Ford Performance prototype
Filmed on public and closed roads in Europe and US.
ESP and traction control deactivated.
Always obey speed limits.
This is the inside story of the rebirth of an icon
the Ford Focus RS.
From the design studio to the test track, and
from Arizona to the Arctic
we follow the team
as they strive to revive a famous name.
We're not gonna put out a vehicle that doesn't deserve that RS badge.
And we'll follow Ford rally and Gymkhana superstar Ken Block
as he joins the RS team.
Ford Focus RS
Rebirth of an icon
RS engineers from all over the world have come to Denver Colorado.
To begin a thousand-mile development drive
from the top of the Rockies to the desert plains of Arizona.
It's a global car, so it's a global team.
We try to expose the cars whether it's cool or really hot
Altitude to sea level ...
make sure we identify everything we need to work on.
Leading a group of 30 engineers
is the permanently positive Tim Smith.
"Are we out of here?" "We're out of here."
For Tyrone Johnson, hot off a plane from Germany
it's the start of an important week.
It's one thing that you can't obviously substitute
actually driving a car.
The more you drive cars the more you discover things ...
that you can't discover any other way.
There are several prototypes of the RS, disguised to hide their identity ...
and some competitor cars.
What we're gonna do is run up and down the mountain a couple of times
make sure everybody gets in every car.
Check out what they want to check out ...
see how the cars feel up here.
At an altitude of almost 4,000 metres or 13,000 feet
even the cars fight for oxygen.
Pleasantly surprised at these altitudes levels
we're really not far off
some of the stronger cars that are here.
It's a beautiful drive but not everyone's ecstatic.
It's all going a little bit too slow for us,
because it's been a lot of town driving
and we doing the dynamics on the public roads.
You cannot really feel what the car can actually do.
Waiting for the day that we can, floor it.
At the end of the day the cars are wrapped and secured,
before the team begins an all-important debrief.
I thought the body felt pretty well controlled.
The movement of the car feels completely in anti-phase to your steering input.
From my point of view the brakes could be a bit more aggressive.
On choppiness it's off the chart now,
it should not be off the chart.
I think you're within the tuneable ranges.
The separation is good.
It's not fighting you and fighting itself all the time.
This should be sportier.
I thought it felt quite sporty myself.
It's very very small stuff ...
I think overall it's actually very good.
As David indicates, it's day two in the heartland of Americana.
It's an idyllic scene, but then an RS prototype hits trouble ...
... lead car this is Mike.
It looks like we've had a significant source of trouble in one of the cars.
It's a drama that could compromise the whole week ...
even Tim is struggling to smile.
Peter our lead calibrator noticed that on this car he's is getting ...
kind of a clack in the rear suspension.
It's a gear lash sort of thing ...
like a ding-ka ding-ka dink-a dink.
Haven't heard a verdict yet.
That's the right sound ...
If we can't fix it usually it's ... parking it cover it ...
someone stays with it and we call the wrecker in.
Oh wow ...
I've got .... a lot of movement back here.
Fortunately the team work their magic ...
and they are back on the road.
Alright everybody. Get to your rotation three car.
Really we are a bunch of grown school kids
that's pretty much the truth.
On holiday ...
called work.
I have to say it with a grin on my face
it's an absolute dream job.
At the end of the day ...
everyone refuels.
Today is our big day ...
it's just under 500 miles.
It's all desert for the first bit, pretty straight.
A different kind of scenery than we have been used to.
Then we'll get into some twisties again
on the run down into Wickenburg.
As the miles roll on ...
time behind the wheel gives Jamal chance to reflect on the job in hand.
The Mk1 and the Mk2 RS were great cars
but the one thing that I always felt
that people were just waiting for that last little bit ...
was the all-wheel-drive system.
I really want this car to be the first car
that really engages the driver ...
that you can can feel like you're in control of the car
it's helping you do what you want to do.
After a thousand miles of epic terrain ...
the cars reach Ford's test track in Phoenix Arizona,
and for the team it's the end of the road.
Lots of different roads, lots of different surfaces ...
we had high up, low down, now here in Arizona ...
it's nearly a hundred degrees fahrenheit.
We all know what the issues are and we've made a lot of progress
we're sorting those out
and moving on to the next step.
Little hiccups come up along the way ...
but we've worked through those ...
and we made it home safe.
Next time we're at a sodden test track in Lommel Belgium.
Where Ken gets to test a development prototype ...
... and he can't resist a bit of hooning.
Oh my poor car.
[ Laughs ]