The greatest driving road you've never heard of. Because it's 400 metres underground

Wednesday, 11 July 2018

It is not unusual for a manufacturer to release a video showing its latest and greatest performance model being mercilessly thrashed on a great race track or spectacular driving road, after all that is exactly what performance cars make us want to do.

But Ford have gone one step further with their latest video for the new version of the fantastically fun little Fiesta ST. Well, 'several hundred metres lower' is actually a more accurate description.

Shot 400 metres underground in an unnamed salt mine in Europe, the new video shows the Fiesta ST being thrashed just like it should be by Welsh WRC driver Elfyn Evans not only down some fantastically wide and flat race track-like roads, but also around some impressively large heavy mining machinery, with a few jumps and a good old FWD reverse burnout thrown in for good measure.

A Fiesta ST in a massive salt mine at a secret location all to yourself? Yes please!

'The salt is actually like fine gravel to drive on, quite slippery to be honest, especially on road tyres,' said Evans. 'You expect it to be claustrophobic but actually it's quite the opposite, a great place to really enjoy the new Fiesta ST.'

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Flying high deep underground - the Fiesta ST is massive fun, even 400 metres below the surface of the earth.

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Shot as part of Ford's 'Europe's Greatest Driving Roads' series that has put a range of Ford performance vehicles – including the Ford GT, the Ford Focus RS and the Ford Mustang Convertible - in some of the most stunning environments across the continent, the new video took a different track (so to speak) by heading underground.

Ford also made a second 'behind the scenes' video throwing in a interesting facts about the mysterious salt mine.

The salt mine is made up of a 60-kilometre network of tunnels, where temperatures are a constant 16 C and safety precautions required that a skeleton crew was used for the three-day shoot amid strict safety precautions.

'The drama of the tunnels and the chance to show off Fiesta ST's ability on a different type of surface were a big part of choosing this unique location,' said Leo Roeks, Ford Performance director. 'It wasn't a typical race track, it was somewhere we could drive this great car to its full potential.'

The Fiesta ST will be heading to New Zealand in the first half of next year and features a more powerful engine and 'advanced chassis technology'.

Excitingly for fans of powerful triples (us!), it wil be powered by a new 147kW/290Nm 1.5-litre turbo petrol three-cylinder engine hooked up to a six-speed manual shifter, which is the only transmission it will come with, and Ford claims the new ST will hit 100km/h in 6.7 seconds, two tenths faster than the previous model.

No word on local pricing yet, but the last ST landed here at $34,990, making it one of the best 'bang for you buck' options available.