Gets crazier when you realize the entire Aston V12 family was born out of a Ford engine to begin with. Particularly one found on the back of this;
So basically the Contour SVT has a mild half of an Indigo engine. Never thought I’d tie the two together like this…
Ford may have mismanaged Aston Martin, but they gave them decades-worth of great engines. Thanks, 'Murica!
It’s amazing how similar yet how different it is to the EU spec.
It’s good to see they have a cult following overseas 
I have an upcoming track day! June 17th (Fathers day) Looking forward to it, and I should even have go-pro footage this time.
They were too heavy, and I was able to sell them with the tires I put on them for a profit.
Processing video.
@Der_Bayer is that a Z3, or Z4 behind? I let him by, but would catch him on the high speed turns.
So, with the last outing, I discovered quickly with the improved suspension and brakes, the 205/55 tires were starting to be more of a limiting factor, to boot that they are plain street rubber, and nothing fancy.
I was going to save up for a set of wheels by Team Dynamics, but stumbled across a deal I couldn’t let pass by.
I found a full set of 2005 SVT Focus wheels for just 50$, the 6-spoke 17" wheels are only 1lb heavier than the Contours E1 16" wheels. So I hopped on them, and will be shoding them in ‘track use’ rubber.
While the appeal of 16lb 17"x7.5" sounds great, at a cost delta of $800 USD, and I am not playing at a competitive level, I’ll do this instead.
We all know, thanks to automation, adding 20mm wider tires, and going up rimsize is always the best course of action.
205/55/16 -> 225/45/17
They fit, I was worried they were going to rub the rear suspension with the wheels I chose, but I have 4mm of clearance between the inside sidewall and the strut tower on the rear.
Driving characteristics are completely different. Steering is immediate (like the Focus).
I looked up the tread contact patch differences between the two tires and found the following.
The Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 205mm tires had a contact patch of 168mm.
The Federal 595 RS-RR 225mm tires have a contact patch of 208mm.
I didn’t add 20mm of tire to the ground, I’ve added 40mm on each corner, and I can feel it.
Last day check up revealed a bent toe control arm (Thank you Multi-link suspension)
Both rear toe arms have been replaced, here are the bent ones (one is baddly bent, one has a minor bend)
I can fit so much crap in here if I want (rear end stripped again, track time in T-minus 9 hours.)
Looks like you had a fun day, plus the Mondeo was clearly performing very nicely… Awesome! 
This was an endurance event, 2-hr open track, While I was the 2nd slowest car (among cars with a minimum of an 85hp advantage on me.)
I finished 4th in laps completed, 1st and second took no breaks, I took a short one, but based on my avg lap, it only cost me 5 laps.
