Ford and M-Sport UK revealed today the long-waited Fiesta S2000 rally car. The car will be homologated in January 2010 and will compete in rally championships as IRC and S2000 World Cup.
The Fiesta S2000 has already completed nearly 3000kms of testing both in the UK and Europe and that extensive testing programme will continue into the start of the next year in readiness for the car’s competitive debut.
The Fiesta S2000 is the latest in a long line of rally cars produced as a result of the successful partnership between M-Sport and Ford, starting with the Escort Cosworth in the 1990s and moving on to the record breaking Ford Focus RS WRC and Ford Fiesta ST.
When Ford decided to enter a couple of rally cars at the 2009 X-games we were excited to see the new Fiesta wearing a set of bulging boxed fenders, a WRC style wing and some tarmac spec rollers. Perhaps even a showroom version. The blue oval should be happy that they chose to run an assortment of their Fiestas both new and old because the weekend’s broadcast television action sports etravaganza finale featured a 2010 Ford Fiesta going up against the golden boy Travis Pastrana and his fully built Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The boy and his Subaru had taken the gold the year before but after clipping a little too much off of his last apex, it was Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Brack who was jumping up and down celebrating on the roof of a car that looked alot like this on
In celebration of Ford’s newfound success with the compact Fiesta hatchback in Europe, moving over 100,000 models in its first year of production, the blue oval is adding another version of the fun to drive city car to the Fiesta’s lineup. In addition to the well appointed Studio, Edge, ECOnetic, Zetec, Titanium and Zetec S models; Ford is also making the diminutive Fiesta available as a Titanium Individual model.
The new top of the line Fiesta Titanium Individual will be made available in six different exterior colors and a very special red leather appointment for the interior. The Fiesta Titanium Individual rides on a set of stylish 16 inch seven spoke alloy wheels that take the Fiesta’s exterior to sporty new heights. Including all of the amenities of the Titanium model like Bluetooth wireless connectivity and a USB port for MP3 players and other devices, the Individual model offers all of the lavishness of the high end hatchback at a saving of about £100. Marketing Director for Ford of Britain, Mark Simpson said that "we have sold more than 100,000 Fiestas in its first year and we know our customers like to personalise their Fiestas. The new line up with the fabulous Individual special edition will help them achieve this." Now if they could only start selling them in the U.S. as well.
As the economic crisis hit the automobile industry, certain manufacturers were forced to scrap a few of their popular programs in an effort to save a few bucks and make their board of directors happy. One particular racing series that felt the blow from the lack of racing enthusiasm was the World Rally Championship. Many of the sports long time runners have dropped out of competition for financial reasons, leaving the field quite empty. Thanks to the world’s best automotive magazine, Car, who recently released a few snap shots of Ford’s upcoming rally racing version of the Fiesta conducting an initial shakedown run in Cumbria, we can rest assured knowing that at least one automaker is thinking of a future competing in the adrenaline filled world of international off road racing.
This particular flared and caged Ford Fiesta has been developed over the past six months by M-Sport, the company responsible for producing Ford’s current WRC Focus, with the intention of campaigning in the FIA’s S2000 category. The class has been designed for naturally aspirated production cars that make up to 270 HP, while a full fledged WRC car is allowed a turbocharger and additional aerodynamic aids. So with a little bit of boost and a few oversized wings, the S2000 Fiesta could be up to WRC specification. M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson said, “The important thing now is that we undertake a strong test and development campaign in order to provide our customers with the best possible S2000 package… I’m sure that this car will also provide a very strong base for Ford’s next generation WRC car.”
Now the only question that remains to be asked is whether or not Ford will come out with a street version of their WRC hopeful. A new Fiesta being sold with wildly flared fenders and low profile tires would certainly inspire a few other new car shoppers to consider Ford’s new compact hatch as their city car of choice, especially with a newfound high performance attitude.
A very interesting little five door Ford Fiesta hatchback was spotted rolling around the U.S. wearing some familiar automotive camouflage. What makes this particular Fiesta so special is that unlike the Fiesta Movement cars, this appears to be a full fledged U.S. spec car. When we spoke with the Fiesta’s Brand Manager Sam de la Garza, who was extremely excited about the new car; he told us that the final production version will be very similar to what we drove, the only changes to the body will come from government mandated safety regulations. In the U.S. the importance is put on passengers surviving a crash while in Europe the magistrates are more concerned with how the unfortunate pedestrian will fair.
