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
Ken and Ford product development chief Raj Nair
are in a top-secret test facility at
Ford's global headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
They are here to drive an early prototype of the new Ford Focus RS.
Every Ford we try to make sure is a fun to drive vehicle,
but we take that a step up with the Focus ST
and the RS is really the top of that pyramid.
All my development work with cars has all been race cars
but to actually now be working on an actual production car
is really really cool.
It's the stuff that I dreamed of as a kid when I studied car design.
When they (Ford) confirmed the horsepower
and that the fact that they would make it all wheel drive
it really was cool moment.
If you look back at the history of vehicles prior to Focus
the Escort, and even before that the Sierra we had all-wheel-drive on the RS.
Ken: and the RS 200 ...
And the RS 200 yeah, even before that
that's a rare one right there, great car.
When we got to a certain point where,
even though the Revo knuckle
on the front wheel drive was really good
with the horsepower levels we're at right now,
we really felt that we were gonna need to
channel that through all-wheel-drive ...
Ken: you need to get the car down the road quicker and better than a front wheel drive car can.
Ever since the first Escort RS 1600 of 1970
The RS brand has been synonymous with high performance Fords from Europe
including such icons as the RS 200
and the Escort RS Cosworth.
The Focus RS was born on the rally stage in the hands of such greats as
Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae.
The first Focus RS road car appeared in 2002
and the second in 2009.
The new model will be the first to be sold globally
including here in Motor City, Detroit USA.
It's a symbol of our company's heritage
it symbolises that kind of performance
that all wheel drive vehicle,
that I think we popularised in Europe
and now it's exciting to be able to sell that here in the US.
It's sort of the next chapter of performance
it's the next chapter of innovation.
A mile away at the test track
Ken and Raj are preparing for their first drive of the new prototype.
Who picks the camo's?
Ah we've got various ones, we've got flowers and waves and zebra stripes ...
whatever the guys feel like putting on.
We play cat and mouse games with all the photographers that hang out outside the wall.
Sometimes climb the wall ...
Really?
Oh yeah ... Wow ...
We see them in trees over here by Greenfield Village.
They've been starting to fly drones ...
Really?
Not sure what we're gonna do about that ...
Thankfully some drones have been given permission.
Every time I get in a race car we're so focused on such a particular driving style
and particular courses,
where most drivers, driving with a certain ability
talking about a production car
something that may work for me around this track
may not work for your average driver.
We want the car to reward expert drivers like you right
but we also want it to flatter the novice.
And to some extent we want people to get out of this car
and to think they are better a driver than they probably actually are.
So that's a big part of the goal of the car.
It's Ken's turn to drive ...
and he reminisces about life with a second generation Focus RS
Part of my original deal with Ford was that ...
I liked that car so much that I requested that
in my original contract when I signed with Ford
that I wanted one of those cars brought over as a daily driver for me.
They happily obliged and brought over for a couple years for me as a loner and got
and I got to drive it around and ...
kept it at my home in Southern California
and really enjoyed that car.
You know when I was based in Europe I actually had an Escort RS Cosworth
as my company car.
We were supposed to turn them in after a year but I never turned mine in ...
so they kept calling up
asking where it was and I said I was still using it.
and it was one of those that I'd really wished we had that car in the USA.
I've been a car guy since I was a young kid
and now to be a professional race car driver
and be able to interact on this sort of level
is an absolute dream come true for me.
It already feels quite nice I'm not pushing it ...
past the point of understeer
I'm really letting it do what it wants to do ...
but it already feels quite nice.
I mean overall it's doing what we want it to do ...
getting in and out of these tight corners ...
fairly quickly.
That corner is visually weird.
Yeah.
What the car wants to do with the line is slightly different ...
than what it looks like it should want to do.
Right now the car almost feels like it's ...
a little bit better settled at nine tenths than it is at eight tenths.
Mmm ...
Being in this car and being able to ...
test drive it around a very fun test track here in Michigan
is amazing.
Coming up ...
Next time we're in Germany
for a lesson in design.
We're all very excited when we have an RS
and a crash course in safety.
Today we will do a Ford Focus RS
Bang! The car is crashed.