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Significant anniversaries for the Model T and Escort, as well as the record-breaking Ford Focus RS WRC, add to Ford motorsport highlights at this year’s event

BRENTWOOD, ESSEX, 24 June, 2008 – Ford Motor Company, a major sponsor of the Goodwood Festival of Speed since its inception in 1993, will again be supporting this prestigious event to be held over the weekend of 11-13 July 2008.
The Festival of Speed is Europe’s premier historic motor sporting event – a combination of hillclimb, rally stage, garden party, and motor show, all in the grounds of Goodwood House, the Earl of March’s ancestral home in West Sussex.

Leading the array of famous Ford vehicles on the hillclimb and the forest rally stage will be the Ford Focus RS WRC, which recently claimed a record-breaking 100th consecutive points finishes in the FIA World Rally Championship. With a first and second-place finish on the recent Rally of Turkey, Ford became the first manufacturer since the launch of the WRC in 1973 to reach a century of successive scores.

A stunning array of Ford vehicles
In a year in which Ford celebrates two important dates – the centenary of the launch of the Model T and the 40th anniversary of the arrival of the Escort – there will be an array of famous Ford vehicles at Goodwood. Ford will be represented on the Hillclimb, on the Forest Rally Stage, and also in the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours. In addition, many of the famous racing F1 and racing sports cars present will be powered by Cosworth-Ford V8 or V10 engines.

There were successful Model Ts in motor racing in the 1920s, Ford V8s won the Monte Carlo rally in the 1930s, and since the 1950s Ford has always been prominent in racing and rallying, often with specially-developed cars such as the Escort RS1600 and RS1800, the RS200, the Sierra RS500 Cosworth, and racing Mondeos.
Ford-powered cars from all around the world will be present, ranging from Indy 500 winners, to successful British Touring Car Championship machines, an ex-Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford F1 car and Escort Mk IIs which dominated world rallying for so long.

Current WRC Champions
Ford success at world level continues to this day, and the record-breaking Focus RS WRC features on the Hillclimb and the Forest Rally Stage driven by current drivers’ championship leader Mikko Hirvonen. Ford is also leading the manufacturers’ standings in pursuit of a third consecutive FIA World Rally Championship after winning the manufacturers’ title in 2006 and 2007.

Joining the Focus WRC cars on the Forest Rally Stage will be a Ford Escort RS1800 rally car driven by 1979 rally world champion, Björn Waldegård.

Visitors to the Goodwood Festival of Speed will see an astonishing variety of other famous Fords, ranging from the Le Mans-winning GT40, RS200, NASCAR Taurus, the 7-litre Galaxie which changed the face of British saloon car racing in 1963, and an ex-Jim Clark racing Lotus Cortina.

Escort and Model T celebrations

Immediately after its public launch in 1968, the Escort became a race and rally winner and went on to record many victories. Escorts won the European and British Touring Car Championships in the 1970s, and were twice World Rally Champions, in 1979 and 1981. Escorts won the Monte Carlo rally, the East African Safari and the London-Mexico World Cup rally, and they triumphed on the British RAC rally on eight consecutive occasions (1972 – 1979).

Although the Model T was not designed as a competition car, it became successful in everything from long distance trials, to specialised formula racing in the US. As the world’s best selling car of the 1910s and 1920s, Model Ts found fame in many ways. A selection of special types will be on show in the Style et Luxe Concours. Model Ts, it seems, not only provided trouble-free motoring and bargain prices for millions, but could also be used in show business, as commercial vehicles, and in the most inhospitable terrain.

40 years of Ford Escort

In January 1968, Ford launched the all-new Escort family saloon, which became an all-time best-seller. In a 32-year career the Escort always offered remarkable value for money and, to keep abreast of trends and customer demands, the style, specification and equipment of the Escort was regularly refreshed.

The original Escort coupled a simple but attractive style with innovations, including a new all-synchromesh transmission, rack-and-pinion steering for the first time on any Ford, front-wheel disc brakes on some models, and a novel body shell construction which incorporated massive one-piece body side pressings.

