Friday 4th July 2008

Production Focus RS Breaks Cover

More details and pictures of 300bhp Ford Focus RS

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The first official pictures of the final production version of the Focus RS have been released. The 300bhp front-wheel drive Focus is finished in a special bright green paint with inlaid metallic flake, which Ford says is a modern interpretation of the 1970s Le Mans Green of the Escort RS1600 era.

The RS will go on sale in early 2009 but will preview to the public on July 22 at the 2008 London International Motor Show. The car features wider wheel arches and a 40mm wider track and an innovative front suspension system curiously named ‘RevoKnuckle’.

This is designed to reduce unwanted steering disturbance and torque steer, which plagued the previous Focus RS, and it works in conjunction with a Quaife Automatic Torque Biasing limited-slip differential.

Jost Capito, Ford of Europe’s Vehicle Line Director for Performance Vehicles, said: ‘The Ford Focus is an excellent base for a high performance car – agile, responsive and stable,’ said Capito. We studied at length how best to enhance these qualities for a high performance model.  

'Our work has shown clearly that our approach in combining a tuned RevoKnuckle with the Quaife differential is an ideal solution for a high performance front-wheel-drive road car like Focus RS. As you would expect, we gave all-wheel-drive careful consideration, but by combining and tuning these elements and learning from Ford’s expertise in industry-leading handling, we have managed to eliminate the weight of AWD from the car and still have been able to target a class-leading balance of traction, handling and performance.

'The result is a lightweight set-up, that will deliver the right blend of traction and razor sharp controllability – in a way no one would have expected from front-wheel-drive, and we believe we have made the right choice.’

There are also stronger, longer driveshafts, revised springs and dampers and a thicker, longer rear anti-roll bar. A special version of Ford’s ESP system has also been developed for Focus RS which has a full de-activation option for enthusiast drivers and especially for track use. 

‘We are refining all the handling characteristics of Focus RS without ESP, to hone its natural responses, rather than use ESP to help its handling. In Focus RS, ESP is a pure safety device,’ added Capito. The RS features a more powerful version of the Duratec 2.5-litre 5-cylinder engine found in the ST but it has unique camshafts, a revised cylinder head and gasket and revised intake and exhaust manifold system for the car. Ford is promising a 0-60mph time of under six seconds.

Inside there are Recaros centre console is finished in a stylish gloss, carbon-look trim and metallic highlights abound, from air vents, door grab handles, switchgear and gearshift surround. Ford has even given the rear seats higher side bolsters to keep passengers in place.

The London show car previews the design intent for a final production vehicle, though as development work continues, some final details may change before volume production begins.

 

[Rawwr]

That's going to look massively aggressive in black.

[fathomfive]

That does look good.

I'm too old to have posters on my bedroom wall, but if I was going to that 3/4 view would be it.

Edited by fathomfive on Friday 4th July 11:06

Edited by fathomfive on Friday 4th July 11:13

[TonyHetherington]

That front 3/4 view; phwoooooooooooooooooor!

[sprinter885]

300 horses in a FWD sounds wild !--Almost as wild as that colour (judgement reserved until seen in flesh)

Focus RS by Kawasaki anybody??

Edited by sprinter885 on Friday 4th July 11:07

[_Batty_]

looks nice.
shame its the size of a 4 bed semi and weighs as much

[Lewis's Friend]

Won't 300bhp be a bit of a problem through the front wheels...?

[SpydieNut]

damit - time to do an about face






i *really* like the look of that (and the sound of 300 bhp )

[Mannginger]

I love it, and now that I no longer work for Ford, I can say that unreservedly. It looks fantastic and easily the best of the current crop of fast hatches.

It's lairy to look at and that I think is part of the fun of proper uber-hatches.

Now to wait and see how it drives...(I bet it's great)

Phil

[Munter]

Lewis's Friend said:

Won't 300bhp be a bit of a problem through the front wheels...?

It would in the lower gears....But you won't be given 300BHP in the low gears.

[JulianHJ]

Still disappointed it's not AWD, but by jove I want one of those, oh ...

[Plotloss]

I like that, rather a lot.

Its got something about it, the visual drama that died with the Escort Cosworth perhaps?

The old RS and the ST are both somewhat dull in their looks but this, this is more like it.

[Miklad]

That looks fantastic. Would look even better in white, with blue RS stripes etc...

I just hope it doesn't change too much when it finally hits the road.

What with this car and the cool new Scirocco - the future looks bright.

[Dave_ST220]

_Batty_ said:

looks nice.
shame its the size of a 4 bed semi and weighs as much

A Focus isn't what i'd call a big car, how on earth do you know the weight of the car?! It clearly states some features may change. Makes an interesting read for me and look forward to seeing the car i would have got had it been releases two years ago!

[Alex]

I like it!

[cat@10]

I wander how much torque steer this will actually have? Will the fancy differential really control it as they say? If it does this will be the all time daddy of FWD cars!

[Baffled Spoon]

That looks amazing, almost like a WRC refugee car.

[Lewis's Friend]

Munter said:

Lewis's Friend said:

Won't 300bhp be a bit of a problem through the front wheels...?

It would in the lower gears....But you won't be given 300BHP in the low gears.

Precisely. Don't get me wrong, big power is good. But why not have a system that can employ it all...?

[Dave_ST220]

cat@10 said:

I wander how much torque steer this will actually have? Will the fancy differential really control it as they say? If it does this will be the all time daddy of FWD cars!

I'd say they will have it sorted, remember the test mule images with some strange contraption on the front wheel? Maybe to look into the very problem? Ford won't mess this one up.

[CypherP]

hmmm... 'razor-sharp controllability' from a front-wheel-drive with 300 bhp?

[Northern-Loop]

mmm like to see it in white