Part 1: Time To Introduce 'Project DV66'

The time has finally come for us to introduce the first of our demo/show cars -'Project DV66'.

We purchased the car just over a year ago, so as she sits here is pretty much as we got her baring a couple of initial cleans, so far the only things I've done are to replace a couple of 'wear and tear' items such as a new battery after the original finally died on us thanks to a couple of 'heavy' overnight frosts, a couple of rear numberplate bulbs and a tyre thanks to a rogue nail!. We've initially held off introducing the car until now for a couple of reasons, firstly to allow us to get those couple of 'initial' snagging issues sorted prior, and secondly, as I'm sure we're all aware the weather over the last couple of months hasn't exactly been the greatest meaning the opportunities to get out there and actually start on the 'project' hadn't really presented itself that is until now, add that to being constantly busy with 'other' work related projects that had to take priority she's had to take a bit of a backseat until now that is.

So after a quick spruce up here she is....

So What is She?

Some of you who might be a bit more 'clued' up on your fast Ford's may have already noticed this and recognized what she is, in which case great hopefully you'll be able to appreciate her for what she is, others may look at her and say "Its a Fiesta ST, so what!", in which case I would urge you to look a little closer as she's not just any old Fiesta ST!!. Put it this way she gets a fair bit of attention everywhere she goes, on a recent trip to our local Ford dealership for the new battery fitting, she almost single handedly brought the dealership to a standstill just with her presence being there, but why?...… Simply put, she is one of the 'rarest' Fiesta ST's out there in fact just under 1000 of these type of Fiesta ST's ever came to these shores. So what is she then?.... well she is in fact a 2016 Mk7.5 Fiesta ST200!.

So what Is a Fiesta ST200 then?...…

This bit's more for the car geeks out there like myself but... The ST200 is a variant of the hugely successful and extremely popular Mk7.5 Fiesta ST. The ST200 was launched in June 2016 to celebrate the start of the final production run of the Mk7.5 Fiesta ST before the new Mk8 was launched a little over 12 months later. Production was limited to 3000 worldwide units, with initially 'only' 500 of those units planned for the UK market, this was later increased to 1000 in 2017 due to demand however, these initial 500 where initially sold on an 'invitation' only basis, primarily to customers who had pre-ordered the 'all new' Focus RS at the time. All ST200's were based on the 'standard' ST3 platform however, the cars allotted to become '200's' where then sent to Ford's performance centre in Cologne, Germany where they would then undergo their transformation into fully fledged ST200's!.

Visually the differences are subtle over a standard ST, all ST200's are painted in Ford's Storm Grey, the only variant of the Mk7/7.5's to wear this colour from the factory!, New matte black/diamond cut 17" alloys specific again to the ST200 were fitted and the suspension was dropped by a further 10mm over standard, equipment wise the ST200's are fitted out with pretty much the entire option's list on a standard ST3 meaning it gets Reversing Camera, rear parking sensors, Heated Recaro seats, keyless entry, illuminated kick plates, 'special' ST200 themed silver/black seatbelts and the ST200 badge on the rear and centre console complete the visual package, but it's underneath where the biggest changes took place....

Power in the ST200 is upped from 180bhp (197bhp on overboost) in the standard ST to 200bhp in the ST200 (hence the name!) however, with the overboost it's actually more like 212bhp, with torque also increased to 236 ft lb, a shortened final drive ratio was fitted into the gearbox, which ford again limited to the ST200, and then later became standard in the new Mk8 – an alteration that was unavailable to ford's tuning partner Mountune. Other upgrades that were cooked up specifically for the ST200, but have subsequently been applied to all versions of the model produced since later on in the summer of 2016 to help justify the costs incurred. They occur mainly within the chassis, where efforts to improve the car’s composure led to a significantly stiffer rear twist beam, and its resistance to roll climbing by almost a third.

At the front, a bigger anti-roll bar features. With torsional rigidity increased, Ford were able to gently slacken off the spring and damper rates – and it’s the moderate advancement in basic compliance that ought to be more noticeable to anyone with a 'standard' ST. The electrically assisted steering was retuned to match these new settings; its sinewy enthusiasm for self-centring has been unchanged by an attempt to make the car’s initial rate of turn feel even more rigorous. All this added up to a slightly faster 0-62mph sprint and improved in-gear acceleration. The 0.2sec gain claimed for off-the-line performance made the ST200 the fastest Fiesta Ford had produced up to this point, leading to many enthusiasts dubbing it the unofficial Fiesta RS at the time!

What About 'Project 200'

Well 'Project 200' isn't just your average ST200, the eagled eyed of you may have also noticed in the pictures at the top of this post a couple of 'subtle' mods already carried out by her previous owner, she sits a little lower than standard and a set of rather lovely aftermarket exhaust tips look like her only mods, but you'd be wrong!, 'Project 200' is actually running a full stage 2 tuning pack, meaning she is currently running at close to 260-270bhp!. her current list of mods include:

• Stage 2 Revo remap

• Milltek Turbo back Stainless Steel Exhaust

• Stage 3 Airtec Intercooler

• Stage 3 Revo Induction Kit and intake pipe

• -35mm H&R lowering springs

• Rear wiper 'Delete' (Which is getting reinstalled!)

• Driver & Passenger wind deflectors

• Aftermarket Bee sting aerial (Also getting returned to standard spec!)

• Upgraded Industry leading Alarm & Immobiliser (Not saying which, keeping that to myself! Lol)

She is apparently one of the last of the 'initial' 500 cars that were originally offered, being registered in late November 2016 and one of only a 'claimed' 35 cars that came from the factory with the split level luggage compartment!. she has an almost comprehensive service history (she missed her service in 2020 due to covid!) having been previously under the care of Matt Lewis Motorsport & DWA Motorsports both Ford Specialists based in the Midlands.

And Our Plans for 'Project DV66'

Nothing overly major, both myself and Mrs 'Detailed' (who mainly get's to drive her) are more than happy with the performance of the car, so its mostly going to be concentrating on the cosmetics and maintenance sides of things going forwards, there are still a couple of 'snagging' issues to clear up firstly such as replacing a couple of tyres so we have a matching set of Michelin Pilot Sport 5's!, sourcing and refitting a complete rear wiper assembly as it just doesn't look right to me without it, and then it's onto a thorough service and the drivers side front fog lamp has had some water in it at some point and has some rust in it as a result (common with ST's) so that'll be replaced out too and finally a couple of the wheels need refurbing, there only slightly curbed (by previous owner) but my OCD won't allow me to ignore them for the long term!.

As for mods I'd like to do, I'd like to look to fitting the Maxton lower spoiler kit to her as well just to finish off the overall look of the car and then a full and thorough detail including paint correction is needed. I don't want to go too over the top with it and spoil the whole concept and ethos of what she is, purist's might say to return her to stock, she'll be worth more in the long run, but I still want to have some fun with her along the way and believe these cars should be out there to be seen and driven, too many are/were hidden away and treated like garage queens!, but whilst still being mindful of what she is underneath and not trying to put too many excessive miles on her!

We'll be documenting our journey with 'Project DV66' as much as possible in this blog section so if you'd like to see how we get on and keep up to date with her progress we'd love to have you here along for the ride!