Top Cat - Ford Racing Puma Review
The Racing Puma is one of the most overlooked Fast Fords – unfairly written-off by the power hungry. Ignorance, as former owner Kotto Williams argues, is bliss.
Photography by Ben Midlane
Top Cat: Ford Racing Puma Review
The Racing Puma is one of the most overlooked Fast Fords – unfairly written-off by the power hungry. Ignorance, as former owner Kotto Williams argues, is bliss
Top Cat - Ford Racing Puma Review
The Racing Puma is one of the most overlooked Fast Fords – unfairly written-off by the power hungry. Ignorance, as former owner Kotto Williams argues, is bliss.
Photography by Ben Midlane | Published on TBC
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lying off the handle is a brilliant phrase, it’s something I do frequently with cars. And nothing threw me from the handle more than Ford making a fat pudding car and calling it a Puma, they should’ve called it the hippo or the porpoise. What vexes me even more is the puma is selling well which goes to show how hopeless the general public are when it comes to cars. There’s even an ST version, a bit like a green hippo GTI. But when you cast your mind back to the original, lithe with silken flanks Puma, any thoughts of the new Puma looking back to the original knockout will soon be forgotten.
The original Puma was essentially a rebodied 1999 Ford Fiesta with uprated suspension, bigger brakes, generous standard equipment and a remarkably pretty bodyshell based on the “new edge” styling philosophy. At the time Ford was struggling globally - the MKVI Escort was long in the tooth and the outgoing Mondeo was suffering from the cessation of tax-free company cars causing a dramatic slump in sales. The brand seemed to be surviving on the seemingly endless turnover of the Fiesta in Europe and the F150 in America.
The Ford boardroom came up with many schemes and projects to reignite the fire, including the astonishing Ford Focus - but that’s a feature for another day. One cancelled project led to a dilemma because it was rather advanced, with Yamaha already contracted to develop a 1.7 petrol engine with VVT; Variable Valve Timing. Ford had a tricky choice, lose the contract and pay the fine, or honour the contract and find something else for the 1.7 engines...A lot of 1.7 engines.
With a butterfly effect decision we should all be grateful for, they decided to make a car worthy of this technical new engine and developed the Ford Puma coupe. Its sharp engine, critically acclaimed chassis, precise gear change and keen pricing policy resulted in Ford being unable to keep up with demand. In order to satisfy the public’s appetite, the blue oval introduced 1.4 & 1.6 litre iterations. The marketing campaign alone was gold – Steve McQueen photoshopped into the driver’s seat of a silver Ford Puma, racing around the iconic streets of San Francisco mimicking the iconic car chase from Bullitt. No, it’s not weird, I’m aroused too.
How did Ford build upon this tour-de-force of success? The answer is obvious, you enter into motorsport and develop a hot version, but the one that filtered down to customers wasn’t your usual half-hearted stickers & spoiler special. The process was a unique one. Imagine the scenario – Mr & Mrs. Jones walks into their local Ford dealership to sign for a Ford Puma, but at the last-minute spy the Racing Puma brochure. Seduced, they order one, which isn’t actually a production-car but an optional extra.
AUTHOR
Rush Iconoclast
Photography by;
Ben Midlane
Published on:
TBC
OUR PRINT MAGAZINE
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Once the ink had dried on the order form, a small but consummate workshop by the name of Tickford sends their heavies to Neihl in Germany, where they effectively kidnap a Ford Puma and bring it back to Daventry. A team of mechanics thereupon ripped the Puma apart, throwing anything not welded in place into a skip. They widened the front track by 35mm aside, replaced the front wings with bespoke aluminium ones, fitted extended driveshafts and custom suspension arms complete with Eibach springs and dampers.
Then they bond on the Kardashian spec steel rear arches, made necessary by a huge 90mm increase in rear track girth, just 15mm behind the full-bore rally car. Next comes racing spec Alcon 4-pot brakes - 295mm diameter at the front, 270 at the rear. Inside, Tickford fitted bespoke Ford Racing Sparco seats, reclaimed the remaining interior out of the skip and covered it in unique royal-blue Alcantara.
The final piece of the puzzle was fettling the Yamaha 1.7. The original plan involved some light pressure turbocharging with 180bhp in mind, but Ford blew all the budget on making it handle as well as physically possible, and therefore resorted to good old-fashioned engineering - more aggressive camshafts, a custom alloy inlet manifold, a Janspeed exhaust with 4-2-1 manifold and sports catalytic converter, and a re-calibrated ECU.
The result was 153 bhp at 7,000rpm and 119 lb-ft. of torque available from 4,500rpm, combined with the 1,174kg kerb weight it was just enough to dip below eight seconds from zero to sixty. There was even an optional Quaife limited-slip differential but very few had this (I’m dubious of their effect in a modestly powered lightweight car, but some swear by it). Even the gearbox couldn’t escape fettling, Ford’s proven IB5 five-speed is widely known for its reliability and precise changes. Tickford fitted shotpeened first and second gears to ensure reliability with the power increase.
