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Speed World Challenge Focus Restoration

28K views 107 replies 34 participants last post by  team illuminata 
#1 · (Edited)
EDIT Sorry. pics are gone. Album here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/team_illuminata/albums/72157675062456295


Hi, My name’s Paul Eddleston, founder and owner of Team Illuminata Motorsport in SE Michigan and we just joined Focaljet because we recently purchased this ex-Speed World Challenge Focus. Some of you may recognize it.














As you can see it was sponsored by FOCALJET for a while. here's a thread that documented the involvement. http://forums.focaljet.com/focus-ro...ports-oakland-univ-speed-world-challenge.html



HISTORY
This is what we know about the cars history. We assume it was built by 3R Racing in Colorado for the Speed World Challenge in maybe 2005 or 2006. Robb Holland drove it at Infineon Raceway in 2006 but we haven't found any other races. It may have had FILA decals before the FOCALJET ones.

In mid 2007 it was sold to PDMC Motorsport, a race team associated with Oakland University in SE Michigan. The team had plans to run the final three rounds of the Speed World Challenge at Mosport, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca. It was to be piloted by Jeff Nowicki who happens to live round the corner from me though I have yet to meet him. It did run at Mosport and qualified 23rd and finished 17th. It also won the B&M Holeshot Award; whatever that is. Story here http://www.autoblog.com/2006/09/06/university-team-finds-podium-in-first-pro-race/ . It is unclear whether it ran at Road Atlanta or Leguna Seca. I suspect not.

After this, from word on the street, the program ran into some legal issues and the car sat for awhile. it was then purchased by a local car collector for his young son to race but that never happened so late in 2013 it was sold to another local car enthusiast who passed it on to a friend of mine who then sold it to us. So it's been passed around a lot but seems not to have been abused, too much.



CURRENT CONDITION
As the car sits it does not run. It seems as if it has been pillaged of a few of it's parts but not what you might expect. It is missing axles, the throttle body is not bolted on but the wires are connected. Apparently it had no intake manifold when it emerged into the local community but one of the previously mentioned owners put a Cosworth unit on. that is why the throttle body is and intake are not connected. They don't fit. It is missing a window net too and all the fluids. It does turn over but pisses out fuel from the fuel filter. The battery is fully charged and seems to hold it. The ECU (PECTEL) seems to have a tune in it too.


COOL STUFF
Make no mistake, this is a proper race car. I can't imagine what it cost to build but maybe more than my house. We didn't pay house money for it though. Here's a quick run down of some of its highlights:

Gutted interior, Cage


Lexan windows, CF tailgate


Composite splitter


Fuel cell, Air jacks


Motec dash and data logger


Composite rear wing (used to be on the tailgate)


Forgeline RS wheels, AP brakes


Custom exhaust manifold


Cosworth intake manifold


Composite dash


Pedal box


Proflex dampers


Custom wiring harness, Brake bias adjuster


Racetech seat


Pectel ECU
Quaife gearset
LSD?
Side exit exhaust
Composite hood
12.8:1 compression ratio



PLANS
So what shall we do with this beast? Well, we feel the car deserves to run again, hopefully flat out. So we’d like to get it driving once more. It’s going to need some axles, fluids, intake and probably a tune to achieve that goal. Of course we can’t run Forgeline wheels on the car, excellent thought they are, because we are the North American importer of BRAID wheels. We have some Fulrace As on their way as we speak. 17x8, +27 offset, 4x108. Just like the Forgelines.



Yes, they will be white. We also need to get some yellow vinyl on the car to make it match our others. It's uncanny how close to the BRAID blue the car is right now. Just needs some yellow and big BRAID stickers on the side and it will look like it's always been part of the family.

If we are successful restoring it to a running, viable race car then maybe we’ll run a few autocrosses and track days with it this year. That would be nice. What would be really nice would be to see it race on the track again. It is a race car after all. Apparently it should be legal for SCCA STU class if we tweak a few things. The intake manifold will need to be stock but we have one of those on the way. Not sure what else we need to do. Oh, and we'll have to find a driver. Mr. Nowicki, are you reading this? There is even the possibility of running it in a hill climb, in Michigan!

If there are suitable car shows in the area we might take it there, but of course we'd have to trailer it. Woodward Dream Cruise would be fun for instance. Maybe the Ford dealer in Royal Oak would host it. Any other suggestions would be welcome.



So what do you think? Subscribe to this thread and let us know. Look out for updates and to answer all our dumb questions. There will be plenty.
 
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21
#5 ·
I want this car. Thanks for bringing it back from the dead.
Lots of updates please. Oh, and may I have the splitter?
Please? :D
 
#6 ·
When I saw the title I figured it was going to be the Memo Gidley run car. I haven't seen this car in person yet so it must not have run Road America that year. Looking forward to seeing this build!
 
#10 ·
I own the mesh wheels that are pictured in some of the photos. They still have the writing from the races, car race # on the inside of the barrels. If you are interested in them, i am willing to sell them. They a 3-piece P5 wheels. I am in Royal Oak.
 
#11 ·
Also, parts from this car were being parted out at a body shop in Downtown Rochester about 3 years ago. To be honest with i think this car was there and i thought they were parting it out. But they wanted way too much for the parts.
 
#18 ·
I remember where the shop was, i will try to figure it out. The guys really didn't know much about the car other than it came from the OU race team. If it is missing anything its likely it was sold on craigslist, because thats how i have the wheels.

I have all four wheels.
 
#21 ·
great looking racecar, cant wait to see it revived
 
#22 ·
Howdy stranger!

Welcome to FocalJet!

I remember this car and used to watch the World challenge religously looking for a Focus to root for.

But I forget..The Memo driven car was a different car,or this one?

Nice score!
 
#30 ·
I actually like where the rear spoiler is located now compared to how it was ran before. How does it mount underneath -- is it bolted to the structure of the chassis or just the roof? Any chance you could take some pics from inside the car? Thanks!
Watching this one closely, really glad you're bringing some old skool back.
 
#31 ·
Its great to see the car being revived! A legit build for sure, it would have been such a shame to see all the effort and engineering go to waste.

I remember reading about the Cossie intake manifold needing special work to fit the 2.0 liter. I'm sure someone here can advise exactly what's necessary.
 
#32 ·
Time for an update:

We thought it would be interesting to see how much the car weighed and where said weight is so to speak. Can you guess how much?



Dry, no driver and we had the CF hood on.



Here's some more pictures of some of the cool stuff. At least we think it's cool.


AP brakes






Brake cooling duct






Oil cooler and radiator




Exhaust






Suspension






Nothing on this car is normal.
 
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