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Popular Motoring - Technical: Fiesta Race Preparation
"Goin' racing. Fiesta Race Championship 1981"
June 1981
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Technical: Fiesta Race Preparation




Thank you to Frank Dauber (aka fiestaseriex) for supplying this article.

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Copy of Article Text Below


Roll cage

We then bolted in a Ford Rallye Sport roll cage, as shown in our drawing. This really does give the driver all-round protection in a major shunt.

To cut a long story short, the roll cage complies with RAC safety regulations 1(a), 1(b), 1(c), 1(h), 1(i) and 1(j) in the 1981 Motor Sport Year Book.

This book, incidentally, is supplied to ail RAC licence holders, and should be studied carefuily. Because, not only does the car have to conform with the Fiesta Championship regulations, but all the appropriate RAC ones as well.

Seat

A Ford Competition seat was carefully and securely bolted in position on a couple of strong pieces of steel previously welded to the Fiesta's floor.

Racers who've been involved in major shunts tell me that a secure driver's seat is very important.

It's no use being protected by a strong roll cage if the seat ts going to pull away from its mountings and allow you to move around like a pea in a whistle during a major 'happening'.

Not only did we weld the steel brackets to the floor, but double welded the panel sections they were secured to.

Factory spot welds may be all right for normal road use, but it's better to be safe than sorry if you're fast approaching a steel barrier backwards, sideways or whatever.

Harness

So the seat has to be secure, but the driver also has to be strapped in with a four fixing point harness (or three point with a symmetrical fixing for the two shoulder straps}.

We used a Britax harness, which was, bolted to the Fiesta's two existing floor mounting points and one at the rear previously used by the rear seat belts.

Electrics

All competition cars have to be fitted with an electrics cut-out, which can be operated by the driver from inside or a marshal from the outside.

Our picture shows an Autolec Battery Master Switch fitted in a neat bracket to the Fiesta. This device not only isolates the battery if the lever is turned, but cuts out the ignition and charging systems as well.

That's inside, but how do you fix it to be operated from the outside? Simple really, just secure a choke cable with the knob in the required position in front of the screen to run through and be attached to the handle inside. It works.

Battery

Still on the subject of the battery, this has to have an additional mounting to hold it securely in place (a battery floating around the car can be rather nasty), and have an insulated cover. We used one of these from a Lancia.

Fire extinguisher

The regulations call for at least a 3.3lb BCF or BTM fire extinguisher, mounted within reach of the driver.

We attached ours to the Fiesta's roll cage by securing the bracket with a couple of strong hose clips.

Fuel tank

The vital Autolec electrics cut-out; in the event of a shunt everything can be switched off either by driver or a marshal.

Last job on the actual body was the fuel tank. The standard one, which bolts under the rear floor, must be retained, but covered with 5mm of glassfibre or fire-proofing material. We used glassfibre, but it was a helluva messy job slapping it on the night before the race. Terry Gray's fingers are still stuck together.

Captions -

Top-Left - Drawing shows mounting points of our Ford Rally Sport roll cage. Driver is well protected, as you can see.
Top-Right - Our Fiesta's gutted interior with just roll cage bolted in. Seat, harness and electrics cut-out were added later.
Middle - Our man puzzles how to secure the Fiesta's Britax safety harness. Standard belt mounting holes were used for this.
Bottom-Middle - We used Ford competition brake pads - 9054262 - but later on will be testing some Ferodo DS11s.
Bottom-Right - The vital Autolec electrics cut-out; in the event of a shunt everything can be switched off either by driver or a marshal.