By the standards of the day, the first Escort offered remarkable performance from a 50bhp/1,098cc engine, with a top speed of 80mph, typical fuel consumption of 35mpg and all for no more than £605.

UK market leadership
Ford became UK market leaders during the Escort’s career, and has kept that lead ever since. Initial Escort production was concentrated at the Halewood plant, on Merseyside. Production at Saarlouis in Germany followed within a year, and many other Escorts were later assembled at other Ford plants around the world.

Larger and more powerful engines, optional automatic transmission, four-door, estate car and light commercial vehicle types were added to the original two-door saloon, along with many different trim packs and options. The famous Twin-Cam and the equally legendary RS1600 helped to make the Escort the world’s most successful competition saloon car.

A newly-styled Escort appeared in 1975 to keep the range at the head of the sales charts for five years. In 1980 an entirely new Escort took over. Not only did this, the Mk III, have a smart hatchback style, but it also featured a transversely-mounted overhead-camshaft engine and front-wheel-drive.

A much up-dated range of cars (the Mk IV) followed in 1986 with the Escort’s final major change happening in 1990. In 1998 Ford introduced an all-new replacement to its fastest-selling family car, the Focus.

Motorsport triumphs
Specialised Escorts were spectacular and triumphant race and rally cars at competitions all around the world, winning more events than any of their rivals. Victory in prestigious rallies such as the Monte Carlo, East African Safari, British RAC and World Cup rallies were matched by success in European and British Touring Car race series, these being delivered by heroes like Roger Clark, Hannu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen.

When the Escort came to the end of its glittering career, an outstanding car was needed to take over. The Focus was a worthy successor to the Escort, and has itself always been a great success in both the sales charts and in motorsport.

Ford’s best-selling model, the Model T, is 100 years old

The Model T, affectionately known as the “Tin Lizzie”, was launched in October 1908, and rapidly became the world’s best-selling car. Made in Detroit in the US, at Ford’s first British factory at Trafford Park, in Manchester, and other sites worldwide, it dominated the motoring scene for almost 20 years. When the last Model T was built in 1927 more then 16 million examples had been built in 50 factories in 19 countries.

The original design, simple and robust, was based around a 2.9-litre four-cylinder engine developing 22bhp, which was matched to a two-speed epicyclic transmission. The 100in wheelbase frame ran on front and rear transverse leaf spring suspension. Like many other cars of the period, there was a drum brake on the transmission shaft and lever-operated drum brakes on the rear wheels only.

The first cars were assembled at Piquette Park in Detroit but Ford opened a new factory at Highland Park in 1911, where there was space for expansion. Early production Model Ts were open top Touring Cars, but optional body styles, including Roadsters, Coupes and Town Cars were added to the range and even commercial versions followed. Originally ticketed at $850, the price of a Model T was driven down as Henry Ford proved that simplicity and volume would make them less and less expensive to build.

The world’s first moving assembly line for building cars was installed at Highland Park in 1913. Before this, it had taken 12.5 man-hours to assemble a Model T - this was reduced to not more than 1.5 man-hours. For several years the car was only available with black paintwork because the available black paint dried faster than any other known shade. In this period, Ford also increased its wages – the new rate, of $5 a day, was much higher than that offered by rival concerns. This meant that workers could soon afford to buy their own Model Ts.

Prices reduced dramatically
By 1917, selling prices of the Runabout had been slashed to $345, while the Touring Car cost $360. The list of featured equipment grew – electric instead of oil-lit headlamps arrived in 1915, demountable wheel rims and an electric starter motor became optional in 1919.

Sales and production rose sharply. Nearly 250,000 cars were produced in 1914, more than one million followed in 1920, and in 1925, when demand was at its peak, almost two million Model Ts of all types left the assembly lines. Prices reached an all-time record low in 1925, when a buyer could purchase a Model T Runabout for just $260 (which was less than a third of the original price in 1909).

The first British-built Ford
The Model T was the very first British-built Ford, with the first-ever example being assembled at Trafford Park on 23 October 1911. It was Britain’s best selling car for many years in the 1920s. More than 300,000 cars were built at Trafford Park before production ceased there in August 1927.

