Ford is a driving force of the 2014 Commonwealth Games – motoring editor Andy Russell finds out how it is playing its part.

While the Commonwealth Games athletes have been driving themselves on to new levels of performance and record-breaking spare a thought for one of the driving forces behind getting them to where they need to be.

I was lucky enough to get up to Glasgow at the weekend with Ford for the launch of its new EcoSport compact sport utility vehicle. So before anyone else asks whether it was me they glimpsed on TV in the crowd at the swimming on Sunday the answer is yes.

The EcoSport was good but the crowd's reaction to 13-year-old Erraid Davies winning bronze in the women's para-sport 100m breaststroke SB9 final was out of the world. It made you proud, whether Scottish or not, and united all nations in applause.

But Ford, as official automotive partner of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, is something of an unsung hero by providing 1,123 low CO2 vehicles including 327 S-Maxs, 279 Focus estates, 147 each of C-Max and Galaxy models, 80 Tourneo Customs, 50 Mondeos, 30 Transit vans, 10 Kugas, nine Transit 17-seat and seven Transit 14-seat minibuses, five Focus Electrics... and a partridge in a pear tree!

The vehicles are dedicated to an individual, country or are part of the chauffeur pool with Ford also training the volunteer drivers' trainers about using the vehicles.

Ford support vehicles were also involved in the 120,000-mile, 248-day Queen's Baton Relay with some employees baton-bearers.

And Ford is also a winner with a Fiesta bearing the registration place FMC 1 to mark it passing 4,115,000 sales since its 1976 launch to become the UK's best-selling car ever while a Transit – 1 FMC – reminds use it is the UK's number one van.

Find out more with Ford's #PlayYourPart campaign on social media and at the website at playyourpart.ford.co.uk