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See more Fiesta Rallycross pics
For those of you disappointed that Ford is staying resolutely silent on the possibility of a new Fiesta ST (or indeed RS), here's something to tide you over: the ‘Div 1' Ford Fiesta Rally Cross.
We like it. We like those massive arches. We like the big rear wing. We like the white wheels. We particularly like the fact that it produces a deeply mental 550bhp from a two-litre turbocharged four-pot running on E85 ethanol. 550bhp! In a car the size of a large shoe! That's... well, mental. There's no other word for it. Mental.
Rallycross, if you haven't heard of it, is a race series that started off as a telly show in the 1960s. It pits several cars together in heats on tracks that vary from gravel to dirt to tarmac. The cars are generally smaller and less regulated than WRC cars - hence a 500bhp Fiesta - and are massively, massively fast: Ford reckons the Fiesta will hit 60mph in around 2.8 seconds, about par for the competition.
In its first outing at Lydden Hill, the Fiesta managed to take a heat win in the hands of Andreas Eriksson and ex-WRC champ Marcus Gronholm (the Nordic drivers, if you hadn't guessed, tend to dominate rallycross), though the Ford RS team reported a handful of transmission failures. Nothing that can't be ironed out, we're sure.
Now then, Ford, how about one of these for the road? We don't even need the full 550bhp. We'll settle for, say, 450bhp and a decent iPod connection?
And just imagine the thrashing that JC could have dealt out to the evil Corvette if he'd had one of these Fiestas...
Open Car Bar
What do you think?
Want to comment on this?
Ben27 commented on this article
at 03:29 pm on 23 April 2009
550hp! 550hp! WOW!
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marius2 commented on this article
at 03:36 pm on 23 April 2009
Now this is a leap forward for the Ford Company.This is insane, good work Ford.
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AlKim commented on this article
at 03:52 pm on 23 April 2009
Pure lunacy. I love it.
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topgear101 commented on this article
at 04:43 pm on 23 April 2009
For more information on e85 Ethanol, visit: e85ethanol.org
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tbtstt commented on this article
at 04:49 pm on 23 April 2009
Great to see Rallycross get a mention on a site as big as Top Gear. For anyone out there who hasn't heard of Rallycross I would urge you to check it out. Pat and Liam Doran (a Father/Son team in the UK and European rallycross series) run a pair of rallycross Ford Fiesta ST T16's (2005-2008 body shape); both running around 550 BHP and both will hit 60 MPH in around 2 seconds. I would beg Top Gear to do a bigger feature either on TV or in the magazine for the sport: its a massively underrated sport and easily my favorite motorsport. Oh, and just for the record Marcus Gronholm has only raced the '05 -'08 rallycross Fiesta ST - he wasn't at Lydden Hill for the ERC season opener/debut of the '09 rallycross Fiesta ST.
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