British-made Model Ts built up a fine reputation, in peace and in war. During the First World War, Ts provided the chassis for scout cars, machine gun carriers, and particularly for ambulances, this type eventually being built at more than 100 vehicles a day. Until the newly imposed “horsepower tax” hit the Model T hard, it often commanded more than 40 per cent of the UK market. Many Model Ts survive to this day, specialised clubs cater for the brand all around the world, and some of the mechanical parts are still available for rebuilds and restoration.

Qualified customers may delay payments

DEARBORN, Mich., June 23, 2008 – Ford Motor Credit Company is offering customers affected by the devastating floods in the Midwest the option to delay some car payments. Ford Motor Credit’s Disaster Relief Program allows qualified customers to delay one or two monthly payments, resuming their regular payment schedules when their situations improve.

“We understand that some of our customers have been affected by the terrible flooding in the Midwest. We hope our Disaster Relief Program will give them one less thing to worry about as they recover and rebuild,” said Mike Bannister, CEO and chairman.

Ford Motor Credit customers who are eligible for the Disaster Relief Program will be sent letters with instructions on how to register. The offer is available to customers who are leasing or have purchased vehicles with financing from Ford Credit, Jaguar Credit, Land Rover Capital, Mazda American Credit, PRIMUS or Volvo Car Finance.

Customers also may call the toll-free number listed for their brand to register for the Ford Motor Credit Disaster Relief Program:

DAVID GILLILAND press conference

DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 freecreditreport.com Ford Fusion (finished 2nd) – “It was a great day for us. He kind of hit on some stuff there late in Happy Hour that just made the car drive really, really good, and I told my crew chief, Cully, ‘This is what we need to be able to stay on the race track, not mistakes,’ and it was fast. That’s a combination for a good day, and then it was in my hands not to make a mistake, and that’s harder than it sounds here. I’m just real proud of all the guys, freecreditreport.com and all of our sponsors, and I’m really proud of Yates Racing. As a whole, where we were last year, just in these 16 races or how far we are now, it’s 180 degrees of where it was and I think it still has the potential to get even better. So, I’m real proud of that and real proud of being a part of that.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK WHEN YOU HAD JEFF GORDON IN YOUR REARVIEW MIRROR? “That’s an uncomfortable feeling, I can tell you that. Coming here with my dad and helping my dad race and stuff and watching Jeff win races, so I wasn’t real excited about having him back there, for sure. Our car was pretty good on the restart before the last one – I kind of got away from Jeff a little bit going up the hill. So, that made me a little more comfortable on the second one, but it was super slick the last lap, so as far as challenging for the lead, it was everything I could do just to stay on the race track. It was wild back there. It was incredible.”

THERE WERE THREE RESTARTS IN THE FINAL LAPS, AND KYLE BUSCH PULLED AWAY EACH TIME. WAS HE THAT MUCH FASTER? “With the re-starts, out first gear was pretty high. It was hard to really get going. When you’re leading the race and you have control and you can go when you want, it’s hard to time it – especially with the first gear as high as it was – for me, it was. And then the tires want to spin. You gather you so much stuff on the tires under caution here, there was so much stuff on the race track today, it made it difficult.”

ON THE FINAL RESTART, HOW MUCH OF IT WAS TRYING TO CATCH KYLE BUSCH AND HOW MUCH OF IT WAS TRYING NOT TO GET PASSED BY JEFF GORDON? “Obviously, I wanted to catch Kyle. But once I got up to turn four, I quit worrying about that and just basically focused on keeping my car on the race track. We went through there once and thought, ‘Well, the next lap will probably be better because 40 cars have gone through there,’ and the last lap it was every bit as slippery as the first lap going through there. It was everything I could do to keep my car on the race track at that point. Kyle was sliding around, and I was, Jeff was – so it was a handful. The restart before that, Jeff said I got a good run on Kyle and was able to apply a little bit of pressure to him, just hoping he’d make a mistake. That’s the toughest thing about this race track that I’ve learned. And my dad told me the first time I raced here, ‘Race the race track.’ And you can see it in the races or out on the track – you’ll catch someone and just apply a little pressure and they’ll start locking up the brakes here, locking it up there, and then overdriving it here and then pretty soon they’ve got two wheels off the race track. You just got to race the race track, and after I went through turn three and four up there I just basically focused on that and trying to keep Jeff behind me.”

