The Car
The FST-150 is a Ford Fiesta ST150 built as a competition car and development platform. It competes across Modified Fords, CSSC, and MSVR series, each with their own technical regulations. The car is also used as the primary data logging development platform for EBD Racing - most of the channel work, logging setup, and analysis methodology documented on this site has been developed on this car.
The build philosophy is straightforward: make it fast, make it reliable, and instrument it properly. That means taking the time to do the brakes and data hardware correctly rather than bolting on a dash logger and hoping for the best.
Engine and Drivetrain
The ST150 Duratec has been significantly modified from standard. The bottom end is uprated, the head has been worked, and the car runs Titan roller throttle bodies with a TPS sensor feeding the OMEX ECU directly. Cam upgrades and exhaust work complete the package. The result is approximately 230 BHP at 7500 RPM - and it is genuinely loud.
Drive goes through a Quaife straight-cut sequential gearbox. The car currently runs 17-inch wheels; the plan is to move to 15-inch, but this requires rebuilding the gearbox to change the final drive ratio. On the current setup the car runs out of revs at around 136 mph on the Hangar Straight at Silverstone, which makes the final drive change a priority before the next time it runs there.
The move to 15-inch wheels requires a final drive rebuild to recover the top-end rev range. Brake calliper selection is also pending - current AP 4-pots will not fit under 15-inch wheels.
Suspension and Handling
Dampers are AST5300 3-way units - compression, rebound, and high-speed compression adjustable independently. The suspension geometry work goes well beyond the damper swap: the top control arm (TCA) mounts have been redesigned entirely, with custom alloy TCA mounts designed by EBD and rose-jointed throughout. This gives proper geometry control that the standard rubber-bushed setup cannot provide.
The geometry, corner weight, and alignment setup has been through multiple iterations alongside the damper and mount work. There is considerably more detail to be documented here as the development log builds out.
Brake System
The standard road car uses a diagonal split braking circuit - one circuit covers the front-left and rear-right, the other covers the front-right and rear-left. This is a safety measure for road use with ABS. For competition with ABS removed, it is the wrong architecture: you lose meaningful control over front-to-rear brake balance, and you cannot fit independent pressure sensors that give you clean front and rear data.
The FST-150 has been replumbed to a front/rear split with a brake bias valve between the two circuits. The driver can adjust front-to-rear bias from the cockpit. Brake pressure sensors are fitted in both the front and rear circuits, feeding independent pressure channels into the AiM MXS 1.3.
Current hardware is AP Racing 4-pot callipers. These will need to change when the car moves to 15-inch wheels - selection is pending the wheel decision.
Independent front and rear brake pressure channels are one of the most useful inputs for lap analysis - trail braking technique, bias consistency, and threshold identification all require clean, separated front and rear pressure traces. The replumb makes this possible.
Logging Hardware
The car runs two complementary data logging systems that are integrated via CAN. Each does a different job, and together they cover both quantitative analysis and video review.
AiM MXS 1.3
The MXS 1.3 is the primary logger. It reads the OMEX ECU over CAN, logs all enabled channels at 10 Hz, runs the math channel calculations, and drives the in-car display. It also outputs a CAN stream at 10 Hz to feed the VBOX HD2.
Motorsport VBOX HD2
The HD2 records dual-camera video and reads the CAN stream from the MXS 1.3. Selected channels are overlaid directly on the video feed - speed, RPM, gear, throttle, brake pressures, and GPS position. Two cameras cover the car; the TPS trace from the Titan throttle bodies is included in the overlay.
OMEX
The OMEX ECU manages the engine and broadcasts data over CAN. Nine channels are currently enabled into the MXS 1.3, including RPM, TPS from the Titan roller TBs, coolant and air temps, MAP, battery voltage, injector pulse width, and spark advance.
What Is Being Logged
The channel set has been built up deliberately. ECU channels come from the OMEX over CAN; brake pressure channels are wired directly to the MXS 1.3 analogue inputs. Math channels are computed inside the MXS. The CAN output stream to the VBOX HD2 carries a curated subset of these.