Nevertheless from the looks of things our money is on Ford adding the five door model to the Fiesta lineup when they go on sale next year. The only thing that we here at Top Speed are pleading for is some sort of a Ford Racing Parts catalog dedicated to the blue oval’s interpretation of the VW GTI. What we would really like to see is a few Fiestas to show up in showrooms wearing some iteration of the rally car’s boxed fenders and oversized rear wing, and if Ford’s engineers can give it even a quarter of the Pikes Peak Fiesta’s 800 HP output that would be fine by us as well.
It turns out that a few key structural components of the new Ford Fiesta are made of the ultra high strength metal alloy, Boron due to its superior structural rigidity and safety applications, and Ford Fiesta Movement agent Ryan Dembroski decided to pay a visit to the king of high performance blenders, Tom Dickson.
If you have never seen one of the "Will it blend?" viral videos on youtube then you are missing out on one of the best collections of videos on the internet, they have blended everything from iPhones to diamonds. After all, Tom is a true car guy, he once put his Blendtec blender up against a Nissan GT-R. So the question of the day is, will it blend?
With the new Ford Fiesta enjoying all sorts of motor sport success be it at Pikes Peak or a made for TV special stage it looks like the little all wheel drive rally car will have a tremendous amount of success in the U.S. market. As for their latest achievement bringing home the gold at X-Games 15, the blue oval campaigned a trio of Fiesta’s hedging their bets with the Indy 500 winner Kenny Brack, previous X-Games Rally gold medalist Tanner Foust and a very fast rookie with X-Games freestyle motocross veteran Brian Deegan as their latest Fiesta Movement efforts.
All three competitors fought hard, and all three had their fair share of difficulties, however they worked as a team until the very end and when the dust settled in the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles it was a red, white and blue Fiesta that took home the championship. So with all the success of the 800 HP all wheel drive rally car, does that mean we will see a few specially developed wide body Ford Racing Parts or even a turbocharged Ford Fiesta Rally Sport model. With the almost uncertainty of seeing the beloved Focus RS on this side of the pond anytime soon, perhaps the smaller more efficient member of the fun to drive Ford family can add some excitement into their upcoming lineup.
Aside from driving all of the high performance offerings at Ford’s Deaborne test facility, we thought it might be a good idea to familiarize ourselves with a product that we should be seeing a lot more of in the near future. This little green Ford Fiesta is not the production version that will be sold as a 2010 model, but instead a European spec Fiesta, complete with a speedometer that read in kilometers.
We weren’t provided with any official specs for the Fiesta because Ford is still finalizing the design in order to provide American consumers with the best Fiesta possible. When we spoke with the Fiesta’s Brand Manager Sam de la Garza, who was extremely excited about the new car; he told us that the final production version will be very similar to what we drove, the only changes to the body will come from government mandated safety regulations. In the U.S. the importance is put on passengers surviving a crash while in Europe the magistrates are more concerned with how the unfortunate pedestrian will fair.
The Fiesta felt just like an old GTI; it was nimble and quick thanks to its light weight. The engine is peppy, but it is clear that the blue oval engineers tuned the four cylinder lump for economy and not peak performance. The Fiesta feels comfortable at speed, however it takes a while to get up there. There is not a lot of acceleration under the hood, but whatever speed you are able to muster can easily be carried through any corner. We liked the Fiesta, however we are waiting for a WRC inspired model, or an appearance package based on the Pikes Peak cars, but our friend Sam let us know that Ford was first going to worry about getting the car into U.S. showrooms.
In one of the most exhausting road tests that Top Gear’s leading man Jeremy Clarkson has ever overseen, the BBC film crew take the little green Ford Fiesta econobox and put it through every kind of test imaginable. Starting off on the open road Mr. Clarkson remarks on how comfortable the Fiesta is, then on the Top Gear test track the GTI inside shines through. So what other tests are left for the English television host, how about being chased by a Corvette inside of a shopping mall and conducting a beach assault with the British Royal Navy. This is truly one road test for the record books.
The blue oval recently introduced a highly modified version of the Ford Fiesta that competed in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with rally aces Andreas Eriksson and Marcus Grönholm at a press launch in Colorado springs back on June 14. Neither driver was bashful about showing off what the lightweight all wheel drive Fiestas could do with their 800 HP turbocharged 2.0 Liter four cylinder engines.
Both the Finnish two time World Rally Champion Grönholm and the Swedish Eriksson then stepped out of their cars and took off their helmets to say a few words to the crowd, the conversation mainly focussed around the team’s tight 3 day training schedule. In a recent conversation with the Fiesta Brand Manager Sam de la Garza, he was most excited about the whole program came together so successfully in such a very short period of time. You can expect to see a pair of caged Fiesta’s competing in ESPN’s X-Games 15 a little later on this week.
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