Phoon Hoon

Take it to EC in a couple of week's time and get Lowndesy, Frosty or JC to sign it... see if they want it back then.

Beautiful, mate - well done!

Hi all Many of you would remember my tale of woe in THIS THREAD Well, the replacement finally arrived at 11:15am this morning. Father and baby doing well.

From The Age newspaper and http://www.drive.com.au FPV accelerates despite retrenchments Bruce Newton, The Age, 24/01/07 Ford and partner Prodrive have committed to the future of the Ford Performance Vehicles joint venture despite last week's sudden retrenchment of virtually all the company's top management, reports BRUCE NEWTON. Former managing driector Sak Ryopponen Managing director Sak Ryopponen, plus eight senior marketing, finance and product support staff were given their marching orders in what appears to be a massive cost-cutting exercise. Mr Ryopponen had been MD for seven months. The retrenchments came just days after FPV announced a record 2144 sales in 2006. Created in 2002 as a direct competitor for the successful Expensive Daewoo Special Vehicles operation, FPV modifies and markets Falcon V8 and turbocharged six-cylinder sedans and utilities. The range includes the GT, Typhoon and Pursuit Ute. These cars have a higher performance level and price than the standard Falcon XR sports models built by Ford. While the assumption is that financially struggling Ford has driven the blood-letting, it has a 49 per cent minority ownership. Prodrive, the international automotive engineering and development company, owns 51 per cent and appears to be setting the agenda. Prodrive chief operating officer and senior FPV board member Clive Scrivener flew from Britain for meetings on Thursday from which Mr Ryopponen was excluded. The retrenchments were made first thing on Friday. FPV is now under the control of Prodrive AT (Automotive Technologies) Asia-Pacific managing director Bryan Mears. He has promised that a sales and marketing general manager will be recruited by the end of February. He has also committed to expanding FPV's sales, marketing and dealer support. "There was a recognition that FPV had achieved a certain amount of great things but that something more was needed and this was the right way to go about it," Ford Australia public affairs manager Sinead McAlary told Drive. "It's a change in structure but none of the product we had planned in the pipeline changes."

Geez the boys'd be able to get to the donut shop in record time driving those weapons.

These blokes have the right idea...

It's beautiful, mate. Congratulations.

So true, FPVTranny. I won't even consider a Ford V8 until their performance can match the turbos.

Feb Motor says: "FPV is preparing an optional 'R-spec' suspension and handling kit for the Typhoon and GT, with stiffer springs, tuned dampers and unique cosmetic features." Also says: "FPV and Team RS could also share resources to assist FPV in developing its own range of Focus and Fiesta-based high-po small cars." Sounds interesting.

I reckon it looks great. Keep the stripes on.

Beautiful. Congratulations and enoy! I get my new Neo in early Feb. Can't wait.

Lovely, Mal. Well done!

Sorry. Did the other have piccies?

Yes, you read the topic title correctly. Piccy taken from Oz Ford Forums

As I said, I also admitted to speeding. I was travelling at a speed where I thought that I could merge - the fact that it was over the limit was key to the copper's decision. Guilty as charged, and in no way do I abdigate this responsibility, hence I wouldn't consider fighting the neg driving charge. As I said, it was the least of my worries. I appreciate the kind words, everyone. I know how much you all love your cars.

