RE: SOTW: Ford Fiesta XR2 Stock Hatch

[CDP]

X5TUU said:

love an old ford as much as the next person, but this just doesnt light my fire, and dont know why!

It's not the old Ford bit that's good, it's the cheap way of getting into racing. Not nearly as expensive to run as the £17K Ferrari 456 either.

[PaulMoor]

I like it. Much more interesting than the normal SoTW. Something that gets you thinking "I didn't realise you could go raceing for less than the price of a weekend toy" rather than "Oh, what a supprise, cars eventualy cost less than £1k second hand".

[hothatches]

That's a great little car for a grand. I can still remember having a ride in a friend's in the 80s and thinking it was the mutt's nuts. Really, really distinctive sound. We rode around with the windows down and the Miami Vice tape on full blast we thinking we were Crocket and Tubbs. We weren't.

[jimbro1000]

I say GENIUS!

For in one fell sweep you've separated the men from the wannabe petrolheads who have no idea what such things are about! The number of unimpressed individuals has made me laugh my socks off, how ignorant are they of how much fun a simple fwd car can be on track once stripped of the unnecessary and lardy components that make up modern day motoring. Admittedly I'm sure there are far better race cars out there that could be purchased for the same pot of cash but the stock tin-tops are quite easily the most accessible regardless of which specific race series we are referring to and the best bit is that with a little effort they can still be road legal leading to endless fun provided you can resist the urge to loose your licence.

So shame on all you nay-sayers and pooh-poohers

[lockup]

All the people who are complaining about this SOTW have never gone racing. They know not what they miss.

[CDP]

jimbro1000 said:

I say GENIUS!

For in one fell sweep you've separated the men from the wannabe petrolheads who have no idea what such things are about! The number of unimpressed individuals has made me laugh my socks off, how ignorant are they of how much fun a simple fwd car can be on track once stripped of the unnecessary and lardy components that make up modern day motoring. Admittedly I'm sure there are far better race cars out there that could be purchased for the same pot of cash but the stock tin-tops are quite easily the most accessible regardless of which specific race series we are referring to and the best bit is that with a little effort they can still be road legal leading to endless fun provided you can resist the urge to loose your licence.

So shame on all you nay-sayers and pooh-poohers

100% agree.

Though I can't be certain that a mid 80's Fiesta XR2 had too many unnecessary components to begin with.

[MadDog1962]

Sorry, but IMHO to qualify the "Shed" should fulfill the following criteria:

1. Less than 1000 quid

2. Roadworthy with at least 6 months MOT and tax

3. Useable as a daily driver

Ideally it should also be fun and better still "cool".

This old XR2 is a almost certainly fun buy for weekends at the track, bu it does not meet any of the 3 criteria above. Sorry but this is a FAILED shed.

:-(

[rallycross]

This clip shows how much fun you can have racing an elderly hot hatch!

Nova's v's XR2' vs 205's v's Metro 16v at Cadwell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7EhZCF4qYQ&lis...

[re33]

CaptainSlow said:

CDP said:

The 750MC Stock Hatch and Classic Stock Hatch series are both excellent introductions to motorsport (along with Locost and Formula Vee).

Yes it costs about £4K per year to go racing but you don't have to do every race in the season and if you think about it £4K is only the annual depreciation on a Boxster. What would you rather have?

One 20 minute race has more excitement than a whole year on the roads.

The Boxster.

I just don't get this attitude? ANY car in a race on a track is better than ANY road car on the road!
(I mean a 458 on the road verus a Fiesta on the track is harder to argue but I still think its true!)

[Liquid Knight]

MadDog1962 said:

Sorry, but IMHO to qualify the "Shed" should fulfill the following criteria:

1. Less than 1000 quid

2. Roadworthy with at least 6 months MOT and tax

3. Useable as a daily driver

Ideally it should also be fun and better still "cool".

This old XR2 is a almost certainly fun buy for weekends at the track, bu it does not meet any of the 3 criteria above. Sorry but this is a FAILED shed.

