Ford Fiesta ST - 2013
New for 2013, introducing the Ford Fiesta ST race car we are currently building. Following our less than satisfactory experience with the outsourcing of the Lancia kappa race car, we are building the Fiesta entirely in house save for the installation of the roll cage and paintwork which we are not equipped to do.
The build process of the Fiesta will be documented on this page - we are building the car to run under Ford Fiesta Junior regs although the car will also be eligible to run in Class C of the (adult) Ford Fiesta championship.
Our current plan is to start the season in the adult series before handing the car over to Geri Nicosia once he has reached the age of 14 and can race with the Juniors.
3 November 2012:
We purchased the car in November 2012, its is a 2007 Ford Fiesta ST with just 25,000 miles on the clock. Minor damage to the rear quarter, combined with suspension damage to the front o/s corner, and two exploded airbags meant that this is a Cat C write off car and suitably cheap.
10 November 2012:
First chance to do any work, day one ended with the front off, engine and gearbox all out, and the leather seats out and sold on eBay. The Fiesta has been booked in with Custom Cages for the mandatory Fiesta Junior specification roll cage. Unfortunately they cannot take the car until 14 January where we were hoping to have it back in time for our Christmas break. We are now expecting it back for 26 January, then straight to the body shop for painting. Hoping to have the Fiesta up and running by end of February, but the delay waiting for the cage doesn't help.
7 December 2013:
Two more days in, and the Fiesta is a rolling shell ready for Custom Cages to do their bit next month. A bonus on removing the fuel tank was that it was at least half full, so some free fuel donated to our tow truck.
9 February 2013:
After a late change in plans, the Fiesta went to SHP Engineering to have the roll cage fitted. There was a delay due to the snow, but luckily SHP were able to swap us with a car booked in the following week. There was still snow on the ground when we delivered the car, a week later the Fiesta was collected and delivered straight to Auto Integrale for bodywork and painting. The rear corner needed pulling, a new front wing was fitted and then the interior and roll cage were painted in the original silver colour. A week later and the Fiesta was back in our garage where the boxes of parts ordered recently were piling up!
14 February 2013:
Reassembly started today, the loom is back in place, the dashboard has been trial fitted - it was necessary to cut a small part out in order to clear the roll cage. The heater assembly was gutted and then refitted just so we can duct fresh air into the interior through the dashboard centre vents. It has cost us a couple of kilos but that is a price we should be able to afford in order to keep the driver fresh.
23 February 2013:
Seems like we have a garage full of boxes, deliveries from the usual suspects, Demon Tweeks and Rally Design, but also a whole pile of boxes from SiCo Developments and one from WDE Motorsport. Two more days work has progressed well, the loom and dashboard are completely in and the electrics have been tested. And the engine is back in, front slam panel back in place. That is as far as we can get until some more boxes arrive, due during the week, so we can fit the sump baffles, oil and power steering cooling systems, seat and harness. Oh, and if the wheels ever turn up, that would be good too!
11 May 2013:
Too busy working on the Fiesta to worry about updates. A few missing parts and late deliveries meant we realised that making the first race at Silverstone was never going to happen. We decided that making round 2 at Snetterton wasn't really viable either so set the new target to start out at round 3, Silverstone, today!
With two weeks to go, we needed help, just a few small things that needed doing like fitting the door cards, and setting up the suspension. We dropped the Fiesta off with Daniels Motorsport with a request list covering two sides of A4, and picked up the Fiesta on Bank Holiday Monday, just 6 days ago.
We had little choice but to take the Friday out for a test day at Silverstone - and the day went surprisingly well. Three long sessions out on track produced no problems at all other than finding out that 35 minutes without stopping equals overheated front tyres - we ran on at Luffield! A testament to the build quality of the car and the checkover/setup by Daniels Motorsport.
These pictures taken at Silverstone just before being stickered up in the Fiesta Junior Championship livery. To see how the race weekend went, check out our race report here.
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