One of Ford’s most eagerly-awaited sports models for a decade goes on sale in the UK in March, priced from £24,995, writes Peter Carroll.

The new Focus RS is the first Ford to wear the famous Rallye Sport badge since the first-generation Focus RS was launched seven years ago, and the 22nd since 1970.

Thanks to intensive engineering development, the new Focus RS will not just be the fastest Focus model; it will be the fastest and the most powerful front-wheel-drive European Ford ever.

It will be the only 300hp sports car on the market with its power channelled through the front wheels.

Torque talk

This could turn it into something of a torque-steering monster – but Ford is confident its combination of innovative RevoKnuckle front suspension, wider track, and Quaife limited slip differential will make all that power controllable.

Taking its place as the top-of-the-range Focus, the RS will be distinguishable on the road by its more aggressive styling and twin-bladed spoiler. The car also has a different character to the ST, currently the performance flagship of the Focus range.

The RS’s peak torque is 38 per cent above that of the ST and it will sound notably more ‘rough and sonorous’ thanks to its specially-tuned exhaust, which has a spark retard to encourages world rally car-style ‘pop and crackle’ on throttle lift.

Under the bonnet

While the new RS was under development Ford engineers nicknamed it the ‘shark,’ to diffentiate it from the ST, which was called the ‘dolphin’ because of its milder character.

Under the bonnet of the RS is a turbocharged 2.5-litre, five-cylinder Duratec petrol engine, which can power the car to 60mph in under six seconds and on to a top speed of more than 160mph.

The engineering objective was to increase power and torque without affecting durability. To meet that, multiple changes were made to the powertrain including a a new intake system, exhaust manifold and turbocharger, along with a revised cylinder head gasket.

Heavy load

Focus RS weighs in at 1,467kg. It is 75kg heavier than a three-door ST because of its larger wheels, tyres and brakes, limited slip differential and aerodynamic and cooling aids.

So the Ford engineering team was keen not to have to add even more weight by adopting all-wheel drive.

Team RS chief engineer, Dirk Densing says: “Front-wheel-drive was our preference all along. All-wheel-drive systems add cost, weight, inertia and consequently, fuel consumption.

“Compensating for the significant weight of an all-wheel-drive system requires dynamic compromises we preferred not to make.

“If you can achieve the performance you want without steering disturbance, then front-wheel-drive is a better performance car – lighter and with a more precise, linear steering response than AWD.

“We were able to achieve this and deliver something genuinely different – we have created a solution that simply redefines what is possible with front-wheel-drive.”

Ford has also taken into account the views of previous generation RS owners.

The result was a short but complicated set of priorities: the pace and performance feel of the previous RS, but with even more power and greater stability; durable circuit performance, but with greater comfort for everyday driving.

By Peter Carroll

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