:-(

I used my PPC £999 Challenge car as a daily drive while I was building it for the competition.



No reason the XR2 couldn't be made road worthy. Besides rules are made to be bent (ask my M.O.T guy).

[dbdb]

Not for me.


Nice V12 instead?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-Jaguar-XJ12-6-0-V12...

Edited by dbdb on Friday 2nd March 11:47

[danielj58]

Given a few grand that CVH can be made to flyyyy. But it kind of defeats the point.

Though perhaps we should have a new feature - racing shed of the month? 5k for race ready

[jimbro1000]

re33 said:

I just don't get this attitude? ANY car in a race on a track is better than ANY road car on the road!
(I mean a 458 on the road verus a Fiesta on the track is harder to argue but I still think its true!)

Actually I think there is less of an argument than you think - ignoring the cache of having a prancing black horse badge on the nose of your car.
To prove a point, not so many years ago I pitched a "track day" Clio 172 against a road spec Ferrari 430 around Brands Hatch. Anyone care to take a guess at which one was actually quicker and which gave the biggest grin? Granted we are talking about a Clio 172 and not a slightly battered Fiesta XR2 with barely half the grunt but the principle remains...

[Bucketeer]

What makes these whingers think they are the sole arbiter of what a shed should or should not be? Also, just because you don't like something it doesn't make it wrong/bad. [aaaaand relax]

[Mojocvh]

Anyone catch/know the spec of the donkey?

[Riggers]

MadDog1962 said:

Sorry, but IMHO to qualify the "Shed" should fulfill the following criteria:

1. Less than 1000 quid

2. Roadworthy with at least 6 months MOT and tax

3. Useable as a daily driver

Ideally it should also be fun and better still "cool".

This old XR2 is a almost certainly fun buy for weekends at the track, bu it does not meet any of the 3 criteria above. Sorry but this is a FAILED shed.

:-(

Our rules, so we can break 'em... but I do take your point

but just to clarify 'official' SOTW rules:

< less than £1k, some tax and test (could be only 1 day's worth...) and as for the daily driver bit? I can't find that written in our SOTW rulebook anywhere...

[Beanoir]

MadDog1962 said:

Sorry, but IMHO to qualify the "Shed" should fulfill the following criteria:

1. Less than 1000 quid

2. Roadworthy with at least 6 months MOT and tax

3. Useable as a daily driver

Ideally it should also be fun and better still "cool".

This old XR2 is a almost certainly fun buy for weekends at the track, bu it does not meet any of the 3 criteria above. Sorry but this is a FAILED shed.

:-(

I don't remember that ever being the criteria....

[Maty]

Fantastic shed! If I wasn't getting married this year or in need of a larger house etc etc!!!

I used to race an XR3i in the Ford XR Challenge, great fun! The 2's were always slightly faster than the 3's but we used to have some fantastic races. To whomever it was that would prefer to drive a Boxster on the roads, I'd take the racing anyday, no matter what car it was! There is absolutely no other driving experience I have ever had on the road that has even come close to that feeling you get when sat on the grid at Oulton, Donnington or wherever for that matter, staring at the lights, stting it for the first corner/lap and then the absolute addrenalin rush when the race is over, I miss it more than I care to say!

Watched a few stock hatch video's, racing looks really good, nice and close and cars look pretty equal. The XRC was great but when I left in 2003 the grids were dwindlling so stock hatch certainly looks like a better alternative.

I've already told the wife to be the new house must have a garage so I can fill it with some sort of race car!!

[garypotter]

I have spent many an hour trawling the web sites and when i get bored of the pawnbrokers!! i end looking and dreaming of getting a track car/race car for the weekend and normally looking at the following link:

http://www.stonerracing.co.uk/

The racing looks great, good looking cars and a very organised series (I know its not the only race series out there) but I was previously a toyota man.

[CDP]

garypotter said:

but I was previously a toyota man.

There's a thriving MR2 racing scene from 750MC and others, you can get a '2 for under a grand and spend about the same again getting it race ready.