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WO rounds into the 2016 WRC2 to accommodate a new port shape. calendar, we’ve only seen one car Conversely, some design parameters are T(and indeed one crew) grace the top grouped together under one article (for spot of the podium. The newly updated Ford instance, valve inclination, deck height and Fiesta R5 Evo appears to have established combustion chamber volume). itself as the car to beat in the World Rally M-Sport found itself on a pretty tight Championship’s hotly contested support development schedule with the original series, having propelled Welshman Elfyn Fiesta R5. Vying for the attention of Evans and co-driver Craig Parry to class customer teams, the Cumbrian firm was victories on both the Monte Carlo and keen to be the first to market. That meant Swedish rallies. acting as something of a guinea pig for The ‘Evo’ spec is effectively an update both the homologation process and the package for M-Sport’s existing Ford Fiesta regulations themselves. R5, which has sold 146 units so far. A series One of the things that’s helped to make of chassis and aero tweaks are expected in the R5 formula so popular is that the rules the near future, but right now it focuses place pretty stringent price caps on most of largely on the powertrain. the components. It’s resulted in near-World Under the R5 category’s ‘joker’ system, Rally Car (WRC) performance for a fraction CATCH US IF YOU CAN Propelled by the single biggest engine development step in the company’s history, M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta R5 Evo is blazing the trail in the competitive second tier of the World Rally Championship. Chris Pickering investigates

manufacturers can apply to change of the cost, but it does present some extra homologated parts before the start of each challenges to the constructors. In order to season. M-Sport had eight jokers available achieve the cost cap targets, parts often to use on the Fiesta, of which five have now have to be bought in bulk. If you’re the first been applied to the powertrain. out the blocks it means committing to the “This is the first major update to the R5 and it component specifications very early on, was always intended to be primarily an engine which can involve compromises. package,” explains M-Sport’s head of engine “The regulations were still being finalised as development, Nigel Arnfield. “We’ve used we were working and it led to quite a stressful almost all of the jokers on the powertrain.” homologation process,” says Arnfield. “We Broadly speaking, one joker was used probably had to make a few compromises as for each of the four major development the first one through the process.” areas: inlet port geometry, piston crown, camshafts and exhaust manifold, plus one POWER AND RESPONSE for the clutch/flywheel assembly. It’s not quite as simple as it sounds, however. Some The M-Sport engineers had a number of articles in the homologation document potential changes in mind when work began overlap – for instance, you’d have to change on the update package, but they also set about both the cylinder head and the manifold benchmarking their car against the opposition.

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ABOVE Moment of truth: the updates helped Evans overcome a stern challenge from the Scandinavians on their home ground in the Swedish Rally Photos: M-Sport

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The biggest increases were found through inlet port geometry and camshaft profiles”

“A lot of our customers had also driven other R5 cars and I think, generally, we had a lack of torque,” admits Arnfield. “It was certainly an area where some of the other manufacturers were stronger, so it really focused my attention. When you start something like that you don’t quite know what the target is, so you just keep pushing ABOVE Improvements to both power and torque have unlocked the R5’s potential until you run into diminishing returns.” The biggest increases were to be found engineers had to play it fairly safe. we knew what would work. In the end, I through inlet port geometry and camshaft M-Sport has been working to unlock think we went through four iterations on profiles, he reveals. The original Fiesta R5 that potential ever since the original car the camshaft and about the same on the ran more or less the standard road car was launched. A lot of the work has been cylinder head.” porting. Right from the start it was clear based on empirical data and experience The engine is based on the 1.6-litre that there was room for improvement, but gleaned from the WRC, Arnfield explains: turbocharged inline four found in the Ford limited development time and relatively “We’d had a reasonable amount of time to Fiesta ST road car. As with most modern tight constraints in the rules meant the assess the car, so we were pretty confident production designs it uses direct injection (DI), which means it’s very sensitive to the shape of the piston crown and the roof of the combustion chamber. With so little time to mix the fuel and the air in a DI engine, in-cylinder turbulence is every bit as important as air flow. “We knew there was a lot of potential to develop the piston further,” comments Arnfield. “Once we’d got the original R5 out there and competing it was something we could revisit.” The Fiesta R5 Evo’s turbo is essentially unchanged from the previous iteration. Like all turbos used in the R5 class it’s road car-derived, although it’s not clear exactly which road car that might be. What we do know is that it’s virtually stock in terms of hardware and it’s slightly bigger than those used on most of the other R5s. “Right from the outset, we’ve been very happy indeed with our choice of turbo,” comments Arnfield. “It’s very efficient at higher engine speeds and it just needed a bit of help to get some more torque lower down. One of the biggest things we did to improve the response was reducing the diameter of the primary pipes on the exhaust manifold to increase the gas speed.” As with the other R5 cars, the Fiesta runs ABOVE Five homologation jokers were an anti-lag system (ALS). This relies on the played in engine changes which are the centrepiece of the R5’s upgrade kit same basic principle as those found in the

