Six right, over crest. That will be £156,000 plus options.

Despite what anyone says, whatever level you compete in, and whatever form it is, motorsport is expensive. So knowing who will give you more performance and reliability per pound than anyone else is without doubt part of the key to future success.

In the world of rallying, one team has probably done more than any other to make competitive rallying as affordable as possible. From local, to national and up to the ultimate WRC levels, M-Sport is go to manufacturer and supplier of high performance Ford based rally cars.

One of the latest additions to that stable is the Fiesta R5. M-Sport’s Customer Liaison Manager, Richard Millener is the man to talk to if you’re interested in finding out more about buying and campaigning an R5, and at Autosport International he gave us an exclusive guide to this very sexy looking pocket rocket.

Just for the record, the basic stats on the Fiesta are 0-60 in around 3 seconds with a top whack of 178kph (110mph) which when gunning through the forests must feel like 200mph. Obviously in rallying low speed acceleration is more important than ultimate top speed, so the car is geared accordingly which blunts its ultimate potential.

Launched last year, the R5 was designed to deliver high performance with ease of use and at the same time be easily managed and maintained by teams around the globe. It seems that M-Sport have got the formula right because one year later at Autosport International thay announced the sale of their 100th Fiesta R5. At prices starting from around £156,000 a pop that’s no mean achievement.

For those aspiring to great things in rallying the Fiesta R5 provides the perfect transition from 2WD to 4WD competition and is the ideal model for those competitors who are keen to make a name for themselves and perhaps make the ultimate transition to the pinnacle of the sport, WRC. And the good thing to know is that if you get that good, M-Sport might well offer you a trade in against their top of the range version the Ford Fiesta RS WRC. But you know what they say, if you have to ask the price…

But even if you can’t make it to those dizzy heights we reckon parking one of these in the pub car park should definitely get you some attention.