In the fourth episode of Ford’s Focus RS documentary called “Rebirth of an Icon”, we get to see Ken Block have some seriously silly fun behind the wheel of this scorching hot hatchback.
Car manufacturers would generally like us to believe that in their eyes, all of their models are “created equal”. It makes sense, because you’d certainly never want to feel like you’re buying the runt of the litter if you can’t really afford something that’s top of its range.
The truth is, there are winners and losers in every facet of life and the more you spend, the more special you’ll feel. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because you are getting a more valuable and superior product – which is just as true with something like the new Focus RS as it would be with a Mustang GT350R or even a Ford GT.
Point is, this is one of the most special cars Ford has ever built and they want us to know it. So far, each episode of “Rebirth of an Icon” has shown the RS during various stages of its development, from the practical to the technical, we get to see everything that went into making this car.
Of course, Ken Block’s involvement was a clear sign of what Ford intended for this car. Speed wasn’t the ultimate goal, though at 350 PS and with a 4.7 second 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time, being fast enough wasn’t ever going to be an issue.
The balance of the car, the handling and the grip, these were all key for the Focus RS and if you listen to what Ken and the Focus test driver are saying, they’re trying to identify what areas the pre-production car needs to improve in, and straight away they single out the front-end dynamics and how the car understeered.
Stay tuned for episode 5 where we’ll get to see how the RS handled its cold weather testing.