Performance junkies sniggered and sadly the Racing Puma didn’t have the same sales success as the regular model, because the major surgery required for the conversion resulted in a steep £22,750 asking price. It was a tough sell given the Subaru Impreza Turbo had already arrived on the scene harassing Porsches and BMW M cars with its four-wheel-drive WRC pedigree and banzai turbocharged 215bhp output, complete with £2,000 change. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin would be the parallel debut of Renault's Clio 172, which was a substantial £8,000 less, offered higher power and insult-trading, argument worthy levels of comparable handling.
Should it have been an RS? The press raved about the Racing Puma upon it's release, however the competition was fierce and the bespoke build hiked the price.
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Alternatively, for those committed to corners and rear-driven wheels you could have an original Lotus Elise for a list price of £23,000 - you had to be a very dedicated fast Ford fan to opt for the Puma over either of those two. Consequently, less than half of the planned UK production run of 500 actually made it into genuine customers’ hands, with the balance of cars distributed amongst Ford’s senior management via the company car scheme.
But those rules don’t apply today, the only thing that matters is the driving and boy did Richard Parry Jones and company smash it out of the park. Succinctly; the chassis is beautifully judged with the squared up, wider stance capable of generating an incredible amount of grip. Almost immediately you’ll be pushing harder, and harder, turning in with reckless aggression, applying the throttle sooner and sooner, generally acting the tit and still the Puma complies and finds drive, going exactly where you point it.
Even the modest performance ceases to be an issue because the Puma has that same ability to maximise every single bhp, stimulate the senses and take abuse as an Integra Type-R. It feels unburstable and completely over-engineered, just like the Honda. You can give it death and it loves it, bounce off the rev-limiter, flat shift, stay in second or third gear with the revs hanging at around 6,000rpm with the exhaust crackling away. It’s a rush equal to any Japanese four-wheel-drive homologation special or track-bred hyper hatch.
Yet there is an underlying security and trust in the car carrying such momentum - you never feel like the Racing Puma is waiting for an opportunity to bite. The chassis permits just enough body roll to allow the tyres to key into the asphalt, but not so much that the weight and balance of the car is constantly shifting.
You’re far more likely to find the limit of the suspension than that of the tyres; the dampers are on the firm side and a particularly rutted surface will see you backing off long before the front axle slips wide. If you’re determined to experience how the Racing Puma will behave at the limit, find a smooth, wide roundabout and build up the pace. Eventually the nose will push wide, and so long as you ease off the throttle smoothly, the backend will tighten your line in a progressive manner. In the wet the car becomes even more playful - show enough commitment and it'll four wheel drift, controlled by steering with the throttle and minute wheel adjustments.
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The hydraulic steering is worthy of particular praise; the feel through the corners is that of precision and heft, you’re always aware of exactly how much load is on the tyres. Of course, in many areas you can tell the Puma is getting on - the brakes are old now, they lack the power when new but you still won’t see the ABS icon flash no matter how hard you stand on them. Yet everything else that truly matters - the gearbox, the engine response - even the handbrake - still feels taught and box-fresh.
The control weights are just right, the gearbox is precise without being notchy and overly mechanical and despite the modest output, the power delivery is devoid of flat spots - where a Honda K20 suffers from VTEC lag, the Ford is already on cam, powering through. Tickford turned Yamaha’s already lively engine into something which positively fizzes with excitement. You feel every part of the action, every vibration backed up by the rasping exhaust.
On the flip side, if you drive the FRP sensibly it settles down, there’s no need for any pointless driving modes because it was conceived exceptionally well from the start. The aggressive, stiff suspension actually has some give to it. The driving position is excellent and the racing inspired seats are comfortable enough to make on a long road trip a reality. It has everything you need and more for mundane duties - air con, heated front screen, electric windows and mirrors, ESP, traction control… And it all works. Follow the standard servicing routine and it’ll outlive any Ford Ecoboost powered car.
It’s a far-cry from spartan hot hatches of the 90s where you’d be overjoyed to have fog lights and electric windows. It's even cheap to run, with 30mpg is easily attainable, but the reality is you’ll be driving everywhere with your foot welded to the floor. You’ll only stop when the police arrive.
