Fred W B
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| posted on 18/7/14 at 04:28 PM |
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Ride in Ford Fiesta S2000 WRC Car.
Last weekend a round of the SA National Rally championship was held in my area. I was lucky enough to be offered a ride in a Ford Dealer Team
supported Fiesta S2000 spec car during a pre-rally test session.
When my colleague and I arrivied at the test venue, a stretch of roughish gravel track, the cars were being prepared. Two cars were running with a 3rd
"spare" on hand. The cars are built at M-Sport in the UK and imported at vast expense. The test was also being used as an opportunity to
get some promotional photography done, including the use of a flying drone camera so I was lucky enough to get some photos.
You can see me in the black jacket on the left of this picture.
"My" driver was Mark Cronje, current SA champion, and eventual winner of the event by a minute and a half after 180km of stages. The field
included 11 S2000 cars, two of which were international entries including the current Austrian national championship.
Mark and his navigator Robin Houghton went out in a pickup and pace noted a 3 km section of track, that include some right angle bends and sweeping
corners. They then did 3 runs in the rally car, doing some set up tweaks after each one.
Then it was my turn to be strapped into the right hand side navigators seat. I'm not going to try be all "motor journalist" and
fully describe the experience but suffice to say the drive was extremely impressive. I would describe my first run as frightening, but on a second
run I was able to enjoy it more, once I knew what to expect. The 4 wheel drive grip on the gravel/sand surface gave braking and acceleration that felt
to be as good as that of a car on tar, and the huge wheel travel just soaked up deep ruts and floated over the bermed sides of the track without
upsetting the horizontal attitude of the car. Of course the whole time the car is going extremely quickly and is always at some angle of yaw to the
direction of travel. Mark reckoned he was at about 8/10ths effort running without the pace notes.
These photos are with me in the car. Excuse the unpainted bumper and side skirts, these are fitted just for testing
Here is a bit of video from the test, which includes some footage obtained from the drone.
FF S2000 test
At about 0.45 in the background you can see my colleague climbing out of the other car after his run.
Another item ticked off my automotive bucket list 
Cheers
Fred W B
[Edited on 18/7/14 by Fred W B]
You can do it quickly. You can do it cheap. You can do it right. – Pick any two.
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robinj66
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| posted on 18/7/14 at 04:55 PM |
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How cool was that! You are a lucky man
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twybrow
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| posted on 18/7/14 at 07:02 PM |
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Lucky bar steward! Very jealous!
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Thatcher
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| posted on 18/7/14 at 08:02 PM |
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WOW its nice to see all the parts I trim at work, we at MCT make almost all the composite parts for M Sport for the S2000 Fiesta and the GT3
Bentley.....
Cool picks....
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nick205
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| posted on 18/7/14 at 08:44 PM |
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Bloody brilliant!
What a great day out that must have been. 
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bi22le
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| posted on 18/7/14 at 09:15 PM |
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The drone cameras are starting to produce some really impressive footage now.
They are getting more acessable now so in time to come camera men at trackdays may offer impressive aerial shots.
Track days ARE the best thing since sliced bread, until I get a supercharger that is!
Please read my ring story:
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/forum/13/viewthread.php?tid=139152&page=1
Me doing a sub 56sec lap around Brands Indy. I need a geo set up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHksfvIGB3I
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Fred W B
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| posted on 19/7/14 at 07:13 AM |
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Thanks for the comments
quote:
its nice to see all the parts I trim at work, we at MCT make almost all the composite parts for M Sport for the S2000 Fiesta
Yes, the cars are very nicely detailed
Cheers
Fred W B
You can do it quickly. You can do it cheap. You can do it right. – Pick any two.
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Ivan
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| posted on 19/7/14 at 08:49 AM |
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Ooh - I would pay a lot for a ride like that
You are so lucky Fred - that's one for most petrol heads bucket list, although my eye might have been on the poles so near to the edge of the
track 
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