A newly-redesigned Ford Fiesta subcompact was just unveiled last week, and British racing team and car builder M-Sport wasted no time at all unveiling the brand-new FIA World Rally Championship car that it’s inspired: the 2017 Ford Fiesta WRC.
Boasting around 385 horsepower and 330 lb-ft of torque from its turbocharged, direct-injected 1.6-liter engine with a 36mm restrictor, the new Ford Fiesta WRC ought to experience little difficulty sustaining the winning tradition of Ford’s quintessential European hatchback. M-Sport says that the Fiesta “has become rallying’s most successful model with countless victories and championship laurels around the globe,” so this new race car has some pretty big shoes to fill.
It’ll fill them not only with the potency of its 1.6L engine, but with an all-new body shell designed using Computational Fluid Dynamics – a complex branch of fluid mechanics that uses maths and computers and such to simulate, in this case, the interaction between the atmosphere and the vehicle body. As a matter of course, the new body provides plenty of downforce with front and rear splitters, canards, and an immense rear wing.
In all, 95 percent of this Ford Fiesta WRC is brand-new, including the six-speed sequential gearbox. Shifting is done with the help of a multi-disc clutch, while an active center differential distributes the power to both axles. The car’s MacPherson struts have been redesigned, as well, and feature Reiger external reservoirs, plus full bump and rebound adjustability. Four-piston monoblock calipers act on ventilated brake rotors to slow the new Fiesta WRC to a stop.
M-Sport Managing Director Malcolm Wilson OBE said in a release that “there is a real sense of excitement throughout the [M-Sport] team, and rightly so as I believe we have created something extremely special in the new Ford Fiesta WRC. Having driven the car myself, I can honestly say that it is one of the most impressive we have ever produced. It’s exciting to drive, it sounds fantastic and it looks absolutely sensational.”
He went on to say that the team “has had whatever they’ve wanted to build the best possible car. No expense has been spared, and we start the 2017 season with one goal in mind – returning to the top step of the podium.”
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