Stop Press
Last
on December 31 2015The Stop Press page lists the many magazine appearences made by the XR2 over the past 20 years. Some of the articles are scanned in, and may be downloaded.
December 1992
Back in 1992, when magazines only cost £2.10p, and weren't crammed full of ladies in various states of undress, the Fiesta appeared at the Ultimate Fast Car show '92. A 1/4 mile sprint, ran at the Manby Airfield in Lincolnshire. I won the up-to 1400cc class with the Fiesta, back when it had Crossflow power. A seed was sewn however, and a year after the event I started work on the Fiesta, removing the Crossflow engine, and transplanting the 2.0 Zetec.
July 2002
In June 2002, the Fiesta was featured in the July 2002 edition of Performance Ford magazine. Photographed at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome in April 2002, the car hadn't even turned a wheel before the photo session, it was indeed her debut. A problem with the gearbox was soon apparent, so the shoot just used static shots, and the following week the gearbox was removed and repaired. Quaife came to the rescue. A broken syncro ring was to blame, and they replaced it and rebuilt the box free of charge. A fantastic service....
Here's an Adobe Acrobat format file of my magazine article from July 2002's Performance Ford magazine.
September 2003
Another appearance in Performance Ford magazine, the September 2003 edition featured the largest collection of XR2's to be put through their paces at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome. The article said "Arguably the best Fiesta on the day", which was quite a complement considering the quality of the other cars there. Photographed in June 2003, we had perfect sunny weather for some very quick times to be recorded along the 2 mile runway.
October 2003
In September 2003, the Fiesta made the front cover of the October 2003 edition of the new Retro Cars magazine. Photographed at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, there were two other Hot Hatches and a very quick 1275GT Mini. There was a really tidy Mk1 Golf 1800 which nearly made the front cover, and a really tatty but incredibly quick Peugeot 205 MI16, which was a front runner in the CCC Championships, though the car sported no championship decals, which struck me as odd. Still he was quicker than me, and certainly gave me food for thought for the following years 2004 championships.
In September 2003, the Fiesta was also featured in a Clinic Feature by Dave Walker, in what turned out to be the final edition of Cars & Car Conversions magazine. Photographed at the DERA test track at Chobham in August 2003, the weather was incredible, really high temperatures, and clear blue skies. Dave drove the Fiesta a few hundred yards and leapt out proclaiming that it was a real handful, and he had something to write about. He recommended various changes to the suspension etc, and his article made for very interesting reading, leading to a visit to his Emerald workshops in Norwich the following weekend for some chassis tweaks.
Although it was a sad day when I heard that the magazine had come to an end, it was a lifetime's ambition of mine to have a car featured in CCC, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the magazine hit the shelves. It was on-off for a while, and we weren't sure if the printers were going to roll.
Here's an Adobe Acrobat format file of my magazine article from October 2003's CCC magazine.
The front cover of the October 2003 Retro Cars magazine was also featured in an issue of the Telegraph broadsheet newspaper, from the 6th September 2003. Cool!
November 2003
Back to Retro Cars magazine again, the article in the October 2003 magazine omitted to show a shot of the engine bay, and one disgruntled reader wrote in to complain. The Editor agreed it was disappointing that it didn't appear in the original article, and relented by showing a shot of the engine bay taken during the original photoshoot in August.
December 2003
In November 2003, the Fiesta made an appearence inside December 2003's Fast Ford magazine. We took part in their Fiesta Thrash at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome. It was a gorgeous sunny day in September, the weather certainly made the day for most people.
February 2004
In January 2004, the Fiesta made an appearence in February 2004's Performance Ford magazine. This time in a new article called Grudge Match, along side features editor Dave Moore's Fiesta XR2 Mk2. Photographed in December 2003, at a very wet and slippery Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, we were recorded from 0-60, 1/4 mile times, and laps of the test track. We were very close, and the magazine said it was a draw, phew!
April 2004
In March 2004, the website was featured in a full page article full page article, in April 2004's Performance Ford magazine.
May 2004
In April 2004, the website made an appearence in May 2004's Retro Cars magazine. Just a small plug, but even so, the publicity is welcomed.
Aug 2006
In July 2006, the Fiesta made an appearance in the August 2006 edition of American Grassroots Motorsports magazine.
Dec 2008
In November 2008, the Fiesta made several appearances in the December 2008 edition of Performance Ford Magazine, in the Snetterton Track Evening write up, from the event which took place in July 2008.
Sep 2010
In September 2010, Classic Ford magazine ran a feature named Fiesta Frenzy, inside which hey had a page title Fiesta Icons. My XR2 is shown (top left) above Roger Clarks Ford Works Team rally car. An honour indeed.
Nov 2010
In November 2010, Fast Ford magazine ran a feature and the Fiesta appeared on the front cover.
My Fiesta has also appeared in numerous other Performance Ford magazines, from show reports for the Donington RSOC show for 2002 and 2003, and for the appearances at the Fiesta in the Park shows at Kettering, also for 2002 and 2003. And there was even an appearance in REVS magazine when someone placed a fake advert, trying to sell the Car, sporting a Kenwood sun strip. Never did find out who, but it made me laugh anyway.
Retro Ford Staff Car features (2013-present)
Since 2013 I've been a regular contributor to Retro Ford magazine, with monthly articles appearing in the Staff Car section.
