Hi guys

I thought I'd post this up on here, I've owned it a while now so thought I'd share some details:

When I was looking to buy a Ford Ka I had a look around for a Ford Racing Ka, but after some research I found that only one was ever made from the factory, and though some of the parts were available through Ford Racing dealers after this as upgrades, no-one ever ordered a full kit.

'CPU' was featured in all the magazines and went to numerous motorshows, and sat alongside the Rally Championship Kas in the development department at Boreham, before being sold off to a private collector. Although in certain pictures the car sports some different registrations, these were photoshopped on and were the result of Ford making the car appropriate to whatever year's event the car was attending, and this confused me for a while in my research. I even have an article with the Ka sporting two different reg plates, but on checking these out only the CPU reg was ever real, and the article was shot on a test track so road-legal plates weren't necessary and this made for a nice little bit of cheap PR when updating the Ka for 2001.

So to cut a long story short, I somehow managed to track down and buy this car, and to say I'm over the moon is a massive understatement. It comes with all the history and articles about the car, and also loads of Ford Racing emails, letters and engineer reports which chronicle the development of the project and the creation of the ONLY FRK that ever rolled out of Boreham.

It sports all the original equipment minus the original exhaust that rusted through and was replaced with a naff-looking but sweet sounding Miltek (I think).

The spec includes a tuned cylinder head with 11:1 compression ratio, remapped ECU, Ford Racing gearbox (stolen from the Puma and with revised ratios), Sparco Ford Racing seats, Sachs/Eibach developed Ford Racing suspension, exlusive 15" MiM Ford Racing wheels, wider arches and track (obviously), K&N as standard and lots of little bits and pieces that I forget as I'm typing this!

Here are some pictures of the car:




















One of my friends over on ZSOC owns one of the original press-shoot Ford Racing Pumas so we thought we'd reunite the cars for a little shoot of our own:















I've always been a fan of the Ka and owned a basic 2006 Duratec model previously, but the FRK is something else-the handling is stunning!

This is the Ka version of the Ford Racing Puma if you will...CPU is a pretty famous car in some circles

I may have to sell at some point in the new year due to a new job and the need for a more sensible car, but if I manage to keep it it'll be at the shows next year (or if not it will be with the new owner I'm sure!), and I have been approached by the organiser of the Ford Racing festival at Castle Comb in July who has asked me if I would take the FRK there as a 'guest of honour' and lead the parade of FRPs round the circuit Needless to say I said YES PLEASE

I have a folder full of documentation, technical and otherwise on the car and loads of press/launch photos and magazine articles, but I am looking for photos of the car at the Motor/Autosport Shows in 2000 and 2001 if anyone can help

Comments appreciated,

Cheers

Paul

 

Wow!! How much did that set you back then???

Dave

 

You seem really into the car and you've got a great enthusiasm for it

 

I like that little Ka - alot !!!! top little car that is

 

Love it, Stunning! Best KA me has ever seen.

 

nice Ka

 

Cheers for the comments guys, I'm sorry to say that the car will have to go in March to make way for a company car, but the good news is that I'm gauging interest at the moment ready for that time...I guess that's kind of good news anyway

*EDITED*

 

Grab yourself Gold membership for PassionFord and you can advertise it for sale here

But not without being a goldmember

 

Ok cheers dude, I'll look into that-didn't realise sorry

 

luv that ka,u shud keep it and store it somewhere!!!

 

If it wasn't for my XR2 race project taking up my garage space and a company car coming along I would be keeping it, hence why it's on pistonheads-I just can't manage it

 

ive seen a blue 1 of these

 

does anybody know where you can get the wiser arch/bumper kit like this one and at what cost?

thanks.

Tim

 

chris birkbeck rally school sells the arches, look for their site.

Its about 750 quid for the whole 4 corners (no middle sections and not painted!)

Craigos - it was a normal Ka with the arches, prwoodford owns the ONLY one to roll out of the factory with ford racing parts fitted to it.
A lot of people buy the kit though, and i will be doing the same in the future.

 

The arch corners are £125 each, and the middle front and rear bumper parts are still available from Ford.