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"Visually the Racing Puma turns a base car that’s as friendly as a kitten into something more befitting of a real Puma - only a Clio V6 can outshine it in the shopping trolley gone rogue stakes"
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And then you step out of it and the love affair blossoms even further. The extended track makes the Puma appear fantastically low and wide, the arches stretched and smoothed like blown-glass over the 17” MiM Speedline alloy wheels. The Puma is just perfectly proportioned, the only thing that shows its age is the slightly tucked rear arches and halogen headlights. The Imperial Blue Mica – Paint code 93 for the anoraks - was the only factory colour choice available but I do hope whoever chose it got a well-deserved promotion. It’s a combination that’s so right it’s hard to imagine the car in another hue. Visually the Racing Puma turns a base car that’s as friendly as a kitten into something more befitting of a real Puma - only a Clio V6 can outshine it in the shopping trolley gone rogue stakes.
So, what are the drawbacks? Well, rarity means they’re very expensive. £17,000 is now the price of a good Racing Puma - about £15,000 more than a normal 1.7 Puma. A concours example will set you back north £30,000. With a decent DC2 Integra Type-R available for around £18,000, this means you have to be even more convinced of the charms of a Racing Puma than you did when it first came out.
Not only that, the exotic coach-built body means parts are either hugely expensive or simply no longer available from Ford. See that left front wing? £800. The Eibach suspension strut underneath it? Just name a price because you can’t get one anywhere. Owners have become so exasperated they’ve even created their own memes.
The Puma can carry deeply impressive speed across country once wound up, however the lasting memory is the cars' tactility and polished dynamics.
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If you crash a Racing Puma the sad reality is you’re probably better off breaking it. Any repair to OEM standards will involve a very long time spent waiting and searching for parts to come up for sale. The brake-callipers also need frequent attention – annual servicing and regular maintenance is wise due to the likelihood of erosion to the unpainted aluminium within the callipers. Happily, some companies such as Ex-Pressed Steel Panels have begun making weld-in repair parts for rust or damage affiliated Racing Pumas.
On the flip side, prices won’t go down so it’s fair to say you’ll probably make back whatever you spend on routine maintenance and petrol if you keep it for a year. Servicing is no different to any Ford 16v petrol at the time, with the cambelt and water pump cropping up every ten years. All the major mechanicals are as robust as any Fiesta’s, you’re unlikely to open the garage to find a puddle of oil underneath the car, nor will it ever leave you stranded.
The only caveat is they’re prone to rust - those bonded rear arches are a breeding ground for oxidisation, so inspect any possible purchase closely and make sure you have somewhere warm and dry to keep your new pride & joy.
I’ve mentioned the lack of performance versus France and Japan but to pigeonhole it is to miss the point of the Racing Puma, but the issue of the low power output needs addressing. The FRP is very much a product of its time and even back then 150bhp could at best be described as adequate when Renault offered a Clio with another 300cc and 20bhp. It’s the sort of power you can get today from a middling hybrid supermini.
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Yes, it’s slow compared to the turbocharged hot hatches you get now, but it does have an ace up its sleeve that’s not the fantastic handling and brakes - but the lack of a turbo.
No Puma will ever win a traffic light Grand Prix but it’ll surprise a competitor, especially when exiting a corner, and there’s 7,200 glorious naturally aspirated rpm to play with. The true reward is just how good it feels to drive, the loutish exhaust and zealous throttle response making the car feel a lot faster than it really is. It endears you to it in the same way old cars did.
In some sense, the Racing Puma was well ahead of its time. Imagine the car never existed, but was released today by Tickford in the form of a restomod. In a world of £100,000 classic Minis and six-figure 205 Gtis, the Racing Puma would fit right in because the recipe and result is precisely the same - take an already excellent base car, spare no expense and elevate it to a higher plane. Column inches would be filled with praise, YouTube videos would be gushing in their reverence and the outright performance wouldn’t matter one jot anymore. And to think all this special re-engineering was done for a fee less than a carbon penis extender on a new Ferrari or McLaren.
To give you a taste of what the Racing Puma is truly about, this is a direct quote from Peter Beattie, the mastermind behind the Racing Puma - “I remember one evening following Richard Parry-Jones home, he was driving one of the development cars, so a support car always had to go along in case it broke down in the middle of nowhere...
“It was too dangerous for us to try to keep up with him. When we eventually arrived at his house, he told us there were two things we should never change: first were the pops on the over-run that sounded like rally car anti-lag, and second was that we should never put a rear wing on it.”
Would the new Puma ST beat it on track? Sure. Would you care that your Racing Puma is slower than both the new Puma ST and the old Fiesta ST200? Not for a single nanosecond. It’s simply one of the best handling cars of all time in my opinion and it’s been almost forgotten about in the modern power race. It’s a shame, but because of that, it’s become a secret weapon. To own one is like being a member of an exclusive club that when others find out about it, they’d want in. But if too many people found out it’d be spoiled.
And that’s the way the Racing Puma should be – unspoiled. It’s a pure driving experience that can’t be replicated in another car. It features old-school rawness but modern reliability and comfort. It’s like having a pet and not a car: your time with it may be fleeting in the grand scheme of things. But you’ll always, always remember and cherish your time with it. Special car, this.
