MK5 Fiesta - First Time Track Day Car
Discussion
Hi all,
Was wondering if I could get some feedback from some people with greater knowledge than I!
A neighbour has offered a Mk5 1.4 fiesta for £50, as an unneeded car, with full MOT. On inspection the car looks good, in terms of rust, general wear and all the bits working as it should. Spoken to the missus about it and, both of us being engineers we agreed that we could potentially use it as a first-time track car. Being so cheap, it could be scrapped for a minimal loss if something terminal crops up upon purchase.
We have enough off-road space and can trailer the car about (below MAM etc), and either have or have access to the relevant tools needed. Reasonably competent with spanner, hammer and cable ties
, so I do not foresee any major problems with the basic build, maintenance and running.
As it is a first-time car, The aim is to keep it simple and relatively cheap until I make sure it is a viable thing for me to do. So a standard strip out, seats, harnesses, good brakes and good tyres. I know the puma engine swap is a relatively common thing, but for now I will just keep the engine as is, just a clean of the air intake system, filter and oil change. I have no proven abilities of driving well on a track, so a lower power output will probably benefit me! As it will be trailered and off-road, being road legal doesn't matter either.
My question on this would be what are other people's experiences of either this model of car, or other low powered vehicle as a track car? Both in terms of the build complexity and the experience of running it.
If anyone has any photos of their project that would be great to see too!
Of course there are many better cars available, but for the cost of a meal out we could have the start of a nice hobby. Apologies if this has been mentioned before, however I couldn't see anything in the forums!
Thanks
Was wondering if I could get some feedback from some people with greater knowledge than I!
A neighbour has offered a Mk5 1.4 fiesta for £50, as an unneeded car, with full MOT. On inspection the car looks good, in terms of rust, general wear and all the bits working as it should. Spoken to the missus about it and, both of us being engineers we agreed that we could potentially use it as a first-time track car. Being so cheap, it could be scrapped for a minimal loss if something terminal crops up upon purchase.
We have enough off-road space and can trailer the car about (below MAM etc), and either have or have access to the relevant tools needed. Reasonably competent with spanner, hammer and cable ties
, so I do not foresee any major problems with the basic build, maintenance and running.As it is a first-time car, The aim is to keep it simple and relatively cheap until I make sure it is a viable thing for me to do. So a standard strip out, seats, harnesses, good brakes and good tyres. I know the puma engine swap is a relatively common thing, but for now I will just keep the engine as is, just a clean of the air intake system, filter and oil change. I have no proven abilities of driving well on a track, so a lower power output will probably benefit me! As it will be trailered and off-road, being road legal doesn't matter either.
My question on this would be what are other people's experiences of either this model of car, or other low powered vehicle as a track car? Both in terms of the build complexity and the experience of running it.
If anyone has any photos of their project that would be great to see too!
Of course there are many better cars available, but for the cost of a meal out we could have the start of a nice hobby. Apologies if this has been mentioned before, however I couldn't see anything in the forums!
Thanks
Hi,
It should be fine - just get out there, be sensible and safe. It should be a hoot.
Obviously, before the first track day make sure the tyres are in good condition, and the brakes (inc fluid) are up to the job.
Spend the first day understanding the car/ you and take it from there.
The race mk4/mk5 fiestas are proper quick.
It should be fine - just get out there, be sensible and safe. It should be a hoot.
Obviously, before the first track day make sure the tyres are in good condition, and the brakes (inc fluid) are up to the job.
Spend the first day understanding the car/ you and take it from there.
The race mk4/mk5 fiestas are proper quick.
FYI, my first track day was at the Prescott Hill Climb circuit courtesy of Autocar magazine. The on-hand instructor was giving sighting runs to anyone who wanted them in, guess what, a 1.4 Fiesta! In his opinion it was plenty fast enough to get into trouble in any bend and used it to demonstrate the benefit of hard late braking and loading the suspension for turning into the corners. He went far faster round the blind semicircle than I dared to do all day! The car was completely standard and was his daily runaround.
Imho I think you'll get bored of being overtaken quickly. If you just want to get on track then it'll do the job.
But..there are much better base cars that will keep you entertained for longer for not much money. If you're thinking of getting on track regularly then I'd go straight for something more appropriate rather than throw time and money at the fiesta.
But..there are much better base cars that will keep you entertained for longer for not much money. If you're thinking of getting on track regularly then I'd go straight for something more appropriate rather than throw time and money at the fiesta.
I may be able to help as I run a 1.4 mk4 Fiesta on track :-)
In my opinion it's more than an good enough place to start, remember in the late 90's the Ford Fiesta Credit Championship was the support race for the BTCC, the cars used the same 1.4 'sigma' lump that our cars have, and properly set up are no slouch (I took inspiration from this series for my own car).
Mine is a basic spec so does without things like ABS, leccy windows, aircon etc, I run a full interior and no engine mods, it's well geared as standard and will more or less hold it's own with mx5s and the like in a straight line. Before this I had a 280bhp Impreza Type RA, and was it more fun just because it had a lot more power? Not really. In my opinion unless you have something seriously powerful most cars feel slow on track in a straight line, so it just isn't worth worrying about.
These cars are simple, cheap and easy to work on, also through racing and the general modifying scene everything has been tried, tested and proven.
No major changes are required to make them reasonable fun on track, but I'd recommend the following as a minimum;
Uprated discs and pads - standard disc size is fine, I run national sport grooved discs with Ferodo DS Performance pads
Braided brake lines
Uprated suspension - lots of options, but I went with Bilstein B6's with Eibach springs, got them second hand for not a lot and work very well
OMP lower wishbone brace
Uprated gearbox torque link
Decent quality tyres but stick to the 185/55r14 size
And that's it.. I'd also suggest polybushes for the rear axle, uprating the front lower arm bushes and the gear linkage from the Puma or Zetec S (shorter shift), I also run a slightly wider track with Ford rear axle spacers on the rear and hubcentrics on the front.
Should you want more power then the 1.7 lump from the puma is a very straight forward swap and can be turbo'd and so on, there is also a myriad of options for uprated braking and suspension etc for further down the line should you choose to add more power, but for me personally I still enjoy ringing the neck of the 1.4 :-)
ZSOC is a good place to have a browse as there's nothing that hasn't been done by someone on there..
In my opinion it's more than an good enough place to start, remember in the late 90's the Ford Fiesta Credit Championship was the support race for the BTCC, the cars used the same 1.4 'sigma' lump that our cars have, and properly set up are no slouch (I took inspiration from this series for my own car).
Mine is a basic spec so does without things like ABS, leccy windows, aircon etc, I run a full interior and no engine mods, it's well geared as standard and will more or less hold it's own with mx5s and the like in a straight line. Before this I had a 280bhp Impreza Type RA, and was it more fun just because it had a lot more power? Not really. In my opinion unless you have something seriously powerful most cars feel slow on track in a straight line, so it just isn't worth worrying about.
These cars are simple, cheap and easy to work on, also through racing and the general modifying scene everything has been tried, tested and proven.
No major changes are required to make them reasonable fun on track, but I'd recommend the following as a minimum;
Uprated discs and pads - standard disc size is fine, I run national sport grooved discs with Ferodo DS Performance pads
Braided brake lines
Uprated suspension - lots of options, but I went with Bilstein B6's with Eibach springs, got them second hand for not a lot and work very well
OMP lower wishbone brace
Uprated gearbox torque link
Decent quality tyres but stick to the 185/55r14 size
And that's it.. I'd also suggest polybushes for the rear axle, uprating the front lower arm bushes and the gear linkage from the Puma or Zetec S (shorter shift), I also run a slightly wider track with Ford rear axle spacers on the rear and hubcentrics on the front.
Should you want more power then the 1.7 lump from the puma is a very straight forward swap and can be turbo'd and so on, there is also a myriad of options for uprated braking and suspension etc for further down the line should you choose to add more power, but for me personally I still enjoy ringing the neck of the 1.4 :-)
ZSOC is a good place to have a browse as there's nothing that hasn't been done by someone on there..
gkw90 said:
Thanks for the positive feedback chaps (on pistonheads, who would have thought!!). Will post a build thread once I get off my backside and go get it. Most likely will be a long-ish process due to small matters like work getting in the way.
i think the track days thread is ignored by the armchair magazine-reading statistics students!Anyhow, good luck, enjoy and do give us a build thread
Apart from a good service, I would prioritise a bucket seat, and then instruction (free with OpenTrack, or £20 with others) above all other mods.
The seat will get you "in" the car, not perched "on" it and give you the support and feedback you need to feel the car.
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