Ford Performance Vehicles: История Австралийского Высокопроизводительного Автомобилестроения.

Vehicle make

Ford Performance Vehicles was the Melbourne based, premium performance arm of automobile manufacturer Ford Australia. The company produced a range of Ford based models from 2002 to 2014 under the FPV marque name.

The roots of FPV can be traced back to 1991, when the English automotive engineering company Tickford began a collaboration with Ford Australia to produce high performance variants of the Australian Falcon range. The partnership, Tickford Vehicle Engineering, saw the introduction of the Ford Falcon S XR6 and Ford Falcon S XR8 models. This was followed in October 1999 by the launch of the Ford Tickford Experience dealer network and the FTE T Series range based on Ford's AU Falcon and Fairlane models. In 2002, following the purchase of Tickford by Prodrive, the Ford Performance Vehicles company was formed as a joint venture between Ford Australia and Prodrive. The FPV brand name was created to replace the FTE name and a restructured range was developed based on the Ford BA Falcon, seeing the return of the GT nameplate to a Falcon based product for the first time since the "30th Anniversary GT", and as a regular production model since the XB Falcon GT. The range was headlined by the FPV GT P, and included a turbo charged model based on the XR6 Turbo. Over the years, FPV expanded the range to include a High Performance version of the Ford Territory as well as a number of special editions and anniversary models. The purchase from Prodrive also saw a factory backed V8 Supercar outfit in Ford Performance Racing. In August 2012, Ford Australia announced its purchase of FPV assets to continue the engineering, manufacturing and marketing of that performance brand in Australia. In preparation for Ford Australia's manufacturing shutdown, the FPV brand and its range were discontinued in 2014, after 12 years of production and marketing.

In January 2008, Ford Performance Vehicles unveiled the FPV F6X, a high performance, luxury version of the Ford Territory crossover. The F6X is fitted with the F6 270 Turbo 4.0 L DOHC in line six cylinder engine, a ZF six speed automatic transmission and a full time all wheel drive system.

Ford Performance Racing (FPR) was created by Prodrive in 2003 to establish a link between the FPV road car range and the Ford Falcon V8 Supercars. Given the team's massive budget, its early results were disappointing but a form reversal in 2006 saw the team finish second in the Teams' standings. Mark Winterbottom also placed second in the Drivers Championship in 2008. In January 2013 the team was sold by Prodrive to Rusty French and Rod Nash. The team achieved their first Bathurst 1000 victory in 2013 with Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards driving a Falcon FG. In 2015, Ford Performance Racing was renamed as Prodrive Racing Australia as a result of Ford's decision to progressively withdraw its V8 Supercars support by 2016. FPR drivers have included Craig Lowndes, Glenn Seton, Greg Ritter, David Brabham, David Besnard, Jason Bright, Mark Winterbottom, Steven Richards and Will Davison.

FPV created a show car dubbed the 'DRIF6' an F6 Typhoon with modifications making the car suitable for competitive drifting. The car was entered into the national level Drift Australia Series in 2006, where it was driven by Adam 'Newtonmeter' Newton. One of the car's main objectives was to expose the FPV brand to a younger audience than its usual, traditional V8 driving crowd. Apart from Adam Newton, only Gary Myers of Summernats Burnout fame has driven the car. Gary drove the F6 for Street Machine Magazine, and commented the vehicle had incredible power. The F6 drift car managed to score a best qualifying position of 5th at Mallala Motorsport Park in Adelaide, South Australia. In the Queensland Round of racing, the car suffered damage when Warren Luff, a professional race driver, took to the wheel for a few demo laps. Under Warren's control the car only made the end of the back straight of Queensland Raceway before it was turned passenger side first into the wall and Warren ended up in hospital with a fractured nose. The damaged vehicle made an appearance in China to bolster one of its sponsors agendas. Ford Australia brought the vehicle back to Australia and it can be seen at the Ford Australia Discovery Centre in Geelong Victoria.