With its skirts, spoiler and white paint, I reckon my Fiesta ST looks like a freshly pressed rally car just waiting for sponsors' decals. But not as much as the actual Fiesta ST rally car that Ford sent over to the evo office for an amusing afternoon's playtime. And this isn't some smoke 'n' stickers publicity trick - it's the full homologation monty developed for Group N by M-Sport, the people who run the Focus WRC cars. If you're so inclined, you could give them your own Fiesta ST - with a cheque for a smidge over £10,500 in the glovebox - and get it back ready to attack the Rally GB.

Of course, one man's 'cheap for a rally car' is another's 'a lot of cash', so if you can't run to the complete package you can cherry-pick from the M-Sport catalogue as you want. And some of it I want quite a lot.

The lower Recaro rally seat would be a good start, curing the ST of its lofty driving position. That alone really changes the feel of the car, as does the suede Sabelt wheel.

The rally-grade dampers and springs might be nice too, although since this demo car came on gravel tyres wrapped around 15in OZ wheels, it's hard to say for sure. The smaller wheels and lumpy rubber give the rally ST a slightly 'loose' feeling that is initially weird but, once you realise the grip's there, soon gives you the giggles.

What I really want, however, is the engine kit, comprising new air filter, new exhaust and a reprogrammed ECU, the sum total of which is 163bhp, 15 up on stock. It's the delivery that's the real killer, though, revvier and feistier, helped by the ultra-short gearing of the rally-spec dog 'box. Unfortunately, Ford reckons simply fitting the engine bits wouldn't have the same effect because the engine remapping is set-up to work best with the frenzy-making gearbox, which happens to cost four grand. Boo hiss. Why do the rally boys get all the fun?