The remarkable 'SuperFesta' that's starring in club racing

Even from a quick glance at Sam Daffin’s Ford Fiesta, it’s obvious that this is no ordinary Mk5. A rear wing, diffuser, wide wheel arches and side skirts are just some of the Worcestershire racer’s tweaks.

But it’s not until exploring the Fiesta’s mechanics that the feat of engineering really becomes clear. Not only has the standard 1.4-litre Zetec engine been transplanted with a 312bhp (turned down from 447bhp!) 1600cc EcoBoost turbo, but the humble hatchback has also been converted to rear-wheel-drive configuration.

“We got to the point where we couldn’t make the front-wheel-drive car any quicker,” explains Daffin, who built the Fiesta for the Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s Blue Oval Saloon Series, in which his previous FWD version won consecutive class titles in 2022-23. “It was too powerful for going through the front wheels really. We couldn’t get it to do what we wanted so we had to go rear-wheel drive. The sensible choice was to build a Mk1 or Mk2 Escort. But I hadn’t got the budget for that.”

Both shells were originally prepared for the British Touring Car-supporting Ford Fiesta Challenge – not that Daffin realised when he built his first SuperFesta, as a rival christened it. “We were at Spa, and there was a guy running some modern Fiestas who came over and went, ‘This is an ex-Fiesta Challenge car. If you open the driver’s door, it’s got a chassis number stamped in the cage,’” he recalls. “He said there were only two cars ever stamped in the cage and they were the ones done in-house by Ford Motorsport.”

Restoring his original chassis to the specification in which future BTCC top dog Gordon Shedden took the 2000 title is a long-term aspiration. But first, with an Escort out of reach, Daffin created SuperFesta Mk2. Starting from what he knew, he snapped up another ex-Challenge car ahead of a busy winter. “We bought it at the end of October ’23 and we tested in February ’24,” he reveals. “We spent probably 500 hours building it. It was pretty much all myself and a couple of mates gave me a hand here and there.”

The SuperFesta is powered by an EcoBoost engine that produces some 312bhp

Photo by: Steve Jones

In addition to familiar self-fabricated aero devices and engine, in went an Atlas axle from a Ford Capri and a one-off propshaft. Front struts along with self-built six-link and coilover rear suspension complete a set-up akin to a Capri or Escort: Daffin made use of the knowledge he’d learned building Capris for the likes of Richard Austin and Henry Mann alongside father Alan, who worked with Ted Grace on Stuart Graham’s cars in period.

“It’s a very similar set-up underneath to what we used to build,” Daffin confirms. “It’s 40mm longer than a Capri in the wheelbase but it’s very similarly balanced. As soon as we put it on track it was like, ‘Actually, this is going to come right.’ There were a few handling issues; it felt good but it wasn’t where we wanted it to be.”

Development over the past winter focused on suspension geometry. A motorsport brains trust in Pershore – perhaps best known as home to Team Dynamics for many years – allowed Daffin to bounce ideas around. “I’m quite lucky where we’re situated,” says the 34-year-old. “There’s been motorsport there since the ’60s, proper little cottage engineering shops. So you can go round and go, ‘I’ve got an idea: what I need is to make that fit, and I think we can do it like this.’ They’ll look at it and go, ‘Yeah, that’ll work,’ or ‘I can see where you’re going, but you need to do it this way.’”

“I enjoy the engineering side as much if not more than driving the thing” Sam Daffin

The car ran a manual Getrag gearbox last year. But, having chomped through clutches, Daffin took advantage of the BOSS regulations to swap it for a seemingly curious choice. “We’ve now put an 8HP ZF automatic in,” he smiles, before explaining: “Because it’s turboed, it’s not allowed to be sequential, but it’s allowed to be automatic. Modern automatics change gear quite quickly… It’s all a little bit different!”

Uncertainty around the supply of slicks led Daffin to revert to treaded tyres and the 2.9-litre (or equivalent for forced induction) Class C, from where he hopes to mount a title challenge. “We’ve managed to win the class three years on the bounce,” he points out. “It’d be nice to win the overall championship with it.

“Ultimately, as and when funds allow, it would be nice to transfer it all into a Capri or something like that. I’d like to build a ’74-spec car but with all the modern running gear in it. I enjoy the engineering side as much if not more than driving the thing.”

Daffin's aspirations extend to creating a special Capri

Photo by: Steve Jones