We have the best sport in the world. We know we do. But sometimes, you bring a passenger to the car and this helps to remind you.
This was what happened when I was at DirtFish last month. We were there at a special Ford event to launch the Mach-E Rally. We had some journalists coming along, they would drive the car themselves and then I would take them to the roads in the school for some hot laps.
This was a lot, a lot of fun.
Fourmaux was giving journalists hot laps in Mustang Mach-E Rally at DirtFish
Mach-E is an amazing car, the performance, the acceleration is instant and really impressive. We know how useful the battery can be from the boost we take from the electric in our hybrid Puma Rally1. I hadn’t driven these cars so much, so it was interesting for me to drive and understand the technology.
For me, what was even better was the reaction from my passengers. This was fantastic. Like I said, we know how big the rally is for us, but to have so many journalists come to the car and really start to understand how the sport is working was very interesting. Like we know, America is really waking up to rallying now and for these guys, it was super-cool for them to see that Ford is already in the heart of the sport.
They were asking lots of questions to the World Rally Championship… but mainly they were asking me how I could do the 360 in the Mach-E.
Every lap, it was the same, we came to this straight piece of road and I could make the spin. They loved it. It was actually not so hard with the Mach-E – sometimes I had to flick it into reverse when we got to 180, but usually it was OK using the power, the speed and a Scandinavian flick to start the rotation.
The car was really nicely balanced, it felt very neutral with the weight [distribution]. I drove it for two days and really enjoyed it.
Before I got to Seattle, I was in Charlotte visiting Ford – it’s always cool to see the team out there.
The M-Sport driver tried his hand at rock crawling while he was stateside
After that, the speed was a little bit slower in Las Vegas. I took a Ford Bronco and went rock-crawling. This was amazing. Like I said, the speed was very slow, but to see what the Bronco can get up and down was something completely different.
The Bronco and the Mach-E gave me a real understanding and insight of how what we’re doing in rally is really helping on the road – the technology cross-over is real. I could see this in the traction and diff technology in the Bronco and, of course, the power deployment in Mach-E. It’s what we’re doing.
And the cars didn’t stop after I finished driving. Another one of the best bits of the trip was seeing DirtFish – this is a cool place. It’s in a beautiful place in the mountains and inland from the city. I love nature and seeing the Bald Eagles was very cool, hearing stories about the bears less so!
Seeing DirtFish owner Steve Rimmer's collection of iconic cars was a highlight for Fourmaux
It was great to meet the team there. I was working a little bit with Nate [Tennis], Brenten [Kelly] and Jack [Harrison], they’re really good guys who love our sport. At the end, I had another good experience when Josie [Rimmer, DirtFish head of strategy] and Steve [Rimmer, DirtFish owner] asked me if I wanted to take a look at The Collection. Wow! This is the place Steve keeps some of the rally cars and road cars he is collecting. It was incredible – I have to say a big thanks to Steve and to everybody for making this happen.
Some beautiful cars – especially the Fords!
But it wasn’t just the cars, I was so impressed with the collection of overalls he has too. Some amazing Formula 1 drivers and, of course, some legends from our side of the sport too. He doesn’t have a pair of Fourmaux overalls yet – let’s say it’s a work in progress!
