[CAR ENGINE]
CHRIS HARRIS: It's bonkers!
The Formula Ford is the classic single-seater racing
car experience.
More future world champions have started in Formula Fords
than any other type of racing car.
But there's one behind me with a number plate on it.
Sometime last year, some people at Ford with a great
sense of humor decided to put their new very interesting
turbocharged one-liter three-cylinder engine into a
Formula Ford, and then bolt a bloke called Nick Tandy into
it, and come to the Nurburgring.
Somehow, he managed to do a 7:22 around the
ring in that thing.
In road-going spec, the motor is pushing out around 170
horsepower, down from the 205 Nick Tandy used to
set his silly lap.
The engine bay is more crowded than an Indian train.
And underneath all that plumbing is a three-cylinder
motor displacing just one liter, that's normally found
in a Fiesta.
The power boost comes by running a pair of new ECUs and
a larger turbocharger taken from the
1.6-liter EcoBoost motor.
The internals are completely standard.
At a steady 75 miles an hour, Ford claims it will turn 57
miles per gallon.
But no one actually cares about that.
They want to know how fast it is.
Well, Ford claims a 158-mile-an-hour top speed,
and 0 to 60 in under four seconds, which is fair enough
when you consider it weighs around 500 kilograms.
This car is completely road legal.
It has indicators, fog lights, even an electric handbrake.
And it also has a laminated letter from the Ford Motor
Company explaining as much, wedged down inside the
chassis, just in case you get stopped by the polizei.
[ENGINE STARTING]
CHRIS HARRIS: So before we hit the track, we might as well
try it on the road.
Now, I never thought I'd say that about a Formula Ford.
One of the most overused phrases in motoring journalism
is "it's a racing car for the road." More often than not, it
isn't a racing car for the road.
It's a road car that's been ruined to make it feel like a
racing car, or rather, an interpretation of what someone
thinks a racing car should feel like.
But this Formula Ford is genuinely a racing car of the
public highway.
And that makes it extremely exciting.
Because to have a car that responds like a racing car on
the street is something that most people never get to
experience.
It's so immediate!
Christ!
It's also one of the noisiest cars I've ever driven.
As the boost rises, you can't hear yourself think.
God!
Everything is so compact, and you are so
connected to the vehicle.
That's what I think makes it a step beyond
an Atom or a Caterham.
I mean really, a Caterham after this does feel like an
S-Class Mercedes.
It's just tiny.
You left foot brake, because there is no room to do
anything else.
I have to say, this new sequential gear shift that the
Formula Fords get, with an automatic blip on the
downshift, is a joy.
I think anyone that buys one of these, should Ford build
any, might struggle to match Mr. Tandy's
7:22 around the ring.
But as a way of going out on a Sunday morning and driving in
a manner that will make you feel more alive than any other
car, I'm not sure it can be beaten.
It's an experience that you can't replicate.
It is a proper racing car, perhaps the most proper racing
car of all, and it has a number plate.
Ford, I implore you to build some of these and sell them.
As for the engine, well, I've got 170 horsepower today,
quite a long way down from the 200 they can squeeze from it.
I can't imagine what it's like at 200.
Turbo noise--
[ENGINE REVVING]
CHRIS HARRIS: It's nuts.
I've not driven a Porsche 935.
I have driven a 962, and this is the closest to the sound--
heavily turbocharged, and
obviously half of six cylinders.
It sounds about the same.
I get to do some really silly things in this job, and this
is right up there.
[ENGINE REVVING]
CHRIS HARRIS: It's bonkers!
Absolutely bonkers!
Dear god.
Woo hoo!
This is driving.
When someone invented driving, this is what they meant.
[CHEERING AND LAUGHING]
CHRIS HARRIS: That is insane.
Why drive with a helmet on?
Drive with a helmet off with some shades on, and then you
do 30 miles an hour.
It feels like you're doing about 700 miles an hour!
This is quite a forbidding place in a single-seater.
The ring punishes cars with hard suspension and minimal
wheel travel, cars-- yes-- like a Formula Ford.