WHAT WAS YOUR STRATEGY TODAY, AND DID YOU THINK IT WORKED OUT? AND, DID YOU THINK YOU WERE CLOSE TO RUNNING OUT OF FUEL AT THE END? “No. Our strategy was pretty good. We’ve done a lot of road-course testing to try to our fuel mileage the best we can, and the cautions fell right for us today, too. It put us in a position to be able to run in the top six or seven, there and we were able to stay up there, our car was good enough to stay up there, which is good. I think for the last about 80 percent of the race we were up there. So, it’s good. When you’re back in the back, there’s a lot more stuff that happens and you take more chances running up through there. Our fuel mileage was good. I was conserving fuel up until we had those last couple of cautions and my crew chief, Cully, said, ‘Go ahead and go. Give it all you got.’”

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN AN ENDING LIKE THAT BEFORE HERE? “It was tough. As the run went on and you burned the fuel off my rear brakes kept wanting to wheel hop a little bit, so as the run went on I had to keep adjusting my brake bias to the front a little bit. But, it can happen. Every lap you’re on the edge, right there, keeping your brake balance the best you can, so you can stop the best. But that’s something that helped me, is adjusting my brake bias. I wheel-hopped there probably four times there today, and luckily I wasn’t on the inside of somebody today to cause an accident.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE MAKING STEADY PROGRESS TOWARD BEING COMPETITIVE AT THE OTHER TRACKS? THIS IS KIND OF A HOME TRACK FOR YOU. “Absolutely. That’s why we go to the race track each week. We’re working hard at it. It’s not easy, I’ll tell you that. It’s a challenge each and every week, but definitely. I feel like we’ve definitely made an improvement on the mile-and-a-half stuff. Our short-track stuff has been much better than it was last year. Richmond, we had our best car we had and we ran in the top-10 and got involved in an accident. So, we’ve had a little bit of bad luck, but, definitely, I feel like our performance has improved 90 percent from what it was last year – our cars are much better. You talk to people and they say, ‘You’re just learning experience,’ but you really learn anything driving a car that really shouldn’t be on the race track. So, we’re having to re-learn a lot of things this year, and running up in the front with Jeff Gordon, and you’ve got to earn that respect and that goes a long ways. It’s just a steady process that we’re chipping away at.”

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion (finished 8th) – A TOP-10 FINISH ON A ROAD COURSE MUST MAKE YOU VERY HAPPY. “I feel like we won. This is the only track on the circuit that we never had a top-10 at, and we fixed that today. That’s my best finish ever here – and Dale Jr., too, that was pretty fun racing him at the end. I think that’s both of our first top-10s – I think it’s the only track neither one of us had a top-10 at, so that’s pretty cool that we drove hard and got a good finish.”

YOU’VE NOW MOVED INTO THE TOP 12. IS IS TOO EARLY IN THE SEASON FOR YOU TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT BEING IN THE TOP 12? “I don’t know if it’s ever too early to look at it – you always look at it on the way home, especially if you’re moving up to see where you’re at and see what happened. But, the bottom line is really you do the best you can every week, and try to finish as high as you can and try to lead laps and do all that and the points take care of themselves – the higher you finish, the more points you get. So, really, it’s not a strategy, when you race hard and try to be smart and do the right things and hopefully get some good finishes and get back in it.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (finished 11th) – YOU MADE A LOT OF SPOTS UP AFTER DROPPING FROM THE LEAD. “Yeah. I mean, I feel stupid. I just had a bunch of rubber on the tires and just screwed up.”

IS THAT A CONDITION YOU DON’T KNOW UNTIL AFTER THE FACT? “Yeah, obviously. The thing is, it caught me off-guard. Here’s what caught me off-guard – our tires don’t shed rubber anymore, they put off powder or dust. Well, this was the first race track where there’s marbles again – the old famous marbles. And I had it all over my tires, and when I made the first initial left, I just thought it was because the nose was up in the air because we were going so slow, and I kept in the gas a little bit. If I would’ve let off then, then I would’ve been okay. But, just gum on the tires, like bubblegum – all that stuff rolled up on the tires. And you had to peel it all off before the car would turn or stop – and I just ran off the race track.”

