Three manufacturers participate in the 2025 World Rally Championship, Toyota Gazoo based in Jyvaskyla Finland, Hyundai Mobis Shell centered in Alzenau Germany and M-Sport Ford Cockermouth, situated in the NW corner of UK’s idyllic Lake District.
So it was with great anticipation that I turned off the rural A594 into the impressive portals of Dovenby Hall Estate on a sunny morning in early May to visit M-Sport HQ. With two WRC Driver’s titles and one Manufacturers title since debuting at the 2006 Monte Carlo Rally, M-Sport has continued to punch above its weight and remains a firm favorite with a dedicated UK and international fan base.
My host was veteran M-Sport tour guide and West Cumbria Motor Club member Roger Fisher, and we met in the board room of the original Hall which now accommodates key support services for the engineering and sporting divisions, plus provides a home to the impressive collection of trophies! Two hours of information overload, where do I start?
M-Sport moved to Dovenby May 2000, after MD Malcolm Wilson OBE recognized that his rapidly growing company had outgrown their existing facilities on the other side of Cockermouth. One key element was keeping M-Sport’s base in northwest England, so several properties were considered before the search ended at the former hospital premises on the 115-acre Dovenby Hall Estate which provides ample space for future development and expansion.
A 5,575 meter-square workshop was constructed and tastefully blended into the original buildings by a glazed walkway. This workshop is larger than many F1 teams and contains a vast array of the latest technology which, allied with some of motorsport’s finest designers and technicians, helps M-Sport remain competitive in the sport.
Later, a multi-million-pound state-of-the-art Evaluation Centre was added with a 10,723 m2 workshop together with an impressive, glazed showroom showcasing some iconic rally and race cars the company has retained. There’s also an impressive 2·7 Km test track (below) which allows speed and handling development on site, carried out by three experienced test drivers.
Perceptively, M-Sport Dovenby Hall provides a center of engineering excellence which boosts the region’s economy, skills and innovation. The project was funded by the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund with investment from Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, allowing M-Sport to develop a UK facility which will safeguard its existing 200+ employees as well as introducing a number of new skills to the region.
Even though my visit was 10 days after Rally Islas Canerias, the M-Sport workshops exuded an air of quiet efficiency. And, in 10 days it’s WRC round five, Vodaphone Rally Portugal, where WRC1 drivers, Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean, are joined by Latvian part-timer Martins Sesks, plus 3 WRC2 customer cars. Usually fifty-five M-Sport staff travel to each event working under team principal Richard Millener. Normal practice is technicians who build cars service them on rallies because of ergonomic and component familiarity and limited time. One per wheelarch and 12 maximum per car. Normally, seven or eight articulated lorries go to a European WRC rally, via Dover, Portsmouth or Immingham.
We first visited the transmission department where sophisticated four-wheel drive gearboxes undergo preventative maintenance and testing, followed by the engine shop where similar checks take place using the latest dynamometer and diagnostic equipment. Wiring looms manufactured in-house are also carefully checked between events.
WRC regulations allow just two gearboxes and engines per driver. In the main vehicle workshop Pumas and Fiestas are rebuilt between events alongside rally raid buggies, which are a recent addition to M-Sport’s varied portfolio. Most work is carried out in-house with the exception of spraying which is outsourced to a specialized company in Carlisle.
M-Sport has been responsible for developing the Ford Focus, Fiesta and Puma into rally winning cars but in racing they also developed the Bentley Continental into a GT3 race-winner (above), carried out in tandem with development on the road version. The GT racer utilizes a mostly aluminum structure to deliver a lighter weight for the track, together with the proven 4.0-litre Bentley twin-turbo 550 bhp engine. M-Sport’s impressive showroom bares testimony to some of the competition successes achieved by this Great British team.
Before my tour ended, we discussed M-Sport’s European base which is running a number of operations including all two-wheel drive activities. The ultra-modern facility adjacent to Krakow’s International airport in Poland has a workforce of seventy and is the hub of Ford Fiesta Rally3, Rally4 and Rally5 programs, as well as the FIA Junior World Rally Championship. This Polish base has been particularly useful since Brexit!
My grateful thanks to Anna Rudd, M-Sport PRO and Roger Fisher for organizing my visit and warm hospitality during my fascinating morning at Dovenby Hall.
© Ken Davies
