Ford Tickford TE50 - TS50 AUIII

Tickford, as you've probably already heard, is Ford's equivalent of HSV. Tickford hijacks partly-assembled Fords and adds its own special touch to them by modifying the engine, brakes, suspension, wheels, tires, interior and exterior. The 3rd generation 220kW Ford Falcon XR8, for example, is transformed into the 250kW (335 horsepower) TS50 or the slightly less-luxo TE50 you see here The 5.0-litre V8 of the stock car is bored out to 5.6 litres and Tickford adds a longer-throw crankshaft, billet conrods, lightweight pistons with fully floating pins, specific Tickford heads and cam, a newly cast intake plenum, and a 82mm throttle body. The resulting horses are impressive, until you notice HSV's 402 hp super-sedan, which is sure to spoil the fun.The upshot is a torque curve flatter than Saskatchewan (or the Outback?) with almost 80% of the peak available at 1000rpm. Unfortunately, the V8 lump has other drawbacks beside its lack of HSV-matching power: it is rude and crude, mainly at the extremities of the tachometer. It's particularly shaky and rowdy at idle, but get close to the 5750rpm redline and all hell breaks loose. You don't even need to look at the tacho - when the whole car starts to fiercely vibrate and the engine makes an incredibly harsh and strained noise as if the pistons are just about ready to erupt out of the side of the block, change gear.The transmission is a heavy and noisy Heavy Duty Tremec 5-speed manual but buyers can also opt for the automatic gearbox with Adaptive Shift and Electronic Sports Shift, which includes steering-wheel mounted buttons. Braking comes from 329mm vented and grooved front discs with twin-piston calipers and 287mm grooved rear discs, with ABS. For more spirited drivers, a magnificent optional $5350 AU Brembo package is available, which features 355mm front discs and 330mm rears, all cross-drilled and ventilated with four-piston calipers. In addition to the standard sports suspension, an optional package includes Koni shock absorbers with variable rate rear springs, a retuned front stabilizer bar and a 7mm lower ride height. Footware is provided by Dunop ST9000 P245/40ZR18 stockings. Overall, the chassis is quite well sorted, certainly better than an HSV's. The suspension works very well, the damping is perfect over both long undulations and sharp bumps and there is far less understeer than in an HSV. The steering is well-weighted with great feedback but on-centre it feels very vague.The last problem faced by the 'Ford is its lack of traction control. There isn't a lack of grip, but when the skies open up and the rain starts pouring, the rude and crude V8 suddenly becomes a lot more than a nuisance. For a truly skilled driver this may be entertaining, but otherwise it is just downright dangerous. It is the sum of all these drawbacks that leaves something to be desired of the 'Fords. With the addition of traction or stability control and a better driveline, these cars could easily face up to the best bitter-rival HSV has to offer. Fortunately, just such upgrades are rumoured to be on their way. - by Traian Popescu

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