WRC 2 Fiesta R5 testing @ Greystoke, Cumbria

[Darren S]

Shelley and I were lucky enough to get an invite from our nephew Gus Greensmith to have a passenger ride in a Fiesta R5. We got up to the Greystoke area early yesterday and was presented with a very focused M-Sport setup, consisting of Gus's car and another - along with engineers, mechanics and a perfectly closed off 3km stage.

Below are a few pics from the day - along with some slightly amateurish and YouTube-battered camera footage!

Proper gravel roads!

Spares, anyone?!

 

[Darren S]

Dead pheasant splatter!

Couple of small clips recorded with my phone. Cameraman of The Year I most certainly am not! The sound really has to be heard for such a little 1.6litre...

 

[Darren S]

And my passenger ride. Despite being 6"1' tall, the co-driver seat is mounted so low in the chassis, that I barely saw out and above the dash. I kept quiet - trying to absorb and really appreciate everything that was going on, and also to allow Gus to concentrate. Not that I probably would have distracted him anyway.

All in all - a superb day and an awesome experience. Loved it!

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Lucky boy!

I would love to drive an R5 car, they really are something.

 

[adamlstr]

Love it, thanks for the insight @Darren S !

The real shame is that you can't buy road going rally cars anymore. 4WD Fiesta with 300bhp and no nonsense, yes please.

 

[Darren S]

Love it, thanks for the insight @Darren S !

The real shame is that you can't buy road going rally cars anymore. 4WD Fiesta with 300bhp and no nonsense, yes please.

Gus was saying that on gravel, they are capable of 0-60 in around 3.5secs. On tarmac, that’s down towards 3secs.

Launch control was pretty epic - a shame that the footage doesn’t really reflect that. :neutral:

 

[eon172]

Awesome, looked like a great experience, thanks for sharing. What a weapon that car is, if only you could buy one, indeed [emoji7]

 

[BoatNonce]

Lucky boy!

I would love to drive an R5 car, they really are something.

Plus motherfcuking one to every single letter of this post.

You absolute jammy sod.

 

[Ian_182]

What a lucky boy.
I bet that felt awesome.

 

[Darren S]

Cheers guys - yep, very fortunate! Maybe I should learn some co-driving skills in order to get back in there more often? :smile:

Shelley's turn was a 'bit' more vocal than mine! :tongueout:

 

[Scrooge]

Amazing!!

 

[AdamCup]

Awesome ! Once in a life time experience !

 

[Stefan.]

That is properly cool

 

[Silent_Scone]

What a fantastic day out that is!

 

[Darren S]

Nice to see Gus progressing at Ford!

.....lol at the arch-gap, though no doubt on these rockets, that is most definitely needed.

WRC

www.wrc.com

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

I'm pleased for Gus, though I think there is going to be a bit of pressure on him to before this year. He gets a bit of stick, but I know someone that worked with him in the early days and rated him really highly.

I can't help but feel a bit down about the whole M-Sport situation though. I wonder sometimes why Malcolm Wilson shows such loyalty for Ford, as they haven't supported him properly for years.

 

[leedsboy]

Missed the original post first time around but that's cool as f**k. I follow M-Sport on Instagram and they put something on their story yesterday about championing young talent, Gus being one of them.

The inlaws have a Cabin in Lamonby and a few times when we've been up, we've heard the cars practising/testing in the forest. FIL has been over the fence from his cabin, walked through the trees a bit and spectated from there when it's not technically been open to the public for watching. Definitely something I want to go see this year, fingers crossed.

 

[JB21]

Awesome experience. A PUG 208 R5 was at Blyton testing last year, the way they exit corners is just unreal.

 

[BIFCAIDS]

Love it, thanks for the insight @Darren S !

The real shame is that you can't buy road going rally cars anymore. 4WD Fiesta with 300bhp and no nonsense, yes please.

Every set of traffic lights... Launch Control.

I know I would.

 

[BIFCAIDS]

Cheers guys - yep, very fortunate! Maybe I should learn some co-driving skills in order to get back in there more often? 😄

Shelley's turn was a 'bit' more vocal than mine! :tongueout:

Team America wave ha ha ha ha sounds like she had a blast

 

[Darren S]

I'm pleased for Gus, though I think there is going to be a bit of pressure on him to before this year. He gets a bit of stick, but I know someone that worked with him in the early days and rated him really highly.

I can't help but feel a bit down about the whole M-Sport situation though. I wonder sometimes why Malcolm Wilson shows such loyalty for Ford, as they haven't supported him properly for years.

I honestly don't know how he keeps a level head with it all. I was chatting to him the other day about something completely different and he just converses like anyone else would. Oh, but by the way you've got this whole WRC thing going on this year too....!

Still kind of chuffed how I used to race against him on the PS1 with Gran Turismo as a little kid - him bouncing off the circuit walls and me waiting half a lap ahead for him to catch up. Fast forward to now and he's at a level of driving ability that I could only dream of replicating.

 

[Superwoman90]

That passenger ride would be on my bucket list, loved the vids and what an opportunity and fantastic experience 👍

 

[leedsboy]

Pants would definitely have been brown here if that was me!

 

[BoatNonce]

Gus driving great today 👍 First WRC stage win, congrats.