Rides Of Our Lives: We Sit Shotgun With Ken Block And Brendan Reeves In Full Bore Ford Fiesta Rally Cars


Rides Of Our Lives: We Sit Shotgun With Ken Block And Brendan Reeves In Full Bore Ford Fiesta Rally Cars

(Words by Nutting/Lohnes – Videos by Nutting) – It was an invitation that I would not have turned down in the face of anything. When Ford contacted BangShift eastern world HQ and asked if we would want to head up to Dalton, New Hampshire to the famed Team O’Neil Rally School to learn about the Ford Fiesta R2 and R5 rally cars. Oh, and we’d be learning about them by riding shotgun with champion rally driver Brendan Reeves and the legendary Ken Block who has been competing around the globe in a couple of different disciplines of rally competition for years along with making some of the most sensational automotive videos that have ever hit the internet.

Of course my first call was to Dave Nutting, our intrepid East Coast lead photographer and dude at large. Dave has a brain in his head so he’s got this whole “successful career” thing going on. Despite that, I pressured him to knock off the office job for the day (no matter the consequences!) and make the trip up to NH with me for this adventure. After all, when in your life is this opportunity ever going to present itself again?

The timing was perfect. Block and the Ford rally team happened to be at Team O’Neil Rally School because of the then upcoming Rally America New England Forest Rally and they had both of the models that the company is using to compete in that series with them. There was the R2 which is what Branden Reeves was driving. Both of these cars (R2 and R5) are built by M-Sport in England and M-Sport has been working with Ford for many years on multiple projects but especially rallying efforts. Like a Cobra Jet or road racing variant of the Mustang, these can be bought as complete racers. They are hot rods to the bone, the likes of which Nutting and I had surely see on television but never in person.

One of the weird things about the current state of the rallying sport in the USA is that it is made up of some of the biggest rock star names in the driving world and traction is still tough to come by. Not for the cars, mind you but for the promotion and growth of the sport. One of the issues is that television production costs are extreme due to the nature of shooting the events, spectator participation is tough because you basically pick a corner and hang on it all weekend, and rising through the sport can be difficult as there is a near vertical cost escalation when climbing the ranks. These racers from Ford are not cheap and they are not intended to be mass production units but they are intended to provide a clear path for someone looking to climb the ranks in the sport.

We’re going to play this a little backwards here and start talking about the car that Ken Block took me for a ride in and then talk about the car that both Nutting and I rode in.

Block was driving a Fiesta R5. This is an “outlaw” rally car of sorts because the R5 was designed and built to operate in series that do not fall under the direct and strict FIA rally guidelines. Because the FIA rules were not directly in effect for the R5, the car runs a WRC (World Rally Championship) style rear hatch with a big honking spoiler on it, taller gear ratios to increase top speed ability, WRC style damper inserts to improve handling, and a really, really pissed off little 2.0L turbo four banger to make the power. The engine is making about 330hp and it is peaked at 4,750 RPM using a direct injected engine based off of a billet block, a WRC legal turbo with a 34mm inlet, and a Life Racing ECU to control it all. The incredible thing is the torque. 405 lb/ft produced at 4,000 RPM and that was the biggest thing that blew my mind about the car. While you cannot hear it in the video, I was talking to Block the whole time between squeals of joy and terror asking him questions. One of them was why his car and the other made all of their power “down low” for such small displacement engines. He told me that keeping the power levels at lower RPMs helps to save tires that don’t chew themselves to death coming out of corners with massive wheel speed. It makes total sense.

There are hundreds and hundreds of man hours into the construction of these cars from the body modifications to the chassis and engine stuff and M-Sport over in England does it all. The transmission in the car is a 5-speed sequential unit developed by Sadev with gear ratios specific to this engine. It was one of the sweetest shifting things I have ever witnessed and you will see it in the video. It gets the hell hammered out of it and keeps coming back for more. The wheels are from OZ, brakes are AP Racing 4-piston jobs on all four corners, and the suspension itself is MacPherson struts all around with WRC external reservoir dampers along with front and rear roll bars that can be used if conditions dictate.

Watch the ride and keep reading: 

So you can see me laughing and you can see me at times talking to Ken Block as we went ripping through the forest at Team O’Neil Rally School. The laughing was completely genuine, it was the most fun thing I have ever done in a car by the longest shot you can possibly imagine. Block said we touched 140 or so in portions of this run and it felt like all of that being how narrow the course is and all. I did not have a fearful reaction to this ride, it was joyous. At about 2:40 in you may have noticed my eyes bug out and then me kind of bracing myself. That was us hitting a big jump, which you likely figured out. The most impressive thing about the ride was how NON violent it was. Yes, it was banging and throwing rocks everywhere but the suspension on the car does such an incredible job of soaking up the big ruts and chuck holes it really blew my mind. The lack of violent made the thing feel even faster because you were not thinking about how jostled you were getting but rather how damned fast the rocks and trees were whizzing by.

The single most impressive thing for me? The braking. On dirt this thing would out stop any other car I have ever sat in, ridden in, or driven. When Ken Block threw the anchor out, it was stopping RIGHT NOW. It was a total mind bender in that regard because normal stuff does not do that at all on pavement let alone freaking dirt, right?  He was in control the whole time and our conversation was awesome when I was able to get the words out. I did ask him if his life was as good as he dreamed it would be when he was 10 years old and he jokingly said better because there’s stuff you can’t even dream up at 10. I have a hard time believing that I will do anything to top that experience in the near or distant future. What a bad ass car!