This article is dedicated to memory of the late Richard Parry-Jones CBE (1951-2021)
Ford Racing Puma Stats, Performance and RUSH Rating
Engine
Inline-4, naturally aspirated
Displacement: 1,679 cc (1.7 litres)
Bore x Stroke: 82 mm x 83.5 mm
Compression Ratio: 10.3:1
Valvetrain: DOHC, 16 valves
Power Output: 153 bhp (113 kW) at 7,000 rpm
Torque: 162 Nm (119 lb-ft) at 4,500 rpm
Transmission
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Gear Ratios:
1st Gear: 3.42:1
2nd Gear: 1.95:1
3rd Gear: 1.37:1
4th Gear: 1.10:1
5th Gear: 0.83:1
Final Drive: 4.25:1
Differential:
(Standard) open differential
(Optional) viscous limited slip differential
Brakes
Front Brakes: 280 mm ventilated discs
Rear Brakes: 253 mm solid discs
Callipers: Alcon 4-piston callipers (front)
Tyres
Front Tyres: 215/40 R17
Rear Tyres: 215/40 R17
OEM Brand: Michelin Pilot Sport
Chassis
Layout: Front-engine, front-wheel drive (FWD)
Front Suspension: MacPherson strut with coil springs, anti-roll bar
Rear Suspension: Torsion beam with coil springs, anti-roll bar
Dimensions
Length: 3,984 mm (157 in)
Width: 1,673 mm (65.9 in)
Height: 1,320 mm (52 in)
Wheelbase: 2,444 mm (96.2 in)
Track (front/rear): 1,443 mm / 1,441 mm (56.8 in / 56.7 in)
Weight
Kerb Weight 1174 kg
Power-to-Weight Ratio: 130.4 bhp per ton
Torque-to-Weight Ratio: 137.9 Nm per ton
Performance
0-60 mph: 7.9 seconds
Est. 0-100 mph (0-161 km/h): 21.8 seconds
Est. Standing Quarter Mile Time: 15.6 seconds
Est. Terminal Speed: 88 mph (142 km/h)
Top Speed: 126 mph (203 km/h)
30-50 mph (4th gear): 7.2 seconds (est.)
50-70 mph (5th gear): 8.4 seconds (est.)
RUSH RADAR
Steering - feedback & responses
Drivetrain - throttle response, power delivery
Performance
Value - running costs & residuals
Chassis & Handling Balance
Ride & damping
Engine
Inline-4, naturally aspirated
Displacement: 1,679 cc (1.7 litres)
Bore x Stroke: 82 mm x 83.5 mm
Compression Ratio: 10.3:1
Valvetrain: DOHC, 16 valves
Power Output: 153 bhp (113 kW) at 7,000 rpm
Torque: 162 Nm (119 lb-ft) at 4,500 rpm
Transmission
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Gear Ratios:
1st Gear: 3.42:1
2nd Gear: 1.95:1
3rd Gear: 1.37:1
4th Gear: 1.10:1
5th Gear: 0.83:1
Final Drive: 4.25:1
Differential:
(Standard) open differential
(Optional) viscous limited slip differential
Brakes
Front Brakes: 280 mm ventilated discs
Rear Brakes: 253 mm solid discs
Callipers: Alcon 4-piston callipers (front)
Tyres
Front Tyres: 215/40 R17
Rear Tyres: 215/40 R17
OEM Brand: Michelin Pilot Sport
RUSH RADAR
Steering - feedback & responses
Drivetrain - throttle response, power delivery
Performance
Value - running costs & residuals
Chassis & Handling Balance
Ride & damping
Chassis
Layout: Front-engine, front-wheel drive (FWD)
Front Suspension: MacPherson strut with coil springs, anti-roll bar
Rear Suspension: Torsion beam with coil springs, anti-roll bar
Dimensions
Length: 3,984 mm (157 in)
Width: 1,673 mm (65.9 in)
Height: 1,320 mm (52 in)
Wheelbase: 2,444 mm (96.2 in)
Track (front/rear): 1,443 mm / 1,441 mm (56.8 in / 56.7 in)
Weight
Kerb Weight 1174 kg
Power-to-Weight Ratio: 130.4 bhp per ton
Torque-to-Weight Ratio: 137.9 Nm per ton
Performance
0-60 mph: 7.9 seconds
Est. 0-100 mph (0-161 km/h): 21.8 seconds
Est. Standing Quarter Mile Time: 15.6 seconds
Est. Terminal Speed: 88 mph (142 km/h)
Top Speed: 126 mph (203 km/h)
30-50 mph (4th gear): 7.2 seconds (est.)
50-70 mph (5th gear): 8.4 seconds (est.)
