Sitech Racing. Many firms claim to be. With experience in motorsport from Touring Cars to F1, Sitech Racing can take care of your fast Ford.

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1 fasttech / Specialist / sitech racing / Inside Sitech Racing With experience in motorsport from Touring Cars to F1, Sitech Racing can take care of your fast Ford. Words: Neil Photos: Adrian Brannan Many firms claim to be motorsport or racing when they simply do tuning or spanner work. One company that can refer to a motorsport pedigree without stretching the truth is Sitech Racing. Having been involved in top levels of motorsport, it is in a position to allow this knowledge and experience to filter down to the fast Ford road and track driver. Since opening its doors the company has quickly gained a solid reputation as Scotland s RS Turbo specialist. Such is its pull, many customers from south of the border are only too happy to make the long trip north for a quality job. Sitech Racing actually has a deal with a local hotel to ensure a discount rate, should you decide that a road trip is in order. Few companies can match Sitech s enthusiasm for development and revolutionary mods. This isn t a case of being different for the sake of it, more of an open question of how can we make this better? This know-how and knowledge isn t just limited to RS Turbos though, it spreads across the Ford range and into other marques too. If you have some crazy ideas about a oneoff project then just pick up that phone. Those ideas could become a reality quicker than you think possible. The whole Sitech ethos is based around looking at things as car engineering, regardless of the marque or model. If you want to go fast, handle well or go completely bonkers, Sitech Racing can do it. With every service offered in-house, the quality is a guarantee September 2008 Fast Ford

2 fasttech Fast Ford summer

3 fasttech / Specialist / sitech racing / services As already mentioned, Sitech does all its work in-house. Here s a taster of the what s on offer: Engine building Engine management Nitrous installation Aero and geometry set-up Racecar prep and track day support Fabrication Full project build General servicing Five quick Q&As 1. What made you turn from motorsport to Fords? I ve always been into Fords. It may be because my first car was a Mk4 1.3 Escort Eclipse, and my dad had a 4x4 Cossie. When I left McLaren to set up on my own I had an Escort RST and decided to put my effort into that. Sitech Racing has developed its own gaskets Exhaust or inlet? If you have needs, pick up the phone After rigorous testing the Sitech inlet is available for CVH heads New staff member Nik s car gets the Sitech treatment 2. Why have you gone back to ZVH power with your Escort? The Zetec has been swapped to a CVH head again, but there s no real reason other than I sold it and had to replace it. There are good points to having a CVH head over a Zetec just as there may be bad, but it will take more nitrous. 3. What s the latest Sitech Racing development? My next plans include developing the ZVH. I may be based in the Scottish Highlands but I ve sent a few engines south. Customers love nothing better than coming up and staying in Pitlochry, which is only 5miles from my workshop, while I work on their car or they drop/pick up parts. My best development for the ZVH is my headgaskets. They have the repositioned oil way and extended front face to block off the Zetec breathers and solid stainless steel fire rings. I m building and developing inlet manifolds based on a volumetric copy of a Zetec WRC mountain inlet too. They re available on any flange; CVH, Zetec, XE or LET, etc. 4. What s your view on the current Ford scene? It may not develop as fast as motorsport, but considering we re enthusiasts and not professional competitors it still manages to develop at quite a rate and always puts out some interesting cars. 5. What does the future hold? After walking away from my career to set up Sitech Racing, you can be assured that I m in the business for the long term. We aim to offer the highest levels of service and innovative products in this industry september 2008 Fast Ford

4 fasttech The company demo car is always being used as a test bed Motorsport pedigree Sitech Racing s head man Simon Smail instantly strikes you as a calm fella who knows his stuff. This comes from his long competitive background. This dates as far back as 1987, where he was the Scottish schoolboy champion in motorcross. This planted the seed for a lifelong obsession to motorsport and a career path many are envious of. After starting out in the RAF as a mechanic, Simon quickly moved into competition engine building where he learned all about engine preparation and tuning, with a bit of track support. This soon saw him progress to Pilbeam Race and Design as a racecar mechanic, where he also learned TIG welding, fabrication and machining. Simon had a heavy involvement with its Pilbeam Le Mans SR2 sports car, which won its first ever race at Donington with Simon in charge of the build and running of the vehicle. From here, in 2000 Simon got the job as a mechanic progressing to chief mechanic for the Peugeot HTML Touring Car team. Under his guidance HTML won the BTCC production class! After this high Simon spent the next four years at McLaren-Mercedes F1 initially on the test team with a few outings to various GPs spannering for Kimi and Montoya. During his time in F1 Simon impressed his peers and was promoted to Racing & Test Team parts coordinator, giving him responsibility for the F1 McLarens braking, hydraulics and engine. After such an illustrious career path it s safe to say Sitech is more than qualified to ensure you get the most from your Ford. Plenty of space for big project builds Prices Labour.is charged per hour and starts from 35 to 50 depending on skills involved. General project work labour per hour Engine building and mapping per hour CVH inlet manifold built with proper trumpets inside the plenum Gotech Management Gotech MFi inc loom Gotech Pro with loom Mini X ECU with loom Pro X ECU with loom Suspension set up and geometry per hour. (Sitech looks at camber, caster, ackerman, bump steer and toe settings.) Engines dispatch/collection by courier Sitech also offers Neo oils after seeing great results during time in Touring Cars and F1. Prices include VAT Being a Gotech dealer means you can get a cracking deal Fast Ford september

5 fasttech / Specialist // sitech racing / Check out the aero pack on the rear to aid top speed stability Demo car One thing Sitech is renowned for is development and testing. Nothing goes to market unless it has seen hours of rigorous testing. This meticulous approach ensures the end user gets a quality product. One of the main test beds is Sitech owner Simon s very own Escort RST. A recent product born from this work is the Sitech ZVH headgasket. The car was on our September 2007 issue cover and was a true mould breaker back then, featuring carbon gurneys to disrupt the airflow, droop limiters to aid traction and stability and of course, a seriously nutty Zetec turbo engine, with the exhaust coming out of the front bumper! True to form, Sitech has not stood still. The car now plays host to some rather nifty downforce mods. Having been out in this car at Croft we ve seen just how potent and stable it is. Power is one thing, but the way the car puts it down and grips is phenomenal. It holds a few records already and there is no doubt on the right day it will claim even more. Now sporting ZVH power, it still sees 300bhp on low boost contact Sitech Racing Unit 15, Saw Mill Yard, Blair Atholl, Perthshire, PH18 5TL september 2008 Fast Ford