M-Sport using NASCAR tech to improve Ford WRC program

Sebastien Ogier’s Rally Mexico-winning Ford Fiesta WRC was flown to Ford Performance in Charlotte directly after the Leon-based event – and M-Sport’s head of rally engineering Chris Williams admitted his team learned from taking the trip.

“We wanted to get the car out there,” said Williams, “but in a week when the [test] car was already in Corsica, it was really busy. We weren’t exactly passing, but we were in the vicinity on the way back from Mexico, so that made sense. And we learned from the trip, which is good. And we validated a lot of what we’ve already done with Ford in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), so it was very worthwhile.”

Ford Performance develops both its NASCAR and GT programs out of Charlotte, making use of key research technology – technology that was used for the first time by a World Rally Car.  

Williams added: “We spent time at Windshear (a nearby rolling road wind tunnel), that was the first time this car’s been on that and it helped.”

Williams added that much of the development work completed was for the longer-term, but admitted there would be shorter-term upgrades coming from the trip as well.

“Windshear was the main thing we went for and it was very useful,” said Williams, “but we’ve already implemented some stuff, but much of it is longer-term.”

The Fiesta WRC is expected to return to Charlotte later this season to continue the use of Ford Performance’s development facility.