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FORD'S SECRET RALLY CAR
The 2006 version Ford Focus WRC made its competition debut, in the hands of Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta, at Telstra Rally Australia. Running in far heavier specification than the minimum allowed by the rules, Kresta finished sixth overall but the program started in controversy. The actions of the BP-Ford World Rally Team in Australia, in taking considerable pains to conceal their new cars from gaze, raised a wide variety of emotions ranging from insatiable curiosity to downright contempt. The FIA officials hinted that this behavior, while not specifically banned, was unacceptable both on a sporting and a promotional level. Similar practices have been banned in Formula 1, and also in rallying where the use of car covers in overnight Parc Ferme is forbidden. The reason for secrecy depended on who you asked. The PR people said that this was because there would be no point in having an official launch (planned for Bologna December 1st) if the details were released earlier. Engineering personnel said that if other teams had free access to the car at this stage, they would have the chance to re-design their 2006 cars before they submitted their own homologation applications.
This secrecy was not the only contentious aspect to the debut of the car. Another was the decision to break the twin-rally engine rule by making their homologation between Japan and Australia, the two events in which the same engine had to be used. The FIA’s penalty for changing engines was intended to force teams to run longer life engines, not as an optional penalty should a team voluntarily replace a perfectly good engine. Ford confirmed they entered the new car in Australia in order to get advance experience and make any necessary design changes before the rush of events early next year. The general feeling of officials was that this was an unsporting action considering that the FIA had earlier given special permission for homologation of the World Rally Car version before sufficient numbers of the production version on which the car was based had been built.
None of this background, however, can overshadow the interest in the design of the car, even with the limited extent of what we were allowed to see and the fact we were told very little specific information! This car is another masterpiece from designer Christian Loriaux following his earlier work with the Imprezas, then especially his 2003 Ford Focus WRC. His philosophies of weight management have been taken to new extremes. Most evident is the location of the spare wheel beneath the floor plan at the rear of the car, exposed to view from the rear. The spare wheel is accessed by removing a body panel below the bumper and then lowering the hinged rear part of the under floor protection plate, like a freighter plane about to disgorge its cargo. The protection plate runs the full length of the car, and is remarkably flat all the way.
Compared with the production car, the engine prepared by Pipo is turned round and mounted front to back so that the exhaust travels straight towards the rear instead of out of the front of the transverse block, and titled rearwards for lowering the weight. The engine features chain driven camshafts and is an old Mazda design. The turbocharger is mounted out of sight inside the transmission tunnel (which must make it difficult to change). The four cylinder all aluminum block engine comes from a mass production Focus model rather than the special five cylinder unit from the ST version which is the specialist model on which the homologation is based. This engine provides a big opportunity of further improving the weight management of the car. The transmission produced by Ricardo rather than Xtrac is a transverse five-speed unit, with the differentials running (as in all respects in the car) under 2006 rules.
The front suspension created a lot of interest. Easily visible were the angled front struts. The lower end is mounted in front instead of over the uprights and therefore capable of having considerably greater wheel travel than traditional designs. With this characteristic brings extreme camber angles of the wheel at the limits of travel especially noticeable when the cars were at full droop when jumping, while the optimum camber angles are achieved when the cars are at full bump. The equipment in the cockpit is very weight balance orientated, with a lightweight scuttle carrying minimal number of functions and with low-mounted -switches and controls. Not known is how much of the equipment is mounted in its finally intended positions and how much will be changed before Monte Carlo 2006.
Under the bonnet are two large horizontal cooling fans, which when the bonnet is lowered are mated with ducts. These then eject the hot air horizontally to the sides of the car. In this way the hot air does not find its way into the cockpit through the roof scoops. In previous Focus World Rally Cars, the air was ejected upwards through apertures in the bonnet.
It appears there were few problems en route. Gardemeister had misfiring trouble on the Saturday, which was apparently cured by changing the spark plugs and then he had loss of boost pressure caused by a hole in a turbo pipe. On the final morning the alternator belt came off and this caused related failures, which led to retirement. As the rally progressed there were changes made to the specification of the cars. Both cars suffered body damage, Gardemeister through going off the road and driving over tree stumps before regaining the track, and Kresta with a door, which kept opening. The rear undercar protection was changed from steel to composite construction when the team found that their caution about how much the cars would weight was misplaced. (The cars started being some 80kg overweight and later this came down to around 50kg).
Despite the huge external dimensions, the 2006 model obviously has the capability of running with considerable quantities of ballast. On Saturday the cars suddenly appeared with twin roof scoops (to try to reduce the dust inside the car, which was an evident problem, and which were not originally homologated) and on the final morning the engine was given some more power, which is when both drivers scored fastest stage times. This is how the car appeared in Australia. Watch this space and see how they are developed as the months and years go on!
Martin Holmes
www.rallyworldmagazine.com
iseasi, kas Markko sellega päri on. siiski saab ta ju Peugeot'lt veel palka, seega oleks mõistlikum Fordilt vähem nõuda, et kindlasti sõitma saada, sest oleks vaja tulemusi, et järgnevatel aastatel hea koha nõudleja olla.
