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WutApex

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Just curious, being a Ford fan and all, how competitive (and cost prohibitive) would running a XR4Ti would be?

 

As far as I've ever seen (or heard of in different regions), GTS is really just variants of BMWs with a couple Porsches mixed in. I thought I'd read the Mercs were expensive to run and didn't have the aftermarket support. So I figured with all the racing the Sierra did/does in Europe, that race-specific parts (and set up help) would be available for the similar Merkur.

 

Would the 2.3 be competitive/reliable?

 

So out of curiosity, based my quick skim of the GTS rules, it says you can use an engine "from the same manufacturing parent company as the chassis".

 

Does this mean:

 

A. One could use a sierra-based motor, i.e. Cossie, since it's the same chassis? (although anything labeled Cosworth would be out of my price range)

 

B. One could use any Ford of Germany motor, which would include any Cologne variant?

 

C. Or you could use any Ford-based motor? If so, that opens the door for some really cool engine choices!

 

Have these been successfully run in GTS anywhere?

 

As clarification, I wouldn't be looking at doing this for quite a while but wanted to get a feel if it's a pipe dream or reasonable venture. These cars are stupid cheap right now. Maybe I've been watching too many BTCC youtube videos........

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Sounds cool. Just be sure to be a back marker and do not start winning races with it.

Because when you build a car and win races with it, they like to ban your car from the class you built it for. It's an awesome system.

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There was a NASA Mid-Atlantic guy that was running an XR4Ti. Don't think he made it to a race class, pretty sure he was just instructing and/or TT. He was a NASA official and not sure if he is still there. If I remember his name, I will pass it along. Reach out to Jon Felton, he may be able to help get you hooked up with him.

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  • 3 months later...

I have one and eventually plan on preparing it for GTS. Turboford.org, MerkurClub.com and MerkurSport.com all have just about all the mechanical parts and information you'd need to run. However the biggest problem I think you'll have is body panel replacement. Not too many available to begin with.

 

Also, according to the rules you can only run an engine that was originally offered by the parent manufacturer (in this case Merkur, not Ford) so you could run the 2.3 or the 2.8 V6 but thats it. The 2.3 is a pretty strong engine at reasonable power levels (i calculated once that GTS3 would require 228 hp or something close to that) the Merkur "problem" is the T9 transmission. They fail at stock power levels so most people choose to upgrade them to the T5 trans offered in Fox body Mustangs and Thunderbirds. Doing this requires some custom parts and fabrication but it has been done enough times that there is plenty of help available.

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