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fully-fledged WRC cars: sending a small single biggest engine development step amount of unburnt fuel into the exhaust in the company’s history. According to Ford Fiesta R5 manifold, where it ignites, creating enough Arnfield it now matches the torque of the temperature and pressure to keep the WRC engine over the lower portion of the Technical turbine blades spinning. Unlike the WRC rev range. Even more impressively, peak Specification cars, however, R5 machines aren’t allowed power is said to be within around 10 per to run fresh air systems that pipe oxygen cent of its big brother, with the R5 Evo ENGINE from the turbo compressor into the exhaust typically conceding less than a second M-Sport-developed 1.6 turbo, direct manifold. Instead, they must draw all the per kilometre on the stages, despite the injection powerplant, FIA-regulated 32 air they need to sustain this combustion in significant price gap. mm restrictor. Life Racing engine control through the engine. You might say the Fiesta R5 Evo is unit and power management systems “We use a lot of ignition retard [to delay effectively 90 per cent of a WRC car for combustion and initiate the anti-lag] and 60 per cent of the cost. So where exactly BODYSHELL we keep the fly-by-wire throttle open by have the compromises been made? M-Sport-designed bespoke rollcage a small amount,” explains Arnfield. “It’s a There’s no one major area, Arnfield as per FIA R5 regulations. milder form of ALS compared to a WRC car, explains, but rather a cumulative cost- R5 aero package but removing the fresh air system helps to reduction spread across the whole vehicle: reduce the hardware costs.” “Right from the concept stage every TRANSMISSION As with any ALS system, the downside is component has to be designed with one Sadev 5-speed sequential gearbox that both the exhaust manifold and the eye on the cost, both in terms of the mated to Sadev front and rear turbo are subject to increased temperatures material that you use and the complexity differential units and pressures. It also creates more heat of the design. It’s very difficult to carry out in the engine bay, which then has to be complex machining cheaply, so the cost SUSPENSION dissipated. Overall, though, it provides a cap is a great way of regulating things.” Front and rear MacPherson struts marked benefit. With a customer car produced in with Reiger external reservoir Control of the process is handled by the (comparatively) large numbers, you also dampers, three-way adjustable. Fiesta R5 Evo’s Life Racing ECU. The Essex have to think very carefully about running Front and rear anti roll-bar options company also supplies the car’s power costs and durability. There simply isn’t the management system, which is operated by margin to absorb any teething troubles that UPRIGHTS a membrane switch panel. you might find on a works programme. Machined aluminium uprights of “We always do a lot of durability testing a universal design – strengthened PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT to ensure the cars exceed the sort of suspension links rebuild life that’s expected of them,” says Thanks to these updates, the Fiesta R5 Arnfield. “In the case of the R5, this took INTERIOR Evo’s power is up by 32 bhp at 4,500 place predominantly on gravel, with some FIA 8862 standard competition rpm and 56 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. tarmac running mixed in, with a 2,000 km seats with 6-point HANS-compatible M-Sport hasn’t released any outright sign-off. In parallel we ran 1,000 km on harnesses. AP Racing ‘fly-by-wire’ fully figures, but it says this represents the the transient engine dyno and 2,000 km adjustable pedal box. Life Racing fully functional driver display controlled by a membrane switch panel

FUEL SYSTEM ATL 80-litre fuel tank, centrally mounted.

