Tons of wrong info in that article. The Festiva was a rebadged Mazda 121, Ford only imported and sold them, much like the "Chrysler" Conquest/Mitsubishi Starion. Not sure where the mexican affiliation came from; the Festiva is a Mazda design, built in Korea with Japanese Mazda drivetrain, and the Fiesta has always been of European origin. They weigh 1700-1800 pounds, not 2190 like that article states and they had a better to power weight ratio than most of the other small cars they competed against. Magazine articles about them always said they were peppy, even the lower hp 88/89 models.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vint...ord-festiva-l/
Just like the development of the Festiva, Ford never actually had anything to do with development of the Shogun; Chuck Beck and Chris Titus developed and built them on their own. Ford wouldn't even sell them the engines/parts to build them so they had to buy complete SHOs to use as donors- hence the big price tag when new.
As far as a Fiesta ST drivetrain, it's a common question in the Festiva forum; it's too big to fit and the power delivery is all wrong for a lightweight hatchback- too much low rpm torque. A lightweight fwd car needs minimal torque down low and horsepower that peaks at high rpm to maintain traction. The guy that developed the suspension setup I'm running has developed an engine derived from a Miata 1.6 block that is destroked and has longer rods for a much better rod ratio (smoother power delivery) and a ZMde cylinder head. The torque curve is moved up the rpm scale that way. It's making roughly 280 hp at 8000 rpm in intial testing at low boost, around only 15 psi. It's built for 9500-10k rpm and nearly 30 psi.
Here's a post from the first time attack event he took the new build to. This is with the stock Festiva chassis and most of the stock suspension components- stock front sway bar, stock rear twist beam, stock mounting points, no rear sway bar- just coilovers, tires/wheels, alignment, and upgraded front brakes. The rear brakes are deleted since the rear of the car is so light. Nothing has been cut to remove weight yet and very little has been done to improve aero. HL0 is an unlimited class and he has some really serious competitors- google the names of the top guys on the time sheet.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ford...1516794924959/