Ford Ka Autotester Margin Gains

[MK1RS Bruce]

Hi All

I currently run a ford KA Mk1 as a cut down special which has been reasonably successful in the past.

However as always the competition has moved on and I am now struggling for power in some of the faster tests. It has the 1300 endura E engine which is far from sophisticated but it is reliable and low tech which suits me so I don't want to go down the route of an engine swap.

What I am wondering is whether I could gain some time by fitting an ATB differential to give me traction off the line / out of corners. Off the line i'm getting 10-15ft of wheel spin (one wheel obvs) and when doing 360s round cones I am also losing a bit of time with one wheel spinning

Has anyone ever fitted an ATB to such a low powered car? Do you think this would help the traction issues without upsetting the current handling?

Any other suggestions for margin gains are welcome.

[Wingo]

The Ka special wouldn't be blue by any chance?

Yep traction and keeping up momentum is one of the "secrets" of autotesting. Watch the real quick drivers and they are patient with the throttle unless a big dollop of wheelspin speeds up the manouvre they are doing.

I wouldn't say an LSD or ATB is absolutely essential but it is going to help with traction.

Its the one big mod I'd make to the roadcar I use for autotests.

[MK1RS Bruce]

Wingo said:

The Ka special wouldn't be blue by any chance?

Yep traction and keeping up momentum is one of the "secrets" of autotesting. Watch the real quick drivers and they are patient with the throttle unless a big dollop of wheelspin speeds up the manouvre they are doing.

I wouldn't say an LSD or ATB is absolutely essential but it is going to help with traction.

Its the one big mod I'd make to the roadcar I use for autotests.

It has a blue plastic roof, but white bonnet and black roll cage?

ATB is definitely not essential but I was hoping that it might give me a small gain from where I am at the moment, I was wondering if anyone had fitted one to a relatively low power car, I have one in my road car and it makes a massive difference but the road car has 3-4 times the power haha.

[Robmainstgarage]

I use a 1.6 sportka for auto testing and targa rallying, next mod on my list is a diff!
The difference between the 1.3 and 1.6 is a lot so why not build another?

[WhiteBaron]

A guy called Dave Cook in our club (mmkmc) uses a micra 1275 with an LSD and other bits.

That and years of experience make him bloody rapid!!

[WhiteBaron]

Found a link of his son using the car on the Ken Wharton

https://youtu.be/V0fqc8hzjZ0

And more recently


https://youtu.be/J-zUCrLKjEQ

Edited by WhiteBaron on Saturday 2nd January 14:49

[fat80b]

I’d say a big yes to the diff.

I’tll make a big difference when pulling round cones loaded up on one side or the other and you can make fractions of a second up at every cone.

[MK1RS Bruce]

Robmainstgarage said:

I use a 1.6 sportka for auto testing and targa rallying, next mod on my list is a diff!
The difference between the 1.3 and 1.6 is a lot so why not build another?

I always thought the sport KA had pretty poor lock which is why I haven't thought about building one from a sport KA starting point.

Its also an engine which doesn't get a lot of good press, possibly unfairly, having never driven one I can't comment other than what I have read. I did think about a zetec swap but the current one is so well set up that I didn't want to rip it apart then run out of skill to do the swap or lose reliability.

[MK1RS Bruce]

WhiteBaron said:

Found a link of his son using the car on the Ken Wharton

https://youtu.be/V0fqc8hzjZ0

And more recently


https://youtu.be/J-zUCrLKjEQ

Edited by WhiteBaron on Saturday 2nd January 14:49

always amazing how quick they are through those tests and how long they are, quite often my memory is the limiting factor

[Robmainstgarage]

MK1RS Bruce said:

I always thought the sport KA had pretty poor lock which is why I haven't thought about building one from a sport KA starting point.

Its also an engine which doesn't get a lot of good press, possibly unfairly, having never driven one I can't comment other than what I have read. I did think about a zetec swap but the current one is so well set up that I didn't want to rip it apart then run out of skill to do the swap or lose reliability.

The lock isn't great but that's because there's rack limiters to stop the bigger 16in wheels rubbing not he body. Simple solution is fit the standard ka rack and smaller wheels that don't rub.