AFTER YOU DROPPED TO 30TH, YOU MADE UP 19 SPOTS, SO YOU OBVIOUSLY HAD A GOOD RACE CAR. “I did. I had a good car. I probably stood a chance at winning if I could’ve gotten out front. But, I just screwed. That’s all there is too it. I feel bad for the guys, real bad for 3M, and everybody who works so hard on these cars. We did our pit strategy right, we got the lead, and I just drove off the track on the green flag.”

JAMIE McMURRAY – No. 26 Crown Royal Ford Fusion (finished 18th) – WHAT HAPPENED LATE IN THE RACE? “I don’t know. I just got run into the back of. I guess the 29 car wheel-hopped or, I don’t know, just drove over his head. We had a second- or third-place car and should’ve finished there, and we didn’t.”

WHEN YOU HAVE A CAR THAT’S THAT GOOD, AND YOU’RE RUNNING WELL, AND THEN SOMETHING HAPPENS THROUGH NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN TO COST YOU A GREAT FINISH, HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT? “There’s nothing you can do about that. You can’t really focus on your results. I think, as a driver, you do your job and the team did their job. We had a good car, we had a good pit strategy, good fuel mileage, I drove really well – just had a guy get out of control and get into us. That’s out of our control, so what are you going to do?”

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 21 Little Debbie Honey Buns Ford Fusion (finished 42nd) – “It’s just very unfortunate. We were racing really good there. The Wood Brothers and the whole crew gave me a great car. We were fighting with Elliott [Sadler] pretty hard; he got into the back of us, spun us out, but that wasn’t the problem – I was actually just selecting first gear on the downshift when he hit me. It’s just unfortunate, one of those deals. But, we leave here with our heads held high. We raced hard and we raced well at the front there, and it was just a lot of fun.”

YOU MUST BE SATISFIED WITH YOUR DEBUT. “I couldn’t believe it, you know? Here I am passing Jeff Gordon and racing with Earnhardt – it’s just fantastic. It’s what I dreamed about, dreamed what it would be like, and it’s certainly like that. It’s just fantastic. It’s just a shame we couldn’t finish the race.”

MORE ON HIS DEBUT. “Yeah, I’m just so excited about it. I would never have dreamt that we would’ve run this well. I just wanted to try to get in the race and just race. We did that, we ran up front, raced some guys, with Gordon and Earnhardt – just a blast. It was everything I dreamt it would be like.”

IS THERE A LESSON THAT YOU TAKE OUT OF TODAY? “It’s hard work. I wish I would’ve come over 10 years ago. I’m just so lucky to have this opportunity with Little Debbie and the Wood Brothers crew. I just want to thank them so much for giving me the chance. Road racing is my background, it’s where I feel most comfortable. I’m not saying every week is going to be like this; this is definitely a race I’m going to remember for a long time.”

YOU MADE UP A LOT OF GROUND AFTER YOUR FIRST PIT STOP. DID YOU GET MORE DOWNFORCE? “Not really – just had to drive harder. We were just rolling around there through the first third of the race. The pressure’s coming on there the last part of the race, and unfortunately we just didn’t make it home. What happened in the incident when Elliott got into the back of me, I was just downshifting to first gear and the impact behind me just must’ve shoved the gearbox and broke the gears. We actually finished without first gear – it put a hole in the gearbox casing. We didn’t want to oil the track down for everybody else. We leave with our heads held high.”

LEN WOOD – co-owner No. 21 Little Debbie Honey Buns Ford Fusion – HOW DID HE MARCOS AMBROSE DO IN HIS DEBUT? “He did what we all expected – to put it up front. He managed to get up in the top five – pretty much most of the time no worse than a sixth- or seventh-place car. It was just unfortunate the way it worked out. He just got hit in the rear wheel. I don’t know whether – when he went to change gears and go to first gear it must’ve broken first gear and thrown a tooth out of the side of the case. There’s a hole in the transmission. Pit strategy was worked great and the car was good – it just didn’t work out.”