ECU channels (OMEX via CAN) - 9 of 12 enabled
| ID | Channel | Function | Unit | Freq |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECU 1 | OMEX RPM | Engine RPM | rpm | 10 Hz |
| ECU 2 | OMEX TPS | Throttle position (Titan roller TB) | % 0.01 | 10 Hz |
| ECU 3 | OMEX ECT | Coolant temperature | °C 0.1 | 10 Hz |
| ECU 4 | OMEX IAT | Intake air temperature | °C 0.1 | 10 Hz |
| ECU 5 | OMEX AIR PRESS | Intake air pressure (MAP) | bar 0.01 | 10 Hz |
| ECU 6 | OMEX BATT VOLT | Battery voltage | V 0.1 | 10 Hz |
| ECU 7 | OMEX MAPASLOAD | MAP as load reference | bar 0.01 | 10 Hz |
| ECU 11 | OMEX FUEL1 PW | Injector pulse width | ms | 10 Hz |
| ECU 12 | OMEX SPARK TOT | Total spark advance | deg 0.1 | 10 Hz |
Math channels (computed in MXS 1.3)
| Channel | Function | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Calculated Gear | Derived gear position from RPM and speed | # |
| Power | Calculated power output | kW 0.01 |
| Torque | Calculated torque | Nm 0.1 |
| Fuel-Ratio | Fuel mixture ratio | # |
| FuelPCT | Fuel level percentage | % 0.01 |
| GPS Speed | Speed from internal GPS | m/s |
| P1 / P2 Power Calc | Intermediate power calculation stages | # |
| T1 | Intermediate torque calculation | # |
CAN output to VBOX HD2 (10 Hz)
| CAN ID | Channels |
|---|---|
| 0x44 | RPM, TPS, Calculated Gear, Power |
| 0x45 | GPS Latitude, GPS Longitude |
| 0x46 | GPS Speed, GPS UTC Time, Brake Front, Brake Rear |
| 0x647 | Coolant Temp (ECT), Power, YawRate |
For a full reference of channel naming conventions, units, and analysis use cases, see the Channel Reference.
Photos
See Also
The FST-150 is the primary development car for the data logging and analysis work documented across this site. The pages below cover the analysis methods and channel references that have been developed using data from this car.
Lap Time Analysis
How to approach lap data - sector comparison, overlay technique, finding time. Methods developed and tested using FST-150 sessions.
Lap Analysis guideChannel Reference
Full reference for channel naming, units, sample rates, and what each channel is useful for in analysis.
Channel ReferencePPP-106
The Peugeot 106 sprint car. A different discipline, different logging setup, and different analysis priorities.
PPP-106 pageCommon Questions
The FST-150 competes in Modified Fords, CSSC, and MSVR series. Each series has different technical regulations, which influences which modifications - such as aerodynamic additions - can be used at any given event. Modified Fords permits more aero freedom than the other two series.
The standard diagonal split system is designed for road use with ABS. Once ABS is removed for competition, a front/rear split with a bias valve gives the driver direct, adjustable control over brake balance. It also allows brake pressure sensors to be fitted in each circuit, giving clean, independent front and rear pressure data for analysis. These two channels are among the most useful inputs for understanding braking technique and consistency.
The MXS 1.3 outputs a selection of channels over CAN at 10 Hz. These include GPS speed and coordinates, front and rear brake pressure, RPM, TPS, calculated gear, power output, coolant temperature, and yaw rate. The VBOX HD2 reads this CAN stream and overlays the data on the dual-camera video feed, synchronising the visual record with the logged data. The TPS signal from the Titan roller throttle bodies appears as a throttle trace in the video overlay.
The car runs an OMEX ECU managing the modified Duratec engine. Nine channels are currently enabled into the AiM MXS 1.3: RPM, throttle position from the Titan roller throttle bodies, coolant temperature, intake air temperature, intake air pressure (MAP), battery voltage, MAPASLOAD, injector pulse width, and total spark advance. Three lambda channels are present in the ECU stream but are currently disabled in the logger configuration.