Hi all, It's taken quite a while for me to bring myself to write this post... I've gone over and over the events a million times in my mind, going through every emotion in the process - anger, pain, relief, sadess, grief... the lot. I hope after you read this you'll understand why. OK - where to start. I was travelling in the Toxic Beast and needed to head onto the freeway. It was quite a long entry ramp, and I brought the Phoon up to merging speed (about 110km/h). As I was crossing onto the freeway proper, I glanced over my right shoulder to double check that I was sweet to go. I turned to face forward, only to find that the person in front of me thought the best way to merge was to slow right down and wait for a break in the traffic. At this time I was probably going even faster, maybe up to 115-120km/h. You can imagine my surprise to find myself travelling at this speed with a guy in front puttering along at about 40km/h, and I was left with two choices. 1. Belt this guy fair up the clacker, possibly killing both of us in the process; or 2. Swerving to miss him, putting myself in danger. I chose option 2. Now, as everyone on this forum knows, Phoons handle very well, but they are not designed to change direction so quickly when hurtling along so fast. Next thing I knew I was travelling sideways through the trees next to the freeway. I came to a stop, made sure I was OK and got out of the car to check the damage. This is what it looked like... Obviously, not good. The first people on the scene were actually the highway patrol. They were travelling along somewhere behind me and saw the whole shebang. Now, heaps of people bag out the HP, but I must say these guys were fantastic. They made sure I was OK and offered me the use of their phone to ring my Mrs and anyone else I needed to. They were supportive, helpful and very concerned for my welfare. Anyway, the upshot was that I got done for neg driving. The coppers explained that, even though the guy in front made life difficult, it was my job to leave enough space to stop safely between he and I. They also said I was doing over 110km/h. True. I gotta say, when I had just belted $65,000 worth of car, a $300 fine and 3 points didn't worry me at all. My 4 kids could have lost their Dad. And so to Part II I travelled with the towy back to the smash repairers. He said at first glance a total loss (write-off) was a 50:50 call. He phoned me later that day to say that, on further inspection, he would recommend a write-off to the assessor. The damage included: - Major panel damage (as you can see) - A rooted ZF gearbox - Mechanical damage of some description (car wouldn't start) - side airbags went off - both side and rear windows smashed - floor pan was bent (could see it all up and down when you lifted the carpet) - stuffed exhaust system - front splitter ripped off - alloys scratched to the sh1thouse Now I've heard some horror stories about NRMA, but they have been great, too (so far). Their assessor wrote the car off, and called me to notify me. Within two hours, the NRMA claims department said that all I needed to do was to tell them what colour I wanted and a new one would be delivered as soon as possible. I spoke with the Mrs and we chose Neo. The bad news is that there were none available for delivery straight away, but the good news is I get a brand spanker BFII with a 2007 build plate when it is delivered late January/early Feb next year. As a side note, I called the smash repairer, wanting to go down and say goodbye. He told me that within an hour of the car being written off, it was taken away on a truck to be sold for bits. I decided against Toxic again, as I felt that I needed a change. That car meant the world to me. It was a present we bought oursleves when I gained my recent promotion. The memories now are too painful. I'm just looking forward to putting this behind me and moving on. Everyone I know has been great, including the couple of members I've spoken to - Marcis and Mal. Max, I haven't been able to bring myself to calling you and letting you know what happened. No doublt you'll read this at some time. If you're interested, I'll let you know when the newbie arrives and I'll post a few pics. Thanks for reading this - I hope I haven't rambled too much. Cheers

I was very sceptical about the Force models, but I was in an FPV dealer the other day looking for a replacement for my Phoon and saw the Force 6. It looked really sh1t hot. Much better than I ever would have imagined.

My rears lasted 9 months.

And don't forget Whincup. He was awesome. My favourite laps? Lap 1 and Lap 161. Skaife did more laps in the shootout than the race!!!

Hi all Just letting you know that there is an ex-demo BF Rapid Typhoon for sale at Allan Reekie Ford in Bowral (NSW) for $59,000 on the road. Big Brembos Leather Sports steering wheel 19s 6 speed auto Not sure how many kms No, I don't work there!

Nice pics, Mal... any of the Toxic Beast?

These times are what Expensive Daewoo claim. Add half a sec to each one, for sure. They get this time after 10,785 launches in perfect conditions on their own testing ground... Let's just remember that the first time the 6L VZ SS was released, Motor pulled some great times, too. Seemed that the first model released to the media pulled awesome times... that were NEVER to be seen again (this goes for the R8 as well). They are full of it.

As Mal said, I'll be there! Looking forward to catching up with you all. PS - Phoontastic - I'll be coming up the F5 from Picton. You wanna meet on the freeway somewhere and fight the Sydney morning traffic together to EC?

Let's just remember that the first time the 6L VZ SS was released, Motor pulled some great times, too. Seemed that the first model released to the media pulled awesome times... that were NEVER to be seen again (this goes for the R8 as well). Now, only a cynic would suggest that there's some dodgy dealings going on here, but I'll wait a little while before I sell my Phoon and buy an SS.

These times are what Expensive Daewoo claim. Let's just remember that the first time the 6L VZ SS was released, Motor pulled some great times, too. Seemed that the first model released to the media pulled awesome times... that were NEVER to be seen again (this goes for the R8 as well). Now, only a cynic would suggest that there's some dodgy dealings going on here, but I'll wait a little while before I sell my Phoon and buy an SS.