MK3 FOCUS ‘BABY TOURING CAR’
ENGINE Ex-WTCC Mountune Global Race Engine, forged crank, forged pistons and rods, stroked to 1.6-litres (from 1.8), direct-injection head, Owen Developments TOCA turbo, YapFab downpipe, ARC Autosport exhaust system, ARC Autosport intercooler, ARC Autosport oil breather, ARC Autosport coolant tank, ARC Autosport radiator, Torques_UK 1.5-litre swirl pot and fuel system, electro-hydraulic power steering motor, Cosworth Pectel MQ12 ECU with separate direct injection driver
POWER 370whp
TRANSMISSION Ex-Oreca Lada Xtrac 1046 6-speed sequential gearbox, SF-Technic twinplate clutch
SUSPENSION Mk2 Focus RS AST 5100 1-way coilovers (designed on the car by Cook Sport with shortened rear bodies), tubular titanium rear subframe, T45 tubular wishbones to aluminium hubs, tubular front subframe with modified Mk2 Focus RS RevoKnuckles, Rosejointed throughout, all solid-mounted (no bushes), 3x AP Racing 310mm air jacks
BRAKES AP Racing forged monobloc 4-pot front calipers (S2000 Touring Car spec) with AP Racing 332x32mm discs, AP Racing 2-pot rear calipers with solid 280mm discs, all fully floating, adjustable rear brake bias, electric rear line-lock
WHEELS & TYRES 9x17” Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.3 alloy wheels, Yokohama Advan slicks
EXTERIOR Pre-facelift 1.6 Titanium, RS bodykit, lightened doors and bootlid, louvred bonnet, 3mm polycarbonate rear and side windows, custom single wiper motor, Mk2 Escort Signal Yellow
INTERIOR Custom rollcage built to authentic Touring Car specs, Cartek 16-channel PDM with 8-channel steering wheel buttons, AiM Strada MXP dash, Cobra Sebring Pro-Fit bucket seat, Tilton 600 overhung bias pedal box and cylinders, quick-release steering wheel, Xtrac sequential shifter, Touring Car gearstick stand, Lifeline 2000 8-nozzle plumbed-in electric fire extinguisher friend contacted me regarding some work he needed doing to a 3-door Cosworth, it turned out the engine was a little unhealthy and I ended up buying it. I fully rebuilt the engine and had that for a weekend car – 18 years old in a 320bhp Cossie! This was just before the prices started skyrocketing. Anyway, that ended up at 420bhp and it’s still in the shed now I’m 34. But when I turned 19, insurance told me to try again with the Sierra when I was 30… so I needed a new boost buzz, and the start of my track obsession came when my best friend Kester Cook decided to sell me his supercharged ST170.”
That car was actually featured in
many years back, a 270bhp pocket rocket that proved to be the perfect car with which to get into track days. Unfortunately Lewis put some poor quality fuel in it one day and cracked three pistons, although that setback actually served to spur him on and he rebuilt it with forged internals and all sorts of other goodies, breaking through 300bhp and catching his dad’s eye in the process. “We ended up getting a tarmac rally-prepped Mk2 Escort for him,” Lewis grins. “It had a little crossflow, but after one track day we decided it was way too slow, so we put a 220bhp red-top race engine in it. It sounded awesome on throttle bodies, and we used to go out on track days together.”
By this time, his buddy Kester had got into racing with a German Fiesta cup car, and he kept pestering Lewis to go racing with him. Suffice it to say that Lewis didn’t require all that much persuading, so he tagged along to a few meets in 2015 and started trawling eBay for a suitable project; salvation came in the form of an affordable Mk6 Fiesta cup car up in Scotland, which he sold his dailydriver Sapphire Cosworth to afford. He
“I was 18 years old in a 320bhp Cossie! This was just before the prices started skyrocketing. But when I turned 19, insurance told me to try again when I was 30... so I needed a new boost buzz.”