RACING PUMA

The fat cat is a classic fast Ford in waiting, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make some well-placed tweaks to really exploit the fun-factor in the meantime. Here’s how

Ford’s Racing Puma (the FRP as it became known) is a dead cert for classic fast Ford status; hand-built by Tickford in limitednumbers, fabulous to look at, and bursting at the seems with unique performance parts, it followed very closely in the footsteps of homologation specials like the mighty Sierra RS500 Cosworth.

Yet, poor sales at the time – no doubt hampered by Ford’s decision to call it the Racing Puma rather than Puma RS – meant just 483 FRPs were sold, and today it’s estimated that only around 280 survive.

But despite the rarity and rapidly rising values, the FRP is a car that can still be used and enjoyed. And some well-placed upgrades – plus a tweak or two in the right places – will make the whole experience even more enjoyable without spoiling anything else.

The FRP offers a fantastic base, and Ford has already done most of the work for you; the FRP was based on a concept of Ford’s Boreham competition department to design the ultimate road-going Puma. The resulting ST160 was styled like the F2 Puma Kit Car, complete with wider track and rev-hungry 1.7-litre Zetec SE. The bodywork was beefed up with bulky aluminium front wings and steel rear flares, along with bigger bumpers and Imperial Blue paintwork. The cabin gained blue alcantara Sparco seats with matching door cards and steering wheel, while the engine and mechanical components were subjected to a scheme of modifications to extract maximum performance.

Alcon four-pot callipers, Eibach springs, Mim 17in alloys and uprated driveshafts increased driver appeal, and a limited-slip diff was on the options list. High-performance cams, exhaust and inlet manifold meant grininducing fun, but on paper the 152bhp and 126mph top speed simply wasn’t enough.

And that really sums up the FRP: fantastic chassis but notably underpowered. Thankfully, there are ways to remedy that, as well as make subtle improvements to all other areas. So, let’s take a closer a look...