Ford Focus RS WRC’01

The V494 ONO chassis actually had two lives. Originally built in 1999 by M-Sport, it was kept as a reserve chassis for V5 FMC, the Ford Focus WRC 00 which in 2000 was

driven in four rallies by Colin McRae and in the beginning of 2001, when transformed into a Ford Focus WRC 01 "asphalt" configuration, by François Delecour. After a fire at the Rally of Lebanon in June 2001, when it was in the hands of Mohammed Ben Sulayem – the current President of the FIA – the V5 FMC chassis was rebuilt by M-Sport, becoming V474 ONO, still in a 01-version.

Between the 00-version used in 2000 and the Focus WRC 01 homologated for the 2001 season, there were quite a few differences. Externally, the most visible difference was the rear wing. The new version of the wing was more compact, with a reduced angle to limit drag, and it also had lost the "gurney flap" of the previous versions. The front bumper was also simplified, with the removal of the side air intakes.

On the mechanical side, the technical team – then still led by Gunther Steiner – had also introduced various developments. This included a turbocharger in ceramic material, a "fly-by-wire" throttle – therefore electronically controlled – and a semi- automatic gearbox.

It is in this configuration that V474 ONO spent most of its life. Acquired by the Hungarian driver Balász Benik, its owner took the car to several podium finishes and victories. Janusz Kulig (winner of Rajd Polski in the ERC in 2002), Jan Kopecky, Krzysztof Holowczyc, Vaclav Pech, Leszek Kuzaj, Pavel Valousek, Felice Re and Roman Kresta were also successful with the car. It was also entrusted to Alister McRae for a test in Portugal. From the end of 2002, it swapped its V474 ONO numberplate for the 1Z3 9500 plate.

In 2004 the Czech team JM Engineering bought the car, after which the Ford Focus WRC 01 chassis V474 ONO continued its very international career in Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania, in the hands of various drivers (Pier Lorenzo Zanchi, Norbert Herczig, Massimo Beltrami, Mauro Spagolla and notably Saulius Girdauskas). In 2008, the car headed to Spain. Quickly, its owner César Reiriz sold it to Javier Arias, who took it to three victories in four events, in 2010 and 2011.

Restored to the "Martini" colours –the livery of Colin McRae's car at the 2000 Rally Catalunya, when the V5 FMC chassis was used – the Ford Focus WRC 01 "V474 ONO" reappeared for one last time in Spain in October 2022, competing in the Rias Altas Historico Rally in the hands of Victor Carreira Senra. He then sold the car in this configuration to MY Vintage.

In order to give it a historic and authentic livery, "V474 ONO" now sports #3 and the "Mobil 1 - Brok - Goodyear" livery which it used during the 2002 Rajd Polski, the blue-riband event of the European Rally Championship, won by the Polish crew of Janusz Kulig and Jaroslaw Baran.