Copy of Article Text Below
.....being almost identical, other than its slightly shorter front, to the car that went into production. As such, the Fiesta was launched in February 1977.
Ford didn't break any rules with the Fiesta: it had a handy hatchback and folding rear seats, front-wheel drive, rack-and-pinion steering and MacPherson struts up front. To help fuel economy Ford boffins had given the Fiesta a louvred grille and had managed to keep the pint-sized Ford's weight down to a trifling 670 kg. The result was a neat-looking, superb-handling motor lacking only one thing - grunt.
Looking back, it's surprising that Ford took so long to introduce its range-topping fire-breather, but this was nothing new - the 3-litre Capri was launched later than its smaller-engined siblings, and the XR3 was launched after the Mklll Escort was introduced. At its 1977 launch, Fiestas were available in base, L, S and Ghia forms - but there was no firecracker model.
Before the XR2's launch, Ford had also entered Fiestas in several major rallies. What's more, it had already stuck its toe in the 'warm' hatchback market with the Fiesta S and Supersport models. Aimed at the more sporting driver, the S was available with 1.1-litre and 1.3-litre engines, while the Supersport came with the 1.3-litre unit. With the accent on appearance rather than technical changes, Ford now had a rival to the Fiat 127 Sport and the Renault 5TS, but it still needed something with more power...
All that would change in December 1981 though, when Ford plugged its Fiesta performance gap. Enter the XR2, courtesy of Ford's Special Vehicle Engineering (SVE) development team.
Creating the hot Fiesta was a fairly simple task: American-spec Fiestas were fitted with the 1600cc Kent engine to satisfy the Yanks' lust for more power. SVE staff took that engine, mounted it transversely, gave it a twin-choke downdraught Weber carburettor, and the result was 84 bhp at 5500 rpm. But rather than throwing the engine in, slamming down the bonnet and walking away satisfied with their efforts. Ford engineers added further performance-enhancing equipment.
Rather than being full-on mechanical steroids, those improvements included an XR3 four-speed gearbox and stiffer.....
Captions -
Bottom-Right - The XR2 was Ford's first proper hot hatch and the blue oval's original front-drive performance car.
|
