The 'Cumbrian Maranello' where Ford's WRC giants are born

M-Sport is changing the game as a World Rally Championship powerhouse, inspired by Ferrari's legendary Formula 1 base. Autosport was afforded a behind-the-scenes look at its new headquarters, the result of a vision that has taken three decades to be realised, where its new Rally1 Puma took shape

Tom Howard Jan 19, 2022, 2:31 PM

Upd: Jan 19, 2022, 2:35 PM

The seeds were sown from a trip to Ferrari’s famous Maranello base 30 years ago and, after a decade of graft, M-Sport now has its own piece of Fiorano on its doorstep. This is the vision of M-Sport founder Malcolm Wilson that became reality this year when the final pieces of the project finally came together. The result is a 1.7-mile FIA Grade 3 test track that is surrounded by a new ultra-modern behemoth of a workshop.

Approaching the Cumbrian village of Dovenby, there’s a sign that reads ‘Welcome to Dovenby, please drive carefully’. It’s a touch ironic, since within 100 metres of that sign is the headquarters of World Rally Championship powerhouse M-Sport.

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Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.