23 April 2009 - 11:00
’Cross fire
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...
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Now this is a leap forward for the Ford Company.This is insane, good work Ford.
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Pure lunacy. I love it.
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For more information on e85 Ethanol, visit: e85ethanol.org
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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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First of all whoa that is a bloody great piece of engineering and imagine your film with that! Rally cross should be put on the BBC.....In fact the BBC should have all the motorsport on it's red button or BBC 1 TV services......NO MORE BARGIN HUNT!!!! MOTORSPORT INSTEAD!!!!
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550 hp from a 2-litre four pot turbo.......where have I heard that before....hmmm. Ah, yes! the Sierra Cosworth, that produced similar numbers, 20 years ago. Amazing progress! Sarcasm and joking aside, this looks a seriously good driving machine and if is anywhere near as good to drive as the 'Cossie', it'll be epic.
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550 bhp WOOOOOOOOOAH das immense man 0-60 2.8 WOW das too much man das crazy
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It looks like a (albeit bulging) Fiesta, but it's actually a wild animal! 0-60 in precisely one Bugatti Veyron. When I first read "550bhp Fiesta", I thought of some kind of lower class hillclimb, not Rally Cross. My only memory of the sport is the 1995 season I had on VHS. They certainly weren't widebody megaturbo'd beasts, they were Evo IIIs, Celicas and such and looked much like WRC cars of the time. Basically the same but with stickers and numbers on it. The racing was very good - I watched that video very often as a child - until someone 'borrowed' it...
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"Lower class?!". I mean like GT2 is to GT1 and so on.
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Good God! What has mankind created?! I mean, how much bhp does a WRC Impreza? And 500ish? In a Fiesta? JC would've "skipped" himself across the water when the Marines landed... Yes, 450bhp, RS bodykit, and an iPod connector... I'd get one...
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Good God! What has mankind created?! I mean, how much bhp does a WRC Impreza have? And 500ish? And in a Fiesta? JC would've "skipped" himself across the water when the Marines landed... Yes, 450bhp, RS bodykit, and an iPod connector... I'd get one...
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Good Lord! I bet it's like driving a baked bean can with a Saturn V strapped to it. Mental. Utterly, utterly, utterly bonkers. And brilliant.
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Holy cow! this is bonkers!!! A 550bhp ford fiesta..... makes me all tingly inside... god i would love to own one! *drool*
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Holy cow! this is bonkers!!! A 550bhp ford fiesta..... makes me all tingly inside... god i would love to own one! *drool*
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WOW! good to see in the current ''economic crisis'' car companies are still bringing out insane ideas
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i can see this.... flying off a cliff. its fast dont get me wrong but it just doesnt work. but then again its only about speed
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To LeBonkers: WRC cars are currently restricted to around 300 BHP, the limit for Division 1/supercar class rallycross cars is around 550 BHP. Consequently, in the series that allow it, you still get Group B cars competing in rallycross. To lambosareforeva: They've been building rallycross cars at this spec for a LOT of years now and I can assure you they all "work" and none have ever "flown off a cliff". Get on You Tube and check out the European Rallycross Championship, THEN post a comment.
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This is definately a fast ford i want one
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This is definately a fast ford i want one
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Aparently Ford are going to Pikes Peak hillclimb in the US with a 700Bhp version of this car. Yes thats right 700BHP!
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Ben27 commented on this article
23 April 2009
550hp! 550hp! WOW!
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