SPEED World Challenge Focus.........Restoration

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

teamilluminata wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: This thing is serious. I saw it on Wednesday night and was blown away with the level of detail in the prep. Those panels weigh absolutely nothing. I really cant wait until it's running

Good to see you and Dan the other day. How can I get hold of that axle you have?

Swing by my place one evening or this weekend and grab them, or I'll swing by your house this weekend. P.M. me your phone # P.S. the cost is driving the 911 around the block BTW

I don't think you can PM on here so here it is 248.207.0894

ScreaminE wrote: Does this have the D20 or D23 engine? I assume D20 unless I missed something.

2.3l. Not sure about the "D"

lenhart06 wrote: Great looking car. I'm a huge fan of touring cars and own a former pro car that I race in STU. Besides getting it running and updating safety equipment, it should be ready for SCCA STU. The Focus Coupe is a an approved World Challenge classified STU car at 2677 lb. Based on the photos, the only thing that I question concerning conforming to STU spec is the rear wing can't exceed 48" in width. Air Jacks may need to be removed or disabled.

Great info. Thanks.

Very neat, hope to see it out on track in anger again. I was responsible for technical, logistic and hardware support for this car (from the Ford Racing side) from the beginning with the Air Force Reserve but after it went to PDMC after the first one or two events I lost track of it.

If you're interested I could try to dig up my notes on it to flesh out the history and details a little bit. As I recall when Memo Gidley was driving it the spring rates/wheel frequencies were ridiculous, he definitely wanted an open wheel feel. It took some time and effort to back away from that setup.

From a technical perspective there were quite a few things I felt would have helped, but it was only my place to make suggestions, it was their car after all.

As an aside the Capaldi crew still has their World Challenge car (sedan) from the same time period, just gathering dust, might be worthwhile to take a look at theirs as a point of comparison.

This whole era of Focus is unfinished business for me, so I would be interested in seeing your car do well if you want any technical help. Good on you for taking it on, have fun with it!

grpb wrote: Very neat, hope to see it out on track in anger again. I was responsible for technical, logistic and hardware support for this car (from the Ford Racing side) from the beginning with the Air Force Reserve but after it went to PDMC after the first one or two events I lost track of it. If you're interested I could try to dig up my notes on it to flesh out the history and details a little bit. As I recall when Memo Gidley was driving it the spring rates/wheel frequencies were ridiculous, he definitely wanted an open wheel feel. It took some time and effort to back away from that setup. From a technical perspective there were quite a few things I felt would have helped, but it was only my place to make suggestions, it was their car after all. As an aside the Capaldi crew still has their World Challenge car (sedan) from the same time period, just gathering dust, might be worthwhile to take a look at theirs as a point of comparison. This whole era of Focus is unfinished business for me, so I would be interested in seeing your car do well if you want any technical help. Good on you for taking it on, have fun with it!

That awesome. I'm so glad you found this thread. It would be great if we could see any notes you may have.

I would like to get at look at Capaldi's car. Not too far from me and I know someone who works with them.

Any help you want to give feel free. We are completely over our heads with this one which is half the reason for taking it on.

BTW, great screen name. I use it too:

Tell us about this Michigan Hill Climb!

loudes13 wrote: Tell us about this Michigan Hill Climb!

https://www.facebook.com/EmpireHillClimbRevival

I might have to stop posting in this forum. It won't take cut and paste pictures anymore so is a real PITA to post too.

Time for an update:

We thought it would be interesting to see how much the car weighed and where said weight is so to speak. Can you guess how much?

Dry, no driver and we had the CF hood on.

Here's some more pictures of some of the cool stuff. At least we think it's cool.

AP brakes

Brake cooling duct

Oil cooler and radiator

Exhaust

Suspension

Nothing on this car is normal.

Build thread with pictures that didn't take 30 minutes to publish:

http://forums.focaljet.com/team-rigz/675407-speed-world-challenge-focus-restoration.html

We had a few near guesses with the weight but nobody nailed it. Here it is in table form.

Cool project here. I'll have to follow it.

What are the engine specs? You mentioned duratec 2.3, right?

Mitchell wrote: What are the engine specs? You mentioned duratec 2.3, right?

I'll post later. We have the World Challenge Spec. sheet somewhere.

scribed.......i know that car from somewhere.

Forgelines are sold. We get our new BRAID Fullrace A Friday :) What do you think?

I found the World Challenge Technical Specification sheets in the file that came with the car. They make interesting reading.

most of which is lost on me.

I also picked up another Focus for inspiration:

Looks like a neat project!

teamilluminata wrote: I also picked up another Focus for inspiration:

Dude, lose the OZ's, that thing needs BRAID's!

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

teamilluminata wrote: I also picked up another Focus for inspiration:

Dude, lose the OZ's, that thing needs BRAID's!

Haha. I know. We make 18" but not 1:18".

So if you don't mind me asking, how much does an ex-World Challenge Focus go for these days, inquiring minds inquire..

Very cool project, need to see those wheels on it!

t25torx wrote: So if you don't mind me asking, how much does an ex-World Challenge Focus go for these days, inquiring minds inquire.. Very cool project, need to see those wheels on it!

I don't mean to be flippant but hopefully a lot more than we paid for it.

Would rather not say what we paid and really don't know what they sell for when functional but we got it for a very reasonable price.

I'd like to request a few pics of that roll center correcting monoball joint on the bottom of the front spindle/carrier. Wondering what it looks like on top of where it goes into the spindle. Is there any kind of 'head' on top or is it just held in there like the stock ball joint?

jgrewe wrote: I'd like to request a few pics of that roll center correcting monoball joint on the bottom of the front spindle/carrier. Wondering what it looks like on top of where it goes into the spindle. Is there any kind of 'head' on top or is it just held in there like the stock ball joint?

Do you mean this thing?

It should have one of these for safety.

bgkast wrote: It should have one of these for safety.

What does that do?