Apart from the obvious wide arches, there are axle blocks completing the wide track, and obviously the interior, handling, gearbox and engine improvements are what sets 'CPU' apart from the rest, even ones which have had the arches fitted at some point

 

is it still a 1300?

if so wouldn't a sportKA kick its arse?

it is nice, and would have been uner stunning pre sportKA

shame you have to sell it

 

if it's a full ford racing set up on the engine it'll have about 89BHP, there's been some people to get that engine to 100bhp N/A but either way... it'd be faster than a turbo, and the sport. I reckon

 

so the 100bhp 0-60 in 7 seconds torqueyer 1600 sport with the short ratio box would be beaten by a 90bhp 1.3??

come on down i'll pinch my birds KA and try this theory out

on a serious note its a nice piece of ford history

 

well yeah.. There's a threa don Kaklub about the ka in question it actually has 110bhp, but we're not talking about that.
a sport ka will out run a turbo with the same BHP, you don't need a brain cell to work that out. and.. it has exactly the same gear box as the 1.3 duratec ka some testing and diggin was done that showed the 1.3 96-98 ka's actually had the best low end gear ratios

so the 110bhp has an earlier gear box, has better acceleration in lower gears...

I dunno where you get your figures from either... the 0-60 of a sport ka is 10.9 seconds i belive, with the 1.3 standard pulling in at 13+

 

timed an almost standard sportka using gps - only mods being a set of slicks an uprated clutch and some minor engine breathing mods

well if its more powerful then it probably would be faster, tis a nice KA if it wasn't a 1 off piece of history i'd say fit a bigger engine, but you need to keep it as it is

 

all the bits fitted to the car are available from Chris birbeck.
He even suggested he can get over 200BHP from the 1.3 endura's with out much effort. Not sur eof the cost but he thought just over 100BHP was a walk in the park.

 

yeah big cost tbh the crappy old push rod is a serious heap of shit as far as engines go... they first saw the light of day 30years ago, nearly 40 now and they weren't high tec then!

best of luck with your motor! don't do anything to ruin it!

 

The crossflow engine (as it's better known) is actually a really tuneable engine, and far from being a piece of shit. It was first launched over 50 years ago in the Anglia also

However, the Ford Racing Ka is supposed to have 84bhp, whereas the rally versions had 96bhp because of a change of cam and a couple of other bits over the racing prototype.

I had a Zetec S Fiesta before the FRK, which is about the same as a Sport Ka in terms of speed, and if I'm completely honest you can notice the Ka as being slower than the ZS...however I have also owned a standard Ka and the characteristics of the engine and chassis in this car make it a more exciting drive than either the ZS or Sport Ka in my opinion. The gearbox ratios are designed to make the most of the power available, and wound up the engine makes a great sound.

Driven properly, this is one hell of a little Ka, and would surprise a few critics I think-you just have to read the articles that were written about it when it was shown to the press...they rave about how much fun it is to drive. To quote "The Ford Racing Ka is a less sophisticated, more raw version of its big brother, the Ford Racing Puma." I have also driven an FRP, and that statement is spot on!

I am loathed to sell what is a unique piece of Ford motor sport history, and indeed will look at other options when company car times comes in the next couple of months, but the reality is I already have an XR2 taking up my time, money and attention and don't have the space to be able to keep it properly

If I still have it in May though I will be taking it to FITP-I reckon it will be awesome to own a one off fabled car at one of the big Ford shows in the summer

Cheers for the comments!!

 

The sportKA is rather different to the ZS...the short shift short ratio box makes it very quick standing start wise... the problem is it also makes finding the limiter in 5th on the standard KA very easy tops out a 115 on the limiter which makes it useless for covering distances, and if i try realyl hard i can drain the 8gallon tank in just over 100miles

i found the ZS tame by comparioson and less luxurious inside, i was going to buy one, but my 1.8 escort made it feel very slow and thrashy, i'd love to have a go in a racingKA!

 

1300 lumps are the way forward lol

 

ello mate, lovely lookin ka u got there is it a genuine ford racing ka or did u make it, top job anyway. front and rear bumpers have they been modified or are they standard bumpers

 

KCP- Read the thread, he dint type all that info for no reason

 

[quote="KCP"]ello mate, lovely lookin ka u got there is it a genuine ford racing ka or did u make it, top job anyway. front and rear bumpers have they been modified or are they standard bumpers

[/quote

It;'s Genuine.

 

I've just got a Black Ka Collection on a Y plate, so 2001! She just missed out on 51 plate! But I'm sooooooooo happy with her!!

Got plans for her too, but after a couple of years, just want to build up my NCB and get used to driving her really!

I love the FRK, such a good looking Ka, would love to own it!!

Is it still Front wheel drive or rear??

 

Lovely car! Shame you're selling it though.

 

front wheel drive.