Rory’s rebuilds ahead of Croft

The shunt at Silverstone just 10 days ago was the biggest of my career and thankfully my Ford Focus ST absorbed all of the energy, keeping me safe from the multiple impacts. I owe a lot to Custom Cages and Motorbase Performance for designing and building a car to such a high standard.

The car was very worse for wear, cosmetically and structurally too. So it would take a herculean effort to have a working car for Free Practice 1 at Croft in just under two weeks.

Motorbase showed great leadership and reacted quickly by immediately stripping the car down to a bare chassis on the Sunday evening and by Monday morning at 08.00 it was being transported to Custom Cages in Daventry.

Custom Cages inspected the chassis and placed it on a jig to highlight any bends, tweaks or misalignments. The front of the car was as new, but the rear was a lost cause after taking the initial impact into the metal barrier. Ideally we would build a completely new car, however with such a quick turnaround the decision was made to fabricate a new rear end from the drivers seat backwards. The term “cut and shut” is quite fitting!

The decision was made to repair the chassis and a plan was in motion, there was no turning back. By 09.00 on the Tuesday, just two days after the crash, two Motorbase team members arrived at the Ford production site in Germany and collected new body panels taken straight off the production line. While the skilled team at Custom Cages set about fabricating the new rear end, the Motorbase Performance crew ordered and collected new components, built up suspension and subframes and painted new bodywork &and trim, so that when the chassis arrived back at base, they would be as prepared as possible for the rebuild process.

The team wanted the car back by the Saturday, however it took til the Monday evening of this week, before Custom Cages had finished their side of the job. The fabrication team at Motorbase now took over the reigns and completed some finer details like adding specific brackets and also prepared the chassis for painting which was scheduled for Wednesday.

I flew down on Wednesday morning as I was shaking down my team mate Andy’s car and I swung by the team workshop to check up on the progress. It was midday and the chassis was still being prepped, the small details always take the longest. However, as I travelled back home in the evening I received some photos of a freshly painted chassis.

Thursday morning was now upon us and the rebuild process could now begin. This normally takes over a week however we only had 1.5 days! The organisation, forward thinking and preparation really paid dividends as they powered through the build at incredible speed and by 18.00 the car was fired up and running. It looked 95% complete, but that last 5% is like trying to reach the peak of a great mountain as it always seems to get further away. It’s where the small components hold you up and you can hit stumbling blocks and issues!

In the wee hours of Friday morning, after overcoming many challenges the car was finally finished, ready to be transported to Croft Circuit. The commitment and grit that this team have shown is truly inspirational. We have a car, which means we are still in the race and this weekend at Croft will continue the fight!

This weekend you can keep track of all my results via TSL timing, qualifying is also live streamed on ITV.comon Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, all three races will be broadcast live on ITV4 as well as ITV.com. Set your TV to record or tune in live from 11.00 for a full day of Motorsport action. My weekend timetable and all relevant links are listed below: