Innehållsförteckning för June 2024 från Fast Ford

INTRO SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE! ISSUE 473 - JUNE 2024 It really feels like the Mk6 Fiesta's time has come. It's a phenomenon that's been enjoyed by many Ford models over the years, whereby a moment in time allows them to flourish in new and colourful ways; it happened for the Mk4 Escort and Mk3 Fiesta in the late-1990s, when all sorts of diverse builds exploded onto the scene. The Escort Cosworth's modding zenith arrived in 2005 – we featured a huge amount of modified examples back then, they took the cover slot more often than anything else. And today, it's the turn of the Mk6 Fiesta. Any Ford show you go to (or, indeed, any modified car show or meet) you'll see more and more Mk6s emerging in cool and…

WHAT'S NEW MAY 5 MAY BHP Show Kent County Showground https://bhpshows.com/pages/bhp-performance-show 11-12 MAY Retro Rides Weekender Goodwood Motor Circuit retroridesevents.com/weekender 12 MAY Classic Ford Show South of England Showground events.classicsworld.co.uk/classic-ford-show/ JUNE 8-9 JUNE Players Classic Goodwood Motor Circuit https://www.players-show.com/players-classic 28-30 JUNE Modified Nationals Lincoln Showground www.modifiednationals.co.uk/ JULY 6 JULY RS Combe Castle Combe Circuit www.rscombe.com/ 11-14 JULY Goodwood Festival of Speed Goodwood Motor Circuit www.goodwood.com/motorsport/festival-of-speed/ AUGUST 4 AUGUST Fords at the Castle Caldicot Castle www.welshford.com/fordsatthecastle 11 AUGUST Ford Fair Silverstone www.fordfair.co.uk ORGANISING A SHOW OR EVENT AND WANT IT LISTED HERE? Email us with the details – fastford.ed@kelsey.co.uk 18 AUGUST Simply Ford Beaulieu https://www.beaulieu.co.uk/events/simply-ford/ 23-25 AUGUST Silverstone Festival Silverstone https://www.silverstone.co.uk/silverstone-festival-2024-sign 24-25 AUGUST Gravity NEC, Birmingham gravityshow.co.uk SEPTEMBER 22 SEPTEMBER Ford Fest Mallory Park www.fordfestshow.co.uk *CHECK BEFORE YOU GO! While all…

MK6 SQUAD The Mk6 Fiesta had a bit of heavy lifting to do when it was launched back in 2002. With the previous Mk4 generation, and the New Edge facelift that was just different enough to be dubbed ‘Mk5’, there weren't any really sporting versions, and that didn't sit well with fast Ford fans. Coming from a healthy bloodline that started with the SuperSport and subsequently spawned the XR2, XR2i, RS Turbo and RS1800, the humble Fiesta had always tried to punch above its weight in the hot hatch realm. And sure, the warmed-up Mk5 Zetec S did a little to scratch the itch, and a generation of modders pounced on the opportunity to pillage Pumas for their Yamaha-tuned 1.7 engines and build the hot Mk4/5 that Ford never did,…

FIESTA TDCi Remember how loopy we all went in 2020? The lockdowns threw us all into a tailspin; that government-mandated daily walk just couldn't scratch the itch, we're social animals, we need to be out and about and interacting with people. As soon as freedom was granted, many of us ran for the horizon, desperate to escape those four walls, embracing reality in whichever way we could. For Sophie Irvine-Dunnett, that reignition of the outdoors led to her immediately travelling seven-hundred miles to buy a diesel Fiesta. Which, to be frank, is probably a unique state of affairs, we're pretty sure nobody else did that. Ah, but there was a certain logic behind it, as she's keen to explain… “I was desperately needing an upgrade from the 1.2 Clio I…

FAST FLEET GRANT BUTLER FORD COLLECTION It doesn't matter how old you get, you still get excited by car parts arriving. It's to be expected though, when you're brought up playing with Matchbox cars and Hot Wheels, and have Knight Rider on the TV while you have your Frosties in the morning, cars pretty much become an addiction! Fast-forward to a 43-year-old who's still like Peter Pan and doesn't want to grow up, modifying cars is simply a way of life. It's been a Fiesta month, where I've finally managed to get all the parts assembled and about 80% fitted to the track Fez that I could easily do up on axle stands in the unit. It's been fun tearing out the interior and getting my hands dirty again on this…

S'CHARGED S550 MUSTANG The kids would call it ‘murdered out’. But this idea of a black-onblack-on-black colour scheme (or perhaps ‘absence-of-colour scheme’ is a more appropriate term) stretches back as far as human memory allows. 1930s gangsters signalled their arrival in their all-black Ford Model Bs with a rousing blast from their Tommy guns as they hung off the running boards, and the mean and moody approach reaches into the theoretical future too. Does the name Hotblack Desiato ring a bell? His spaceship in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was pure, terrifying noir: ‘Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls, which are labelled in black on a black background, a small black light lights up black to let you know you've done it. What is…

