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
Six weeks ago in Lommel Belgium
the RS sign off drive did not go well.
Is that it? That's it.
Wow, that is horrible.
Yes.
That's not good.
It feels a little weak
Ford's product development chief Raj Nair delivered a brutal verdict.
Not signed off.
Today over 4,000 miles away in Michigan USA
Raj is on his way to join the Ford performance team
for a second sign off drive.
We had three major issues from the drