Ford Fanatics, a race series for Ford lovers

Ford Fanatics Race Any Make of Car as Long as its a Ford

When I contacted Paul Nevill about writing a feature about his Mk 2 Escort RS 2000 he obviously was a bit sceptical, “I’m not familiar with the magazine but I see its not UK based. Why did you select my car?” I told him I had a ‘79 RS 2000 Custom when I lived in the Uk and that seemed to be enough for him as the next comment from him was, “Ok, what do you need from me” The fact that another Ford owner even if it was an ex-owner that was good enough for him. What I never told him was the RS was not the only fast Ford I had owned. My first car was a 105E Anglia with a Cortina GT engine. It was followed by a Mk1 and Mk2 Cortina GT. Both of these cars saw motorsport duty on the local Caithness Car Club Rumster hillclimb. Then it was a pristine Daytona Yellow Mk1 Escort Mexico without the wide stripes. The next

car was a trip to the mundane, a Mk3 Cortina Estate that was needed to haul my racing kart as I had gone back to kart racing. That did not last long as the ‘Need fro Speed’ prevailed and I bought the ‘79 RS 2000 and a tow bar. My last fast Ford in the UK was a 1980 Capri 3 litre Ghia modded with RS Recaros, Bilstein suspension, Alleycat wheels and a Richard Grant body kit. it was amazing how a big car like that covered the miles of the A9 that is now regaled as the north Coast 500. You might think the fast Ford story stops there but a few years after landing on Canadian shores, my girlfriend and I took delivery of a Oxford White 1990 Ford Mustang GT. As a certified car nut there are a few cars that I still have a soft spot for, my 998 Sunbeam Imp special saloon, the 998 Clan Crusader modsports car I built with the late Henry Sinclair and pretty well any fast Ford. Now, Paul you may understand why I wanted to do a feature on your car. It was only when Paul returned the form he filled in for the feature that I found out he was the guy behind the Modified Ford Series. I clicked on the hyperlink in the form and surfed into their website and was promptly blown away. What an array of great cars! Talking to Paul he told me, “The Modified Ford Series was created to provide ‘the place to race’ for the huge variation of modified Ford (production) cars that have been developed over the past 50 years, where most series or championships impose specification restrictions that exclude so many, we are inclusion, we want to give them a safe place to come and have fun. Considerate driving and good car preparation is something we pride ourselves in. With quite a few of the drivers in our age group (Paul is 57 and I am 65) nobody wants to be thrashing on a car to make a race or fixing it during the event. For many of us racing is a stress reliever, something to do to relax from the pressures of business.” In the short time that the series has been around it has grown in leaps and bounds and I think that may be because of the rules and class structure. Acknowledging the value of the cars that run in the series, the vehicle build age was capped at ten years or older, to encourage cars that are more classic, welcoming the RS marque, the sporting pedigrees and everything fast in between. The classes were set up as follows,

Class A: All multi-valve forced induction engines. 2wd & 4wd or All forced induction dual-valve engines over 1950cc capacity or all 24v normally aspirated V6 engines & All V8 engines.

Class B1: Normally aspirated multi-valve 4 cylinder engines over 2251cc & 1600cc Eco boost engines.

Class B: Normally aspirated multi valve engines from 1751cc to 2250cc or normally aspirated dualvalve 4 cylinder & V6 engines cars over 1751cc or Forced induction dual-valve cars not exceeding 1950cc.

Class C: Normally aspirated engine cars not exceeding 1750cc

Super Classes

S/A & S/B1: Any recognisable production Ford (Body shape) Engine size - Categorised as above Origin and year of build, engine &/or chassis is free. Space frame and kit cars allowed. A driver may request to be considered to race a car which does not fit in any of the normal published classes. It shall be at the discretion of the race administrators whether to accept or deny any such request.

Classes A-C Minimum Weights – including driver. No success ballast will be applied. Class A - Two wheel drive - 950kgs. Four wheel drive - 1050kgs Class B1, B & C - 800kgs Super Classes N/A I was impressed by the fact that the 2022 race season dates have already been set. That is something many race series should take note of and implement as soon as they can. People’s lives are so busy these days that is is in the race series interest in having their racers plan the next year’s calendar ahead of time.

Website: https://www.modifiedfords.co.uk Videos/Photos: https://www.modifiedfords.co.uk/ gallery