MK6 ESCORT As car enthusiasts, we exist in a peculiar microcosm. It's not so much a hobby as a lifestyle, often all-encompassing, and yet to outsiders it can seem utterly baffling. Unjustifiable, even. Particularly when it comes to buying and running retros and so-called ‘modern classics’; after all, new cars offer unparalleled refinement and equipment, constantly updating to be the best they've ever been. On paper, old-school motoring makes no sense – they're generally more basic and less well-equipped than modern cars, less refined, more likely to break down or present us with huge bills at MOT time, less economical, less comfortable… why do we do this to ourselves? We wouldn't buy a vintage television on the grounds that we thought it was better to watch it the old-timey way.…

UNICLUTCH PERFORMANCE CLUTCHES £various UniClutch is a revolutionary new performance clutch system brought to the UK by Clutch Industries. The brand has been manufacturing clutches in Australia for over 70 years, and their latest innovation, UniClutch, aims to redefine the performance clutch market as we know it; its modular dual-core technology substantially amplifies torque capacity while preserving drivability, and what sets it apart is the flex-fit installation system and integrated flywheel friction surface, drastically reducing installation time. Key features include up to 4x more torque capacity for mild to wild vehicle upgrades, and premium quality billet and forged components for enhanced strength and durability. UniClutch has significantly more torque capacity compared with OEM clutches, without the compromises that typically come with a performance clutch – this is made possible by…

Quite a lot of what you're seeing here can probably be traced back to the fact that Ben Sher's first ever Ford was a Racing Puma. As introductions to a marque go, that's a pretty darned forthright way to jump in with both feet. The Racing Puma was essentially a caricature of the regular production Puma, adding in cartoonishly wide wings and arches that made it look like an everyday example had been overinflated with some manner of industrial air pump, while the drivetrain and interior were colourfully refracted through a motorsport filter. And that, essentially, is what Ben's done to this Fiesta. The potential was there, the basic profile was good, he just felt a strong compulsion to amp it up a bit. “My first car was an EP3…

FORDS IN MOTORSPORT DRAG MK6 You're probably familiar with the term ‘trailblazer’, and you've presumably got a decent idea what it means. But have you ever considered where the word actually comes from? Well, imagine yourself hiking along, say, the Appalachian Trail in North America – this is a woodland route that runs from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, a distance of about 2,200 miles. If you're spending that much time walking through the woods (and don't scoff, people do), you need some sort of system to ensure you're going the right way, just in case your maps get eaten by a bear or something. So every now and then you'll see a white mark painted on a tree, indicating the correct route – this mark is…

MILLTEK SPORT EYES UP THE HYBRIDS Premium exhaust manufacturer Milltek Sport has increased its focus on developing performance systems for a whole new generation of petrol/electric hybrid vehicles. Most relevant to our interests is the system for the Puma, fitted to their own ST 1.0-litre EcoBoost demonstrator (pictured). In addition to the usual considerations of fit, form and sound quality they evaluate when designing a stainless steel system for a traditional ICE application, the engineers have had to assess how to manage the heat from any adjacent batteries, and focus on the sound during the switch from electric operation to the engine taking over. “We don't want the crossover between electric and ICE power to be any more prominent than it is, so we increase the focus on designing our…

ECOBOOST MK6 Offbeat thinkers have always driven the modifying scene forwards. The ability to view an established form or entity with a fresh perspective is not something everybody can successfully deploy, but there are characters for whom this stuff is just second nature. Take a look, for example, at kustom legend George Barris, who devised such lunatic creations as the original Batmobile and the Munster Koach in the 1960s. Or Jamie Shaw of Carisma in the ‘90s, who did weird and peculiar things to Renault 5s, and then took that mystical witchcraft and stirred it into a TVR Cerbera. These are not normal things to do, but c'mon - who ever wanted to be normal? Within this realm of visionaries and dreamers resides Daniel Brown, the owner of this particularly…

MOUNTUNE MR200 As with so many things in life, the cult of the Mountune MR200 is all about layers. Complex strata within the Ford ecosystem. Funnelling down from the top, most Ford people know a bit about Fiestas, many Fiesta enthusiasts fancy the Mk6, admirers of the Mk6 will generally know about the ST150, and a niche sector within that group will be versed in the details of what an MR200 is. Very few of these unicorn-like models exist, but their followers are fervent and committed. And there really aren't many people more emotionally invested in the legend than Martyn Lowe. “I've always had a soft spot for the Mk6 Fiesta,” he assures us. “Since coming across Mountune with my track-focused MP185, and then reading about the MR200, it was…

Once again, the popular British GT Championship will feature a full capacity grid of 36 cars and 72 drivers, competing in 15 different models from 10 manufacturers. In the more road-relevant GT4 class where Ford competes, 9 manufacturers are represented in one of the most diverse car line-ups in the history of the championship. The new S650 Mustang GT4 will go up against the best from McLaren, MercedesAMG, Aston Martin, BMW, Toyota, Ginetta, Audi, and Lotus. As this is primarily a driver and team championship, the cars are equalised using a ‘Balance of Performance’ formula designed to preserve the defining characteristics of each model. In theory, this means that the svelte McLarens, the heavy-weight AMGs and the nimble Lotuses can all achieve the same lap times on the same day,…