The original shell (which at most was powered by the 110bhp Lotus Twin Cam) had to undergo a serious amount of repair, fabrication and strengthening in preparation for nearly triple the horsepower provided by the new powerplant, and the handling needed to put the power down! The services of Custom Cages were called upon for them to make a one-off cage to competition regulations. Once the body was complete, Josh sprayed it in the distinctive red colour it wears. It…

The Mk7 Ford Fiesta 1.0-litre EcoBoost has captured the hearts of Ford fans throughout the UK. Its compact size, nimble handling, and spirited performance make it a favourite among those seeking an exhilarating driving experience but still needing a practical and frugal car during the week. The 1.0 EcoBoost Fiesta really does tick all the boxes. The introduction of the EcoBoost engine to the Fiesta lineup coincided with its November 2012 facelift, which hit the market in January 2013. This facelift brought a fresh grille, headlamps, tail lights, and an updated interior for all Mk7 models. Initially, the 1.0-litre engine was available in a 100PS (98bhp) configuration, offered as a Zetec, Titanium, or high-spec Titanium X. The Titanium variants also provided the option of a more powerful 125PS (123bhp) equivalent.…

FIESTA BEBOP As any classic jazz fans among you will be familiar, bebop was a style that evolved through the 1940s, characterised by a fast 200bpm+ tempo, relentless key changes, rapid chord progressions and a whole load of improv. And if you were to distil that spirit down into a family hatchback (because, well, why not?), you’d end up with this bonkers thing that was hammered together by the Ghia Design Studio in 1990. The nineties was a fabulously colourful decade, so of course it made perfect sense to slather the Fiesta Bebop in appropriately vivid paint to match the contemporary shellsuits of the time. And the makeover was extensive; most obvious is the pickup conversion – and the more you look at it, the more details you’ll uncover. There’s…

The European Mustang Nationals meeting by Simply Mustangs UK ran on 13th-14th of July at Santa Pod Raceway, with enthusiasts attending in great numbers. This vibrant event brought together Ford Mustang enthusiasts from across England, Ireland, Scotland, and mainland Europe – to meet, to chat, to compete on the dragstrip, to get ideas for modifications, and to purchase items from the many trade stands to help make their Mustangs stand out from the crowd. Convoys from Simply Mustangs Northern Ireland and Scotland were joined by a keen contingent from Belgium, among many others. This is a ‘Mustang inclusive’ event and attracted examples of all ages and types – from early classics to the new electric Mach-E. With over 260 Mustangs attending, continuous drag racing, music, food, and multiple trade stands,…

TSW WHEELS IMATRA £POA The TSW Imatra flow-formed wheel features a track-inspired split five-spoke design that is accented by a deep recessed lug bowl for maximum brake caliper clearance. Imatra is exclusively designed and engineered in 18” sizes with widths ranging from 8x18” to 10.5x18” for an optimal strength and weight combination for street and track. Standard finishes for the TSW Imatra are Matte Black or an all-new Satin Dark Blue. It comes in a bunch of five-stud PCDs too, including 5x108 for the Mk2/3 Focus RS and 5x114.3 for the S550 Mustang. www.tsw.com TOYO PROXES SPORT 2 £VARIOUS Toyo’s Proxes Sport 2 tyre has won a prestigious Red Dot design award in the 2023 competition. The Red Dot jury was impressed by the asymmetric tread pattern with diagonal lateral…

Jarno Kauppila is some sort of wizard. He must be. As the founder of JTK Composites in his native Finland, evidently he knows more than you can possibly imagine about carbon fibre, Kevlar, fibreglass and things of that nature… but there’s far more to this than simply a mastery of science. There’s witchcraft afoot. As Kieran buzzes around this astonishing Mk1 RS with his busy lens, Jarno is showing us videos on his phone of a new type of deformable carbon fibre he’s developed; aimed at motorsport in general and drifting in particular, this material can be used to make bumpers and wings and so forth, meaning that if you kiss the wall too hard, your bodywork won’t shatter and splinter but simply bounce back into shape. He can bend…

Millions of years of evolution have given us all built-in barometers for risk. With the needle set too low you’d never leave your bed, too high and you probably wouldn’t last very long, so most of us naturally hover somewhere in the middle, happy to hop on a plane every now and then or eat spicy food, but leaving free-climbing skyscrapers to a select few loonies. Car folk have a similar risk barometer when it comes to dyno days. It’s fun to learn how much power your car is making, but most of us know there’s a chance the car might not leave the rollers under its own power. If your risk-aversion outweighs your curiosity then you’ll probably give it a miss, while others will happily spend hours at the…

Traditiondictates that the British GT Championship includes one international ‘away’ race, and most recently that has meant a trip to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. But new for 2023 was a one-off visit to Autodromo Internacional Algarve, more commonly known as Portimão, in Portugal. This stunning location meant an overnight ferry to Santander and a 4-day drive for the teams’ intrepid ‘truckies’. Flights and hire cars for the engineers, technicians, mechanics and support staff all add to the costs for this round, not to mention the additional forms and inventory tracking required since Brexit. The circuit has hosted Formula One races in the past and has an amazing modern layout. 2020 British GT Champion, Sandy Mitchell described the 15-turn, 2.9-mile track as “a wide, sweeping circuit with a number of dramatic changes…

Received wisdom is a tricky thing. It’s a commonly held view that Romeo and Juliet, the classic tale of star-cross’d lovers, is the ultimate lyrical representation of love and romance. In reality, if you’ve actually read it, you’ll know that it’s a horrifying story of a doomed relationship that lasts for three days and results in the deaths of six people. What we know and what we think we know are often two very different things. There’s a key element of this tale that we can draw upon here, however, and that’s the age-old question: ‘What’s in a name?’. Posed by Juliet, she goes on to postulate that ‘a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,’ and there’s an inarguable logic to that. The labels we apply to…