Ford Brings World-Class Motor Sport to South Coast
Ford, one of the real heroes of world motor sport, is bringing all the thrills of life in the fast lane to Southampton's Mayflower Park on July 30-31. The free-to-enter arena will showcase sporting legends past and present and bring all the spectacle of the FIA World Rally Championship to the South Coast.
Paul Thomas, managing director, Ford of Britain, said: "Ford's reputation in top-level motor sport is unmatched, and it is founded upon cars like the Focus RS WRC that are closely related to our roadgoing product. These cars are spectacular and built to perform on snow, gravel and asphalt in some of the world's toughest events but they are road-legal and share the same DNA as the cars in your local dealership.
The Ford Rally Experience will be headlined by the appearance of the awesome turbo-charged four-wheel-drive Focus RS World Rally Cars, as driven in the FIA World Rally Championship by Finnish ace Toni Gardemeister and Czech young gun Roman Kresta. These 300bhp supercars are currently continuing Ford's proud record of achievement at the top of the FIA World Rally Championship.
That heritage will also come to life in the form of the legendary Escort Mk1 that took a host of WRC victories in the late '60s and early '70s and dominated such gruelling marathons as the London-Sydney and London-Mexico rallies. Other highlights of the arena display will include the stunt driving Ford Fiesta display team led by internationally-acclaimed driver Paul Swift and the opportunity for members of the audience to join in precision driving competitions.
As well as the live action in the arena, Ford will be bringing the full motor sport experience to Southampton, with plenty of other attractions for visitors to enjoy. These include an interactive display from BP Ultimate, the new generation of performance fuels from BP, a static display including some of Ford's most famous race and rally cars, a sneak preview of the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship contender based on the highly-acclaimed new Focus, the forthcoming high-performance Focus ST, and a full-size computer simulator to 'drive' the Focus RS WRC.
Ford's sporting circus was encouraged to the midst of Southampton's thriving city centre with help from the City Council. Recently-appointed Mayor, Councillor Edwina Cooke, believes that the show will bring a real thrill both to local residents and the many visiting tourists on the Hampshire coast.
"This is an all-action show that promises to bring real excitement for young and old," said Cllr Cooke. "We're sure that the arena displays will be enormously entertaining, and opening up the Mayflower Park to give the south coast a flavour of a sport that travels from Monte Carlo to New Zealand was an unmissable opportunity."
There will be three 'performances' of the Ford Rally Experience each day at 12:00, 13:45 and 15:30, with audiences changing over between shows. Each show will feature:
* Ford Team RS Heritage demonstration* Ford Team RS World Rally Display* Ford Fiesta ST Stunt Driving* Children's miniature rally cars* Audience driving skills test in Ford Focus ST* Prize-giving
