Overview

"When world rallying introduced a new formula for ""World Rally Cars,"" Ford seized the opportunity. Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport organization was contracted to do the job, completed the design in less than a year, and spent the next 12 years campaigning this turbocharged, four-wheel-drive car all round the world.Working from state-of-the-art facilities, M-Sport built 97 Focus WRCs, all of which proved to be worthy of World level action when they won 44 World Championship events.Stellar drivers like Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, Markko Martin, Marcus Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen all added to the mystique of an ultra-professional organization, along with substantial support and sponsorship from the likes of Martini, BP, and the state of Abu Dhabi.By building its in-house technical expertise, M-Sport not only engineered and developed the entire car on behalf of Ford, but gradually took over development of the 300bhp, 2.0-litre, turbocharged engine, and led the design of the complex four-wheel-drive transmissions provided by Xtrac.M-Sport's reputation exploded to the point that when regulations changed, the company immediately produced a new-generation Fiesta WRC, and kept the winning days rolling."

Full Product Details

9781787110205

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Reviews

This latest book from prolific motoring historian Graham Robson tells the complete story of the Ford Focus World Rally car, of which 97 were built and campaigned between 1997 and 2010 before making way for Ford' subsequent WRC weapon, the Fiesta. Built by Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport concern in a new factory at Cockermouth, in Cumbria, the early versions incorporated Xtrac 4-wheel drive and Mountune Zebec-M 2-litre engines with a nominal 300bhp, later versions using Bosworth developed Duraec-R units of similar power with a Ricardo 4WD system and a wider track and body shell. After a brief history of Ford's 4WD predecessors, Robson's book covers the design and development of the first Focus WRC before going on to describe each season of completion with the car in detail. The charismatic Carlos Sainz and the mercurial Colin McRae were among the first of the team's key drivers, both of them scoring outright wins as well as securing for the Focus three successive runner-up placings in the WRC Manufacturers' Championship. It was not until former double WRC champion Marcus Gronholm joined the team for 2006/7 that Ford won the Manufacturer's Championship outright, which they did in each of those two years, the talented Finn's twelve individual victories making him the most prolific winner in a WRC Focus. The inevitable highs and lows of relentless WRC competition, the M-Sport team's varies personalities and the cars' ongoing development are fully described with the attention to detail that readers have come to expect from this respected author. There are full colour illustration on virtually every page, so WRC anoraks will find the book a perfect reference for individual chassis and sponsors liveries, not to mention registration listings for every one of those 97 cars, including the second strong Stobart M-Sport team (which included among its drivers Malcolm Wilson's son Matthew). Together with appendices which include the cars specifications, drivers records and even a summary of WRC regulations, this is a fine record of one of Britain's most successful home-grown International rally contenders. - SPeedscene. The cover lets you know exactly what this will be about, with an imposing shot of the Abu Dhabi/BP Ultimate sponsored green car which won so many. There are good descriptions of the main M-Sport characters, and crisp, clear pictures showing the car with the varied liveries over the years. It also describes how M-Sport evolved, moving out of the original small premises and into their now much larger and much developed motorsport centre. It is as much a history of the M-Sport as it is a history of the Focus. It's an interesting book, and I liked reading it. It's written by a respected author who had access to Ford archives which are not generally available to others, and is worth reading. There are details about people such as Christian Loriaux which you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. - www.silhouet.com. Released in the same year that its successor has won't eh 2017 rally word championship, this book highlights the development, competition, victories and ultimately world championship titles of the Ford Focus WRC. Graham Robson's well researched book also goes behind the scene of M-Sport, Malcolm Wilson's privateer rally team that stepped up to taking on the big name manufacturer teams, their purchase and development of premises at Cockermouth that re-defined how cars are built and prepared, and the superstars who signed up to share the dream, like Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae. Being a story recorded in the digital age, it is noticeable that the photography, mostly of colour illustrations, is much cleaner and sharper than can be seen on some other rally books, and illustrate perfectly the well written text. The book is completed by tables showing every rally entered, the results, and the history of all 97 Focus WRC cars built, along with interviews with many of the personnel involved - sponsors, drivers and team manager alike. For the many model makers, you'll find many of the different liveries used in clear detail, from a host of the rallies in the WRC calendar from 1999 to 2010, and Ford fans will love having this on their shelves alongside their books on other famous models. - Chequered Flag Services. The Ford WRC is the car that has won (in 2006 and 2007) two of the four titles championship won by Ford. And Graham Robson - skilled and prolific author of very interesting volumes (160 titles to his credit) after being a navigator in the official Sunbeam, Ford, Triumph teams - celebrates the story of one of the most successful Ford, analysing all there versions, with the history of the 97 built specimens. - Autosprint. Between 1999 and 2010, the Focus WRC won 44 world championship races and twice the world championship - making it the most successful Ford in motorsport history. Motorsport guru Robson has immortalised the car in a 192-page book. Richly illustrated, the book tells 12years of motorsport history - Technic, drivers, sponsors... and of course the fates of the 97 built factory cars - from the preparatory work for Team M-Sport to the replacement of the Focus WRC by the Fiesta WRC. - Austro Classic. Who better than Ford Escrot guru Graham Robson to write about its successor, the Focus? And he doesn't disappoint, either: this is a truly exhaustive analysis, from Ford's first 4x4 rally forays to the Focus' two World titles, via Wilson, McRae, Gronholm et al. - Classic & Sports Car.

This latest book from prolific motoring historian Graham Robson tells the complete story of the Ford Focus World Rally car, of which 97 were built and campaigned between 1997 and 2010 before making way for Ford' subsequent WRC weapon, the Fiesta. Built by Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport concern in a new factory at Cockermouth, in Cumbria, the early versions incorporated Xtrac 4-wheel drive and Mountune Zebec-M 2-litre engines with a nominal 300bhp, later versions using Bosworth developed Duraec-R units of similar power with a Ricardo 4WD system and a wider track and body shell. After a brief history of Ford's 4WD predecessors, Robson's book covers the design and development of the first Focus WRC before going on to describe each season of completion with the car in detail. The charismatic Carlos Sainz and the mercurial Colin McRae were among the first of the team's key drivers, both of them scoring outright wins as well as securing for the Focus three successive runner-up placings in the WRC Manufacturers' Championship. It was not until former double WRC champion Marcus Gronholm joined the team for 2006/7 that Ford won the Manufacturer's Championship outright, which they did in each of those two years, the talented Finn's twelve individual victories making him the most prolific winner in a WRC Focus. The inevitable highs and lows of relentless WRC competition, the M-Sport team's varies personalities and the cars' ongoing development are fully described with the attention to detail that readers have come to expect from this respected author. There are full colour illustration on virtually every page, so WRC anoraks will find the book a perfect reference for individual chassis and sponsors liveries, not to mention registration listings for every one of those 97 cars, including the second strong Stobart M-Sport team (which included among its drivers Malcolm Wilson's son Matthew). Together with appendices which include the cars specifications, drivers records and even a summary of WRC regulations, this is a fine record of one of Britain's most successful home-grown International rally contenders. - SPeedscene. The cover lets you know exactly what this will be about, with an imposing shot of the Abu Dhabi/BP Ultimate sponsored green car which won so many. There are good descriptions of the main M-Sport characters, and crisp, clear pictures showing the car with the varied liveries over the years. It also describes how M-Sport evolved, moving out of the original small premises and into their now much larger and much developed motorsport centre. It is as much a history of the M-Sport as it is a history of the Focus. It's an interesting book, and I liked reading it. It's written by a respected author who had access to Ford archives which are not generally available to others, and is worth reading. There are details about people such as Christian Loriaux which you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. - www.silhouet.com.

This latest book from prolific motoring historian Graham Robson tells the complete story of the Ford Focus World Rally car, of which 97 were built and campaigned between 1997 and 2010 before making way for Ford' subsequent WRC weapon, the Fiesta. Built by Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport concern in a new factory at Cockermouth, in Cumbria, the early versions incorporated Xtrac 4-wheel drive and Mountune Zebec-M 2-litre engines with a nominal 300bhp, later versions using Bosworth developed Duraec-R units of similar power with a Ricardo 4WD system and a wider track and body shell. After a brief history of Ford's 4WD predecessors, Robson's book covers the design and development of the first Focus WRC before going on to describe each season of completion with the car in detail. The charismatic Carlos Sainz and the mercurial Colin McRae were among the first of the team's key drivers, both of them scoring outright wins as well as securing for the Focus three successive runner-up placings in the WRC Manufacturers' Championship. It was not until former double WRC champion Marcus Gronholm joined the team for 2006/7 that Ford won the Manufacturer's Championship outright, which they did in each of those two years, the talented Finn's twelve individual victories making him the most prolific winner in a WRC Focus. The inevitable highs and lows of relentless WRC competition, the M-Sport team's varies personalities and the cars' ongoing development are fully described with the attention to detail that readers have come to expect from this respected author. There are full colour illustration on virtually every page, so WRC anoraks will find the book a perfect reference for individual chassis and sponsors liveries, not to mention registration listings for every one of those 97 cars, including the second strong Stobart M-Sport team (which included among its drivers Malcolm Wilson's son Matthew). Together with appendices which include the cars specifications, drivers records and even a summary of WRC regulations, this is a fine record of one of Britain's most successful home-grown International rally contenders. - SPeedscene.

Author Information

Graham Robson possesses a worldwide reputation as a motoring historian, and has been close to the sport of rallying for many years, as a competitor, team manager, organizer, reporter, commentator and observer; in more than forty years he has never lost touch with the sport. Not only has Graham competed in many British and European events, he's also reported on marathons in South America, and acted as a traveling controller in the legendary London-Mexico World Cup Rally. As a recognized authority on many aspects of classic cars and motoring of that period, he is the most prolific of all authors, with more than 130 published books to his credit. Over the years Graham has owned, driven, described and competed in many of the cars featured in the Rally Giants Series, and his insight to their merits is unmatched. Graham Robson lives and works in England.

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