Oh, the “buy it now” price on this car from M-Sport is about $240,000. We want three.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SPECS ON THE FIESTA R5 FROM M-SPORT

Here’s Nutting’s take on the second car, known as a Fiesta R2 –

Yes, it’s a Ford Fiesta, yes, it’s front wheel drive, and yes it has a 1.0L turbo 3-banger that’s marginally larger than the sandwich I had for lunch this afternoon. Doesn’t matter, as rocketing through the woods in this little monster was the wildest thing I’ve done to date at BangShift.

Sure, I’ve travelled at higher speeds and both been a passenger and driver of vehicles with over three times the horsepower, but none of that took place on narrow gravel roads with trees, drop offs, and jumps with only a helmet, four-point harness, and cage to keep your emergency contact from getting a phone call. Seriously, I had to sign a “If I die, I die” waiver and had to provide contact details for my next of kin, it’s that serious.
Oh, and this was the SLOWER of the two vehicles Ford strapped us into that day. Rides with Ken Block and his AWD chariot were limited and I wasn’t one of the lucky few able to ride along with him, but my all-too-short time in the Fiesta R2 and its 180 HP mill was more than enough to both terrify me and yet leave me wanting more.
Seconds into the ride, I was thinking, “Whatever you do, don’t look like you’re going to piss yourself”, and then we got air. Right around that time I figured watching the driver’s footwork would be a great idea, you know, to prepare myself for the Team O’Neil class we were going to attend later. Yeah, that’s it. I wish I was kidding about this, but the video doesn’t lie, and neither does the death grip I had on the seat bolster.
All joking aside, this was the biggest rush I’ve ever had in a car, and it literally left me breathless as I reluctantly contorted myself past the roll cage a short few minutes later. Ask Lohnes, I was the epitome of awestruck. Evidently I stood there repeatedly mouthing the word “Awesome” over and over again for a good 5 minutes. If you ever get an opportunity like this, take it.

(Back to Lohnes) – 

So all of the stuff Dave said above it true. The R2 is the lower classed car of this pair but it was in some ways even more mind boggling than Block’s car because of the miniscule one liter engine, incredible acceleration braking, and general performance. It just should not be able to do the things that it does and keep on going…for an entire season of racing. This car sells for about $60,000 whereas the R5 is far more money because it is intended to do more hardcore racing.

Like a Cobra Jet Mustang on the drag strip, this car is built off the production line Ford Fiesta. The engine is a 1.0L three banger that gets upgraded connecting rods, cams, pistons, valve springs, air box, etc, but the biggest upgrade is the turbo that comes off the 2.0L production EcoBoost engine. All told, this one makes about 50 more HP than the factory stocker and those are safe HP as they are designed to survive the rigors of rally racing. This engine is also a mind warp in the fact that it barely ever sees 5,000 RPM on the course. It makes all of its power down low and it is geared to get out of corners and accelerate like its hair is on fire. 60ci is what the engine measures. Lots of motorcycles have engines larger than this one and it plants you in the seat and rips through the dirt like there is a rocket strapped to the roof. The transmission is a Sadev sequential 5-speed  with a limited slip differential and upgraded axles. The final drive ratio of the car is 4.41:1. Alcon brakes hang on the corners, electric power steering aids the driver, and multi-way adjustable coil overs handle the dampening duties up front with two way adjustables work in the rear.

Reeves was an amazing guy to sit next to. He’s Australia’s top rallying export and has won class championships here in the USA after making the jump over. As cool as a cucumber while barreling through the woods, he was more than happy to talk about the car and how well it was working. Having helmet communication completely enhanced the ride experience as it really connected you to the driver and being able to talk to these guys as their did their thing really made it for us.

The brilliance of the R2 is that the car is built to a spec that makes it legal for rally racing in 34 freaking countries. THIRTY FOUR COUNTRIES. Outside of drag racing, there is no more global motorsport than rally. There is actually a European series built right around these cars.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SPECS OF THE FIESTA R2 FROM M-SPORT 

The three cylinder engine is a marvel in and of itself. Last year we had a three cylinder, five speed Ford Fiesta for a week and the car was beyond fun. With about 120 factory HP and a mileage rating of some 46mpg on the highway the thing is designed to sip fuel. Because of the good gearing in the five speed box and the fact that the engine makes great torque for its size due to being turbocharged, it is hilarious to drive. There’s no shame in this car at all and believe it or not, it is very fun.

fiesta fiesta1 fiesta3 fiesta4

 

If you can believe it, the day got even more fun after these rides. We were invited by some of the Team O’Neil staff to take part in a rally driving school where we would learn some of the basics that they teach at their award winning academy in the New Hampshire woods. Both Nutting and I got seat time, and got humbled hard during the drills. We’re going to tell you all about that tomorrow!

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4 thoughts on “Rides Of Our Lives: We Sit Shotgun With Ken Block And Brendan Reeves In Full Bore Ford Fiesta Rally Cars

  1. mooseface

    Oh man, that looks like a ton of fun!
    In a way, I wish the videos had a feed from your helmet mics just so we could all hear you and Dave giggling middle schoolers thumbing through an issue of Mad Magazine.
    Thanks for sharing this!

  2. john

    How many times did that “1000cc sandwich” try to repeat during that woods run? Looked like great fun. 🙂

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