Focus RS

Transmission Starts…

My mind was taken back to an overcast day. The air was cold and the coffee was hot. We were racing along at a fair clip, the big, transplanted 2-litre engine easily hauling us in a tiny Corsa. The mechanic had done all his own work on the humdrum normalcy of Vauxhall’s under-par B sector car. I’d scoffed at his fascination with, what was in my view, a washing machine with wheels. He’d ploughed on though. He’d lowered it, ICE’d it, given it big wheels and rebuilt the gearbox. He’d let the original 16v Lotus developed 1.4 breath better, given it a huge exhaust before getting obsessed with ever bigger engine transplants. 1.4 gave way to 1.6. Then, when he’d found the right block , a 2-litre had been squeezed under the bonnet. Through his toiling, dirty fingernails, scuffed and bleeding knuckles, he’d created a car with boisterous soul.

To damn hard though.

As we clipped along my coffee could not sit in a cup holder. The suspension would spill it all over his well kept interior. I had to hold it, arm up, arm supplying softer, easier undulations to the crashing nature of his track-focused suspension.

“Not very practical” I’d commented, spilling yet more insult on his baby.

Whilst it is certain that the Focus RS’ suspension is well sorted, every so often I would be reminded how hard it is. Both myself and Morgan Man were experiencing bad guts. Bad guts from too much drink and the excesses of a weekend of good food, good company, too much worry and too little sleep. Potholes would remind us of this. The RS is not a car for the fragile.

Still;

It is impressive. 300bhp through the front wheels should not be possible outside of the BTCC. I was surprised at how well it dealt with it. I was endlessly entertained by the engine. The muscular turbo five sounds good. Great chunks of torque haul you up any incline in any gear. The RS is totally dominated by its engine. As you drive it you feel like someone who has spent too much time in the gym. You bump along streets and muscle your way past slower traffic out of town. Everything else looks small or fat or inferior. The psychological effect is similar to driving a Transit van. I almost felt like buying a copy of the Sport and laying it, folded half, on the dashboard. In traditional Focus style the steering is nothing short of brilliant, the chassis talks to you, it feels alive. This is something I look for in all machines. I couldnt help thinking though, that the RS is half finished. With no second driveshaft running to the back wheels it can’t really be classed in the same league as the rally weapons Evo and Impreza. That leaves it sat uncomfortable in the hot hatch sector. It’s too hard to call it practical. It’s probably too expensive to run to call it hot-hatch cheap.

So what is it?

Don’t get me wrong. The Focus RS is great, but I was taken back in time  to Rockingham as the head of Mugen poked and prodded Car magazines long-term RS. True, Ford are broke and the RS was developed with next to no money in the pot but as Hiro Toyoda said,

“Good for the Money”

…images follow…

Focus RS rear

I need a photographer

Phatt focus RS. That’s phatt with a PH and a double T. But then, you just read that didn’t you…

Looking good in white, the Focus RS

Transmission Ends…

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