WELCOME TO THE JUNE ISSUE!

Ihope you all enjoyed the 'Old vs New' theme running through the May issue? When we were working on that issue, it got me thinking – should we include more old-school content in Fast Ford to complement the already awesome selection of new age stuff we cover. Naturally, the answer was a resounding 'yes'!

So, from this issue onwards you'll notice that we've added a hint of retro flavour to blend in with the more modern stuff too. This issue sees a new 'Motorsport Memories' feature looking back at some of the best-loved competition cars Ford has ever built – starting this month with the Escort WRC, a quick 'Back in the Day' page where we crack open the mag's archives, and the introduction of our 'Old School Hero' feature car – with Steve Rogers' Cossie-powered XR4i being the perfect car to kick things off.

In truth, we've always covered the oldschool and retro models – especially the likes of RS Turbos, XRs, and Cosworths – but the whole 'classic' scene seems to have moved on from the modifying days, seemingly dominated by resell values with owners encouraged to 'restore-to

factory' rather than 'tune-the-nuts-off-it' these days. But that's not the fast Ford way. Many people, myself included, fell in love with fast Fords because of their tuneable nature, and returning to standard spec is just not something we're prepared to do. Well, those are the exact people – and cars – our Old School Hero feature is designed to cater for.

But no matter how much you love the old-school, you can't deny that modern Fords are utterly fantastic. Take Ben Wheeler's 342bhp Fiesta ST as an example – can you imagine trying to achieve that sort of power with just bolton mods on an RS Turbo...!?

Don't think modern fast Fords are only about bolt-on upgrades, though, as there are still plenty of people prepared to think outside the box. People like Geoff Longley with his 500bhp Focus ST from the cover, that now puts its power to the road via a fully custom all-wheeldrive conversion.

So, now with a healthy dollop of old-school cool to sit alongside awesome cars like this, the mag truly covers everything fast Ford.

Enjoy the issue!