RE: Ford XR2 Challenge - building project

[onenastyviper]

Hi, I am starting in club level motorsport and I have been offered a fiesta car to build into a racing car. I would like to build it up over the long dark winter ready for spring summer thrashing;-)

Ideally, I would like to enter it into the XR2 challenge as I live in the north west. My question is can any fiesta chassis be used/modded to run in the XR2 challenge, I have checked the regulations but I cannot find a mention of chassis (unless it is implied of course.

many thanks, PK

[Al Weyman]

I would have thought like most modern saloons there is zilch difference between the basic XR2 shell and a standard 1.0 job. I found that out years ago when I modified a genuine and reasonably rare Sunbeam Ti into a race car and should have really have sold it on and used a base model! My black Camaro for example is a genine IROC model but there is nothing on it that could not be bolted on to a 4 cylinder base model we are not talking about FIA classification here (and even many Lotus Cortinas etc running in Historics I guarantee started as base model Cortinas).

[kelvin88]

asuming your not using an xr2 shell you will find you have no mounting points for the anti-roll bars to start with. if you want help, i am sure Kevin Shortis will lend a hand putting you in touch with people close to your area or you can pm me with any troubles you come across and i will try to sort them for you.

Tbh for xr2 challenge you would be better off buying a car that is already in it.

[Dom]

You can use a base model shell rather than the XR2 as long as you bolt on all the XR2 bits to comply with the regs. If fact your probably better off with as base shell as most XR2's had sunroofs and therefore will now have rotten sills.

[ss_collins]

My first racer was an XR2 in Ford Saloons - but really the best thing to do is ask Kev Shortis - he's a nice chap and very helpful.

Boy do these things rot though the floor in our orange one (last seen in Hot Hatch with Roger Ebdon at the wheel) was more hole than metal - and that was a sunroof shell. So a Non sunroof could be a very sound idea

[silver bullet]

I presume you are talking about a mkII Fiesta
There are one or two differences between a standard Fiesta shell and the XR2 version. None of them are too major, and there should be no problem if you want to use a standard shell. I would suggest finding the soundest shell you can, as tin-worm can be a big problem. My rallycross version slowly disintegrated around me, and many hours were spent with the mig and lots of tin plate In the end I think there was more patches than original shell
As Kelvin has said, the easiest option is buying one ready built. A good secondhand one will probably cost less than building one from scratch.
Mind you some people say half the fun is building your own.

If you do decide to build your own give me a PM, as I still have one or two bits & bobs lying around.

[ss_collins]

some people say half the fun is building your own

Some people are very strange...

[onenastyviper]

Thanks, next time I am around the XR2 brigade, I will have a good chat.
In either case, I really fancy having a car project whether it turns out to be a racer or a crazy trackday car it does not matter to me really...I just love cars and racing and tracks.

many thanks to all who have replied.

PK

[ss_collins]

race - I was at a trackday last week and was hopping mad at how bad the drivers were

[Flat Out Farr]

you could just buy mine and save yourself lots of work !!

[Alan Cherry]

Originally Posted by Flat Out Farr

you could just buy mine and save yourself lots of work !!

One careful owner - That'll be the one before Chris then !

[Flat Out Farr]

Thank you Mr Cherry ! George was very careful with it; gave it lots of TLC.

[Eric Falce]

PK, if you want to go in at the deep end have a look at Jason Watkins car on race cars direct,the price for what you are getting is so over the top.The cost of the engine and box will not leave much change out of the asking price for the complete car,and that is fully sorted,needs a better driver,thats all.

[chezza]

Its a very tidy car, although I had heard it had gone...

[racepuma52]

If i was you i would buy a ready to race XR2 it would be cheeper than trying to build one from a road car, i have owned six XR challenge car over the last ten years, i tried building one from a roadcar it cost a Bomb. Regards Steve..

[Paceracing]

Chezza, it's still for sale http://www.racecarsdirect.com/viewli...php?view=11478 although there are a couple of people interested in it, but no one has comitted yet (one person is intersted in racing it outside of the UK).

As Eric sort of kindly says, it's fully sorted, and arguably the quickest normally aspirated 1600cc engined MK2 XR2 in the country. I rekon that it owes me about £20K over the last 5 years or so, so £6,500 can't be too bad. As I understand it, I believe that you could bolt on a single downdraft carb and go into the XR challenge with it, but this will need confirming.

Jason.