But if Mr. Tandy can do it, it must be possible, right?
Well, what I didn't know was that an earlier installation
lap had actually flipped the front roll bar inside out.
So we effectively had zero front suspension.
You might spot I'm driving rather nervously.
So the Formula Ford EcoBoost.
There is surely no better way of using one liter of
displacement.
Running fast down towards the Hatzenbach.
Nick Tandy, I salute you, you lunatic.
This thing's bumping around all over the place.
Let's take fourth into the Hatzenbach.
I've never driven a car that brakes the way this one does
around here.
It's taking me a long time to get used to it.
Stay off the curbs.
Not so great.
And let's keep pushing towards Flugplatz.
Whoa, bumpy, bumpy.
A little lift there.
It gets very low to the back end.
Tip it in.
One minute to doing all the way around.
That was quite a risk.
Now down towards Schwedenkreuz.
Sixth gear.
We're here--
Schwedenkreuz.
No error in a Formula Ford, remember?
Stick it on its nose, I'm not using anything like the
braking performance.
Whoa, lifts the wheel.
A little lift there, I'm not going to float through there.
I'm sure Mr. Tandy did.
But then, he's mental.
Veer through here.
Quite difficult to get the throttle exactly where you
want it, because it is quite boosty.
Short shift there, then she goes.
The torque is lovely, and the sound is really great.
911 [INAUDIBLE].
The steering is really heavy and direct.
Oh, yes.
It's so agile, so agile.
And you--
I would need to build up to this, because it doesn't feel
like anything else I've driven around here.
But you tip it in, and it's got loads of grip, but it
hasn't got on the slicks for me.
There's a huge amount of feel.
I don't know quite where all the grip is.
And the circuit feels so wide in this little car.
Traction's good, but I have to say, I'm not being a tail-out
warrior today.
That's not what it's about.
I think I [BLEEP]
myself, buddy.
You have to be careful with the brakes around here,
because you get a bit lulled into a sense of security,
because of course, it will [INAUDIBLE]
picks the wheel up up the hill, flat out, then.
120--
I need to slow down a bit.
Having a little lift with that [INAUDIBLE].
[INAUDIBLE].
In fifth there.
I'm two-pedaling it.
There's no room in the foot well really
to roll to the brake.
There's a little [INAUDIBLE] gearbox here.
A little lift there.
It was probably flat for the heroes.
Not for me.
It's a pretty special view down here.
A one-liter engine doing all this.
Get your head around that.
Wow.
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
Won't bother with the Karussell.
[INAUDIBLE]
It's rubbish.
Bit of understeer through there, not much, but
noticeable.
Take third here.
It's getting a bit unsettled by the bumps and road spec.
Jesus, the steering is heavy.
I think I could do a couple laps in this thing.
I want to use the curb [INAUDIBLE] but it doesn't
matter when you're carrying so much speed.
Need to concentrate through here a bit.
That's quick.
Bit of a dump.
[INAUDIBLE].
The back axle feels a bit more loose.
Whoa, that's quite quick.
Should that be third?
It's got so much torque, you're just like, wow!
Again, we'll go around the outside of this one.
What a privilege.
Empty Nurburgring on a sunny midsummer's day.
Look at the turning speed here-- flick it right!
Bang!
Third, fifth, 128, 136, 140--
that's quite quick for something [INAUDIBLE].
We're going to come to the end of it on the surface here.
146, 146, bumps there.
I guess that's about as fast as I want to go in a Formula
Ford around the Ring, thanks.
What an experience.
Proves that small capacity engines can be fantastic.
Woo hoo!
Forget for a moment that Ford might yet build a few of these
and flog them.
Think about it as a marketing exercise.
Would you, as a car enthusiast, rather Ford spend
a load more money on crap telly adverts, or give Nick
Tandy a bonkers car to go and bait Lambos at the Ring?
Quite.
There's nothing quite like it on the road.
And it's a pure racing car on the track.
Just imagine if it had a Ford warranty.
-What's it like in there?
CHRIS HARRIS: It's very noisy, everything hurts, and these
aren't my sunglasses.