BRAKES AP Racing forged 4-piston front and rear callipers. Gravel 300 x 28 mm ventilated discs/Asphalt 355 x 32 mm ventilated discs. Hydraulic handbrake

WHEELS 7” x 15” wheels – Gravel 8” x 18” wheels – Asphalt

TYRES Michelin TZ 80, 85, 95 L&R – Gravel ABOVE The R5 Evo’s turbo glows Michelin SA30, SA20, SA01, PB00 – bright on the dyno, where a 1,000 km sign-off took place for the new engine Asphalt

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BELOW Skoda, having launched its R5 after the Fiesta, had become the WRC2 benchmark. Until its top crews were beaten in Sweden… on the chassis dyno.” Officially, M-Sport quotes a 1,500 km (935-mile) rebuild life, but this is understood to be well within the cars’ capabilities. Usually, we’re told, they come back to the company for servicing, which means that aftercare is a substantial part of the business – with nearly 150 examples in circulation, the Fiesta R5 is surely one of the most numerous international-level competition cars sold today. The update will be included on all new R5 Fiestas and it’s also designed to be Skoda retro-fitted to existing cars. M-Sport’s engine shop has been working seven- CHASSIS AND AERO is their first step into four-wheel drive. The day weeks since December, with around Fiesta uses a 5-speed sequential gearbox 50 cars already updated to the new The Fiesta R5’s chassis is largely unchanged. from Sadev, allied to the French company’s powertrain spec. Structurally, it uses a production Ford Fiesta front and rear differential units. “We recommend carrying out the upgrade shell with a bespoke roll cage developed by Suspension is McPherson strut all-round, when the engine is due a rebuild,” says M-Sport. FIA 8862 standard competition with three-way adjustable remote reservoir Arnfield. “The cylinder head is due a seats with HANS-compatible harnesses and a dampers from Dutch rally specialist Reiger refurbishment anyway and you’re going to centrally-mounted 80-litre fuel tank from ATL Racing Suspension. Further tokens have been be changing the pistons, so it’s much more further boost the car’s safety credentials. devoted to an updated damper package, as economical to do it at the same time.” For many young rally drivers, an R5 car well as new compression struts, due for a WRC2 competition debut later this month. Not only does the suspension have to be exceptionally tough to cope with rough surfaces, jumps and corner cutting, it must be able to function across an incredibly wide range of conditions. The temperature range of WRC2 rallies runs from -30 deg C in Sweden to +30 deg C in Sardinia; they can cover ice, snow and tarmac – sometimes within the space of one rally. “The car needs to have a very broad operating window,” says Arnfield. “Obviously we do have different setups for gravel and tarmac, but that still covers a huge variation. We go from super smooth tarmac to very bumpy tarmac, and the same for the gravel rallies.” Under the R5 regulations, the machined aluminium uprights are identical on all four corners, reducing cost and simplifying setup. The brakes, meanwhile, are AP Racing forged 4-piston callipers front and rear with ventilated discs (300 x 28 mm for gravel and 355 x 32 mm for tarmac). M-Sport is still investigating possible aerodynamic changes to the rear wing and the front bumper. Elsewhere, a new auxiliary lighting system from Lazer Lamps reduces both weight and power consumption. It’s the engine changes, however, that remain central to the R5’s upgrade kit. With ABOVE Monte Carlo remains the jewel in WRC-baiting performance and a proven world rallying’s crown. It was the perfect durability record, it’s no wonder the Fiesta is stage on which to display crushing dominance over WRC2 opposition proving hard to beat.

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