The engine is press is unfair, it is a great little motor, just under 100 bhp plenty of tourqe and hard as, my sportka is on best part of 100k and has done 30+ different events and still loves a limiter bashing! Even in 5th!

[MK1RS Bruce]

Robmainstgarage said:

The lock isn't great but that's because there's rack limiters to stop the bigger 16in wheels rubbing not he body. Simple solution is fit the standard ka rack and smaller wheels that don't rub.

The engine is press is unfair, it is a great little motor, just under 100 bhp plenty of tourqe and hard as, my sportka is on best part of 100k and has done 30+ different events and still loves a limiter bashing! Even in 5th!

Is the gearbox the same on the sport KA as it is on the Endura E engined version? I think I am going to go for the diff in my current one and see if that makes any difference and if the gearbox is the same then I have the chance to upgrade just the engine in the future.

I love my little KA Special, especially when it puts in a Giant killing performance!

[Kawasicki]

LSD in a fwd isn’t just about increasing traction. With a bit of practice you can find a level of acceleration where the inner wheel is just starting to spin and the lsd sends the torque to the outside wheel... where it acts as torque vectoring assist.

[MK1RS Bruce]

Kawasicki said:

LSD in a fwd isn’t just about increasing traction. With a bit of practice you can find a level of acceleration where the inner wheel is just starting to spin and the lsd sends the torque to the outside wheel... where it acts as torque vectoring assist.

Yeah thats very true, I have a MK1 Focus RS which uses that to great effect in tight corners, However on the KA I have a hydraulic handbrake so generally in tight turns I am sliding the rear round and keeping the front wheels pointed where I want to head to post turn so I think increased traction at low speeds is where I will get most use of the LSD (ATB). I can't think of a time when understeer has ever been an issue in the KA to be honest.

[Robmainstgarage]

MK1RS Bruce said:

Robmainstgarage said:

The lock isn't great but that's because there's rack limiters to stop the bigger 16in wheels rubbing not he body. Simple solution is fit the standard ka rack and smaller wheels that don't rub.

The engine is press is unfair, it is a great little motor, just under 100 bhp plenty of tourqe and hard as, my sportka is on best part of 100k and has done 30+ different events and still loves a limiter bashing! Even in 5th!

Is the gearbox the same on the sport KA as it is on the Endura E engined version? I think I am going to go for the diff in my current one and see if that makes any difference and if the gearbox is the same then I have the chance to upgrade just the engine in the future.

I love my little KA Special, especially when it puts in a Giant killing performance!

The later 1.3 duratec ka's share the same box as the 1.6 sport but I'm unsure about the early endurance e.
I ran a mk4 1.4 16v Zetec fiesta for 3 seasons of local grass and tar tests, everything possible stripped, rear doors and boot trimmed then welded shut, dash out etc, foot brake just did the fronts and hydro for the rear, spax adjustables upfront. Won quite a few events with that car and was double driven by the misses for 2 of those seasons. Had to admit defeat when the body rotten and the rear axle came adrift....

[MK1RS Bruce]

Robmainstgarage said:

The later 1.3 duratec ka's share the same box as the 1.6 sport but I'm unsure about the early endurance e.
I ran a mk4 1.4 16v Zetec fiesta for 3 seasons of local grass and tar tests, everything possible stripped, rear doors and boot trimmed then welded shut, dash out etc, foot brake just did the fronts and hydro for the rear, spax adjustables upfront. Won quite a few events with that car and was double driven by the misses for 2 of those seasons. Had to admit defeat when the body rotten and the rear axle came adrift....

Mine has an IB5 box in it, not sure if that is the same as the later ones or not and whether there are differences within that family of boxes.

Mine is cut at the top of the windscreen at the front and then above the fuel filler on the rear struts, then has a partial cage welded in to stiffen it up. It has ford racing dampers, a side exit exhaust, induction kit, hydro handbrake and thats about it. there is a picture of it in the last motorsport UK newsletter.

[Robmainstgarage]

Yes the later 1.6 has a ib5, I've got ford Motorsport dampers in the ka, really impressed with them tbf