Friday 12 February 2010

New exhaust plus mag feature!!!!!!!!!!!

Its been all go go go the last few weeks.What can i say other than i was very pleasantly surprised to be asked if we would like a feature with performance ford magazine for there monthly show stoppers section.

Obviously in sheer disgust we refused.....no actually i bit there hand off for it because i had no plans to submit it for a feature entry for at least another 8-10 months.

There has been so much to tick off the list i would have felt cheeky to put it forward,but then to some degree your car is never 'ready' and this alone means alot of people dont get to see it at shows nor a publication.

This is however,our 3rd foray into the world of car features.I feel somewhat spoilt in this department and very humble that we have had the chance to shout our corner for a 3rd time in a row now.

A side note to this and perhaps worthy of its own blog entry is the hierarchy that a lot of people pick up upon with these types of magazine.What i mean to say is,you do have a level of car that seems to go into the performance car mags and it usually rides along with double the bhp or more,a track like set up and a budget of a small third world country.

So after several pages of arguing the toss on passion ford,its clear you will always have 2 camps of people.Those who want every day realistic fast road cars,and those who pay there hard earned to read motorsport track weapons where the sky is the limit.

So where do we fit in????

From my perspective i think its because there hasnt been more than 2-3 mentions for a car thats been around for 8 years now.So the ratio of ST220 per rolling magazine year has been unbelievably poor until now that is.
Barely a month back PF featured a ST tdci and mine will be out for aprils mag and prior to all this we had Martins ST24 with 220 engine project.So to some degree its getting more exposure thru what ever means.

So then...exhausts!!!! this is food for thought and the whole subject still raises a few grins and is a never ending hot bed for argument and contention but i still maintain little to no gains are made from the cat back.

So why the hell did i rush about like a loony getting one fitted??? you may wonder.

This is purely from an aesthetic point of view seeing as it was being shot in a studio for the feature and i felt a standard 8 year old wafty looking system wasnt the best foot forward when everything around it has been dealt with.
Plus its 8 years old and could do with a freshen up as its fords finest er...mild steel jobbie.

Th choices at such a short time frame were limited to a custom pipecraft system but this meant leaving the car for days to find a slot to get it on the ramps.
Then it was a mongoose system for a lofty £600!!!! fitted no less but still...

Then finally AmD came to the rescue as it were.£490 fitted for a milltek system and that was that job done.2 days to spare!

Must admit im loving the perfect balance of volume and tone.Nothing too overbearing and a lovely pop and burble on over run.

So nearly 500 sheets poorer we trek down the A21 and finally reach the studio.We are greeted by large security gates and then greeted by a rather finger licking good aston DBS sitting in the grounds car park.

It was a long ole day then followed by a near rear ender and a puncture!!! but,it was worth all the hassle.

The mag comes to us in a couple of weeks and i feel its been a stunning journey from the escort RS2000 thru to the st200 and now this car.Deserved??? juries out,but is it a good feeling??? hell yeah