Jan Habig's Ford Fiesta Rally Car

Jannie Habig has had a love affair with Ford products for many years. In 1994, he and Douglas Judd competed in the RAC Rally, a round of the World Rally Championship, in his Ford Escort RS Cosworth. Jannie relates that he contacted Ford Motorsport with the view of buying a rally car and asked what was available. He was sent a complete catalogue from which he could choose.

He chose the Cosworth and then started to import all the various parts he needed to build the car himself piece by piece. He decided on acquiring a Ford Fiesta from M-Sport in the United Kingdom as M-Sport specialised in the building and preparing customer rally cars. He went to London where he met Malcolm Wilson the head of M-Sport who is also the team principal of the Ford Fiesta RS WRC team where he bought the car.

M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000

Homologated in January 2010, the Ford Fiesta S2000 is eligible to compete in national rally championships around the world as well as the IRC and S2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC).

Continuing its close relationship with Ford, the team at M-Sport worked in tandem with Ford's Motorsport Technical Manager Mike Norton and the Ford small car design team that developed the design of the Fiesta road car, to develop a dynamic and aggressive-looking rally car.

Working within new FIA Sporting Regulations, the experience gained from developing the record-breaking Ford Focus RS WRC was harnessed by the M-Sport team to develop the S2000 which can be used by customers at both national and international level.

The arrival of the Fiesta S2000 means that together Ford and M-Sport offer a complete 'Ladder of Opportunity' for rally competitors to graduate with Ford from national level right through to the top echelons of the WRC.

The Development of the Ford Fiesta S2000

The development of the S2000 saw a move away from the tried-and-tested Ford Focus to the new Ford Fiesta. With its strong aerodynamic package, light body shell and good road-handling the new Fiesta was judged to be the perfect base car for the M-Sport team to develop.

The new FIA Sporting Regulations introduced in 2012, which placed an emphasis on making competition vehicles as cost effective as possible, presented new challenges for Christian Loriaux and his team at M-Sport, all of which had to be overcome in an extremely short space of time. The experience gained from the development of the Focus RS WRC was put to good use throughout the project while adapting certain aspects of the car to fit the new rules.

One of the biggest challenges was the size of the Fiesta's cockpit. Despite rules which allowed the maximum width of the car to be 1820mm, 20mm wider than the previous regulations, the passenger compartment of the car remained small. With driver safety paramount, the crew have to be kept as far away from the outside of the car as possible so finding room for the competition seats, whilst taking this into account, was a real test for the designers.

An advantage of the extra width was that it allowed more lateral grip and the Fiesta S2000, the first car to be designed within these new rules, really benefited from that. Stricter definitions of the roll cage geometry were also laid out by the FIA and more basic requirements, like an increase in the size of the tubing used to construct the roll cage from 38mm to 50mm, were also included in the compulsory guidelines.

M-Sport Technical Director Christian Loriaux and his team studied 50 different roll cage options, taking into account safety considerations alongside weight distribution and the stiffness of the roll cage to maximise the Fiesta S2000's handling abilities. The cockpit itself was designed to maintain the best possible visibility for the crew, who have to sit quite far back in the car.

The Fiesta S2000 has been designed in line with the latest FIA safety regulations and will be able to accept the new FIA safety seat design. The car came through its FIA crash test with flying colours; a maximum deflection of 100mm is allowed and the Fiesta passed with just 10mm of deflection.

The new car's suspension is based on the MacPherson strut system, a simpler system than that used on the Focus RS WRC, but as on the old WRC car, the Fiesta uses Reiger shock absorbers. However, new FIA rules which ban ball bearings in the dampers meant that significant research was needed to reduce the friction losses.

M-Sport selected Xtrac to supply the transmission system for the car based on their previous experience of S2000 technology with other manufacturers. Engine development has again been restricted by the new regulations but M-Sport continued to work with French company Pipo on the project. The normally-aspirated engine in the Fiesta S2000 uses the same basic two-litre block and cylinder head that was used in the Focus RS WRC. The advantage of an atmospherically-aspirated engine is that it fits comfortably under the bonnet of the smaller car.

After initial tests in the UK, the car underwent kinematic testing to measure suspension movement and stiffness, at Ford's proving ground in Lommel, Belgium, before a rigorous week of tarmac and gravel testing in France with both Markko Märtin and Matthew Wilson sharing the driving duties.

Technical Specifications

Complete technical low-down on the all-new Ford Fiesta RS WRC, which made its debut in 2111

Engine: Ford EcoBoost 1600cc direct injection engine developed by Ford, M-Sport and Pipo Moteurs. Four cylinders, 16 valves. Bore 83.0mm. Stroke 73.9mm. Cosworth electronic engine management system. Garrett turbocharger (with FIA required 33 mm inlet restrictor). Air intercooler. Catalytic converter.

Power: 300 bhp at 6000 rpm

Torque: 450 Nm at 4000 rpm

Transmission: Permanent four-wheel drive. Mechanical front and rear differentials and a clutch disconnect fitted to handbrake. M-Sport / X-Trac six-speed sequential gearbox with mechanical shift. M-Sport / AP Racing twin disc clutch.

Suspension: Front and rear: MacPherson struts with Reiger external reservoir dampers, adjustable in bump and rebound. Fully adjustable fabricated steel links. Front and rear anti-roll bars. Machined aluminium uprights.

Brakes:

Gravel (front and rear): 300mm Brembo ventilated discs with Brembo four- piston monoblock calipers.

Asphalt (front and rear): 355mm (maximum) Brembo ventilated discs with Brembo four-piston monoblock calipers.

Hydraulic handbrake; Adjustable front / rear bias.

Steering: Power-assisted high-ratio (12:1) rack and pinion. One and a half
turns lock to lock.

Wheels:

Gravel / Snow: 7in x 15in (aluminium) wheels with Michelin 650mm tyres.

Asphalt: 8in x 18in (aluminium) wheels with Michelin 650mm tyres.

Bodyshell: Unitary construction. Unique composite side panels. Welded T45 steel safety roll cage. Aerodynamic rear wing. Unique front 'bumper' treatment.

Electronics: Full Cosworth chassis and engine data acquisition for on-event diagnostics and performance development.

Fuel tank: FIA FT3.5 tank, 80 litre capacity, located centrally.

Dimensions:

Length: 3963mm.
Width: 1820mm.
Wheelbase: 2480mm.
Weight: 1200kg minimum.

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