Thursday 26 April 2012

My Introduction...


Hello all, just thought I would take two minutes to introduce myself.
I was/am the proud owner of a 1997 Ford Puma. Yes proud (anyone who has not driven one really should they are a fantastic car).
The Monsters

Summer 2011 my family grew by Two, DOGS that is!

Getting about in a sports coupĂ© with two lurcher’s involved wedging them on the back seat and driving with a gas mask on. Often spending many miles with one of them resting a head on my shoulder.

So a bigger car was the only option, and on our door step we found a cheap 4x4 with plenty of room in the back for the two monsters.

The Puma sat on my mothers driveway (S.O.R.N.) for sale. A few people were interested but insurance quotes soon put most of them off. So from mid October it sat there looking at me wanting to be driven. The MOT ran out, the tax ran out and the battery ran out.

In the back of my mind I had thoughts of turning it into a project car of some type, to do what I had no idea. But I didn’t have the time or the space or cash to do anything on my own.

One family Sunday lunch at mothers house ( I remember it well – Roast Pork, Spuds, Carrots, Swede and Yorkshire Puddings – No dessert though!!). While filling our faces my brother and myself connected on another level and we started watching Rally cross videos on you tube after lunch (as there was a lack of pudding, including the Top Gear episode where they start doing Rally-cross for the cost of Golfing).

The idea was born! And PROJECT PUMA was set loose upon the world.
Lee

Wednesday 25 April 2012

And so it begins...

One Sunday afternoon I arrive at my mother's house to find the Ford Puma that my brother has loving left on her drive is yet to sell. It prompts me to suggest that we should strip it out and go racing with it. Luckily for me my brother had already had the exact same idea! And so the Racing Puma Project was born...

The Plan

Over the next 12-18 months the plan is that our stock 1997 1.7ltr Ford Puma will be stripped out, racing seat fitted, roll cage installed and two idiots will enter it into RallyCross races! Over this period we will be blogging our progress including the costs, pit falls, lessons learnt and the fun we've had... hopefully.

First on the to do list is to clear a space in my garage and move it 25 miles from my mother's house to my house. On the upside my brother has a 3ltr Daihatsu Fourtrack with a tow bar, the downside is we don't have a vehicle trailer. £50 rental for the day will do for now but we both think that if this gets serious it may be one investment we can't afford not to make.

Second on the to do list is to start stripping it out. Now Haynes didn't make a manual for the Puma so we will have to make do with the platform sharing Mk4 Ford Fiesta. Apart from the 1.7ltr engine I'm told it covers pretty much all the basics. eBay has them for around £14 new, but as we are keeping costs down hopefully a second hand one will pop up soon.