The Classic Sale At Silverstone Festival 25th - 27th August 2023

The Classic Sale at Silverstone Festival 2023 Cars 72 Registration: DHJ 508T Chassis No.: BAFBUB49306 Estimate: £50,000 - £60,000 Specialist: Harry Whale Telephone No: 07919 887374 Lot 344 1979 FIA Ford Fiesta ‘Group 2’ Rally Car In mid-1977, the original Fiesta had just gone on sale in Britain, and Ford’s marketing team were looking for ways to promote their new toy. Motorsport was their traditional approach but the Fiesta was never designed with motorsport in mind. Although it was a nimble little car, with front-wheel drive and good handling, the road cars weren’t very quick, and there was no RS model in prospect. All was not lost though, and a good deal of work went into developing the little car. Now, because the US-market Fiesta launched in 1978 was fitted with a five-bearing 1.6-litre ‘Kent’ engine as standard, and was selling in sizeable quantities, there was no problem in getting it homologated. Even so, a great deal of effort would be needed to make such a car go at all fast enough, or indeed to transmit all its limited power through the 13’’ cast-alloy front wheels. Purely as a try-out. Ford decided to enter two newly-homologated Fiesta 1600s for the Monte Carlo Rally, running them to ‘Group 2’ regulations, meaning that engine-builder, Brian Hart, could boost the engines using twin-choke Weber carburettors. By using every scrap of knowledge already gained with the ageing ‘Kent’ engine, and by fitting two double-choke Weber carbs, Hart was able to squeeze about 150bhp from the 1.6-litre engine. Lubrication was now ‘dry-sump’ with the cylindrical oil tank in the boot. It was never going to be enough to win the event, although the cars might be surprisingly rapid in GRP2 form. Even in Monte Carlo, where front-wheel drive might be good on icy roads, transmitting that power through those little front wheels might be a problem and in GRP2, fitting larger diameter wheels was strictly against the regulations. Two cars were entered for the Monte, one (Roger’s car) to be built at Boreham, the other at Ford-Cologne. On the event itself, both Roger (in DHJ 500T) and Ari Vatanen (his German-built car carrying a French registration, 9543GR92) struggled to find enough grip, although Ari set one third-fastest and one fourth-fastest stage time overall on the snowy stages. If his car hadn’t suffered from a broken driveshaft at one point he would certainly have finished higher than tenth while Roger finished a creditable 13th. Offered here is an FIA-papered, ‘Group 2’ Ford Fiesta Rally Car, DHJ 508T-only eight away from the original, which is a recreation of Roger Clark’s 1979 Monte Carlo Works car that’s just been built, offered at a fraction of the build cost, and has yet to be used in anger. The specification is impressive, and we list the information on our website. To replicate this car today would cost over £120,000 and due to a change in the sellers circumstances, this example is now available for its next lucky owner. It has yet to be used in anger and is offered at less than half the build price! Being FIA ‘Group 2’, its eligible for a variety of historic rallying competitions making this a very rare opportunity indeed. This freshly built ‘Group 2’ Ford Fiesta Rally Car is an homage to Roger Clark/Jim Porter’s 1979 Monte Carlo Works car and has yet to be used in anger. More Details Lot 344 Bid On Lot 344