You never see racing teams build and develop performance cars for manufacturers anymore. Remember the Phase 1 Renault Clio V6? The mid-engined marvel was originally cobbled together by TWR on a shoestring budget as the company had been in charge of building the radical Clio V6 Trophy racers. Then there’s Prodrive, which introduced proper performance versions of the Subaru Impreza WRX years before STI launched in Britain (and offered the only hot Wagon in the UK with the GB270 like this one). Sure, carmakers keep us well supplied with in-house performance models, but nothing beats the lunacy of a hot hatch hastily assembled by a bunch of race mechanics in their lunch break.
Even a car giant as big as Ford would outsource its most radical performance models so it could focus on boring stuff that turned a profit. We all know how close the company was to Cosworth, given the two had collaborated on everything from rally specials such as the Escort RS Cosworth to Formula 1 engines with the DFV. And that’s what makes the Racing Puma like the one you see here a bit of an oddity, because Cosworth had nothing to do with it. Instead, the pumped-up Puma was developed entirely by Ford’s rally team in Boreham with Tickford piecing them all together. Talk about racing pedigree.
Presumably, nobody at Boreham had been told to build the Racing Puma to a budget, because the list of changes and upgrades over the base coupe are massive. So wide was the blistered bodywork that longer, bespoke driveshafts were needed as well as a heavily altered suspension with in-house developed dampers and springs to drastically firm up the ride (perhaps a bit too much depending on who you ask). Meanwhile, the brakes were upgraded with a four-piston system specially developed by Alcon and could allegedly produce over 1g of stopping force, or nearly twice that of the base car, and to make sure all the upgrades worked properly, Ford called on 1984 WRC champ Stig Blomqvist to hone the setup.
However, the no-expense-spared approach to the Racing Puma sent the accountants into meltdown, and drastic cost-saving measures were put in place. The intention had been to top the rally special off with a turbo engine, but that would have been far too expensive so Ford compromised with the revvy, naturally aspirated 1.7-litre Zetec SE motor instead. New cams, a redesigned air intake and Janspeed exhaust helped unlock an extra 30hp, but its peak output of 155hp at 7,000rpm was still down on the 180hp originally touted for the turbocharged version.
Sure, the Racing Puma was rev-hungry, but given that the Impreza Turbo was pumping out north of 200hp and sent power to both of its axles, Ford’s rally special simply didn’t feel as, well, special. But the real kicker was the price: £23,000 when new in 1999 was a good £10k above the range-topping Puma at the time and, crucially, right in the ballpark of the Subaru. Ford earmarked 1,000 examples (500 for the UK and 500 for Germany) for production, but only the British allocation would get the green light. Even then, uptake was so poor that Ford had to incentivise managers to run one as their company cars, though it’s doubtful they needed much convincing.
Of course, we all know how special the Racing Puma is now, and in a world crammed with heavy and overpowered performance cars, a lightweight, revvy front-wheel drive coupe seems the perfect antidote. The thing is, the Racing Puma has been on the radar of collectors ever since it arrived on the scene in 1999 and especially so now given how few likely remain in good condition. Can’t imagine many look as tight as this 67,000 miler, mind, and if you peek inside the immaculate engine bay you’ll spot two autographs: one from the late, great Richard Burns and the other is, er, unclear. Answers below please, folks. Whether they’re enough to justify the £31,450 price tag is up for you to decide, but given the cheapest one on PH is going for £24,9995 the days of the £15k FRP look to be well and truly over.
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