In the 6th installment of Ford’s ‘Rebirth of an Icon’ Focus RS documentary, the team reveals how the car’s target for straight line acceleration was always set to under 5 seconds using launch control.
This episode also shows how the development team moved past certain initial engine issues – specifically units that failed while being tested to the limit. Though that’s something car manufacturers sometime need to go through when testing power units for new performance models.
Early into the video, powertrain supervisor Steve Ellis talks about how getting the power and torque figures up to where they wanted them was actually the easy part, with the hard part being passing all of the durability tests.
Calibration Engineer Chris Kaven goes on to talk about the Focus RS’ mad acceleration and how Ford was adamant about hitting their under 5-seconds target with this car. Luckily for everyone involved with the project, as well as fans and customers alike, the Focus RS walked away with a 4.7 second 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time, which puts it on par with some very fast hatchbacks.
In fact, it’s just as quick on paper as the BMW M135i xDrive and about half a second off the pace of the mighty Audi RS3 Sportback quattro. Compared to its premium rivals, the Focus RS is obviously cheaper to purchase which is something that can weigh heavily on the conscience of many potential customers.
Ford also shows us how easy it is to engage the RS’ Launch Control system, which is an excellent weapon to use on the drag strip or even in between lights if you fancy being the first off the line.
Next time on ‘Rebirth of an Icon’ the team returns to Belgium for the sign-off drive with Ford Product Development Chief Raj Nair.