And this is why Ford of Europe is doing well why Ford of North America is struggling.
When the new Focus RS arrives, the Impreza STi is one of the cars it's going to be gunning for. Pat Devereux can't wait.
Hot on the heels of its 2007 World Rally Championship triumph, Ford has serious plans to get back into the hyperhatch market alongside the Subaru WRX STI with an all-new Focus RS in 2009.
Yes, 2009, not 2008. Ford will show a finished concept Focus RS at this year's London Motor Show in July, but the production version of the Blue Oval's new road rocket will not be launched until the London Motor Show in 2009. The company says its design department is just too busy getting all its other new cars - the slick new Fiesta, Kuga and Ka - sorted to have the time this year to get the RS ready.
But, while Martin Smith's design team is sharpening its crayons, the engineering team, led by Ford Team RS boss and ex Paris-Dakar racer, Jost Capitos, will be hard at work deciding on the car's final specification. First indications are that the car will have two-wheel drive and produce at least 280bhp, but don't take those as gospel yet.
The news that it will be front-wheel and not four-wheel-drive will disappoint rally fans wanting a clone of the Championship-winning car, but Ford is certain that once we have seen and driven the car, few will be upset. It says it has rejected the all-wheel-drive set-up as it adds cost and weight, plus it is working on a super sexy semi-active limited-slip diff that it reckons will not struggle to get the power down.
'Traction and handling will be completely reworked to improve downforce and sucker it down onto the road'
How much power those front wheels will have to handle is still unclear. While initial rumours suggest 280bhp is the magic number, that would put the car at a significant disadvantage to the Subaru and Evo rally weapons, each of which have around 300bhp to play with. Even allowing for the Japanese cars' power-sapping four-wheel drive, a 20bhp deficit could leave the new RS eating dust.
The other key reason for expecting more than 280bhp from the turbocharged five-cylinder engine is Ford Team RS's project Blufin. Set up to capture some of the lucrative aftermarket tuning business for the Focus and Fiesta ST, the dealer-fit engine and chassis tune-up kits, produced for Ford by tuning ace Roush Engineering under the Mountune name, will boost the standard Focus ST's 225bhp in steps all the way to as high as 260bhp.
So there's no way that the full-blown RS is only going to make 20bhp more than a warmed-up standard Focus ST. 300bhp then? That sounds much more like it
_________________
Marty Howard
2011 NASA SE Factory Five Challenge Champion
Track Events Logistics Coordinator - TZC/THSCC
2007 Factory Five Challenge Car.
http://www.mh-motorsports.com
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