Carl Edwards won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Milwaukee. He remains fourth in the standings.

David Gilliland was the top Ford driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Sonoma, Calif., finishing second in the No. 28 Fusion. Gilliland moved up two spots in the standings to 21st.

Erik Darnell was the top Ford driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Milwaukee, finishing fourth in the No. 99 F-150. Darnell moved up two spots in the standings to eighth place.

Mike Neff, driver of the Old Spice Mustang, was the runner-up in the NHRA race in Englishtown, N.J. Neff moved up one spot in the standings to eighth place.

Brian Friselle and Mark Wilkins were the top Ford drivers in the Rolex Series race in Lexington, Ohio, finishing fourth in the No. 61 Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype.

Jamie Slone won the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge race in the No. 6 Mustang FR500S at Lexington, Ohio.

DEARBORN, Mich., June 22, 2008 - Defending Nationwide Series Champion Carl Edwards earned his first victory of the season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Milwaukee, while David Gilliland and Mike Neff each garnered runner-up finishes in their respective series on a busy weekend for Ford Racing.

Edwards’ victory was the 14th Nationwide Series win in his career and was his first in the Series in just more than a year. He remains fourth in the standings.

“It just feels good to win a race - for our team, for everybody at the shop and all the guys who have been working hard and sticking with this program even though we haven’t won a race in a long time,” Edwards said. “It means a lot to have all that support. This win is a huge relief.”

Edwards’ teammate David Ragan also had a strong performance, finishing fourth and moving up one spot in the standings to fifth place.

Edwards carried his momentum into the NASCAR Sprint Cup race the following day in Sonoma, Calif., finishing ninth to remain fourth in the standings. David Gilliland led the rest of the Ford drivers across the line with a career-best second-place finish.

“Our strategy was pretty good,” said Gilliland. “We’ve done a lot of road-course testing to try to our fuel mileage the best we can, and the cautions fell right for us today, too. It put us in a position to be able to run in the top six or seven there, and we were able to stay up there, our car was good enough to stay up there, which is good. I think for the last about 80 percent of the race we were up there.”

Matt Kenseth also joined Gilliland and Edwards in the top 10, with an eighth place finish. Kenseth’s sixth straight top-10 finish moved him into 12th place in the standings, the final transfer spot for the championship Chase.

Marcos Ambrose, who was making his Sprint Cup debut, and Jamie McMurray each had a legitimate chance at victory before being collected in wrecks. Both drivers were running in second when they were collected.

Erik Darnell was the top Ford driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Milwaukee. After winning last weekend, Darnell was seeking back-to-back victories and led for 32 laps before eventually finishing fourth.

Darnell moved up two spots in the standings to eighth place. Rick Crawford remains the top Ford driver in the standings after an eight-place result. Crawford sits fifth in the standings, just 109 points behind leader Johnny Benson.

In the NHRA race in Englishtown, N.J., Mike Neff made it to the final round for the third time in five weeks. Neff defeated Ron Caps in the first round, Tony Pedregon in the second round and teammate John Force in the third round before losing to Tim Wilkerson in the final.

“It was another close one, but as a driver you need to win those,” said Neff. “I didn’t do my job right there. I was late. I should have had a good enough light to get us a win right there, so I am really disappointed with myself.”

Neff moved up one spot to eighth place in the standings. Ashley Force remains second in the standings, 132 points behind Wilkerson, while John Force moved up one spot in the standings to third place.

Meanwhile, in Lexington, Ohio, Jamie Slone’s No. 6 Ford Mustang FR500S was the dominant car of the weekend in the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Slone took the pole in qualifying and led from flag-to-flag to win.

The Grand-Am Rolex Series was also in action at Mid-Ohio as three Ford’s finished in the top 10. Brian Friselle and Mark Wilkins were the top Ford finishers with a fourth place showing in the No. 61 Ford-Rile Daytona Prototype.

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be in Loudon, N.H., while the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be at Memphis, Tenn. The NHRA will also be in action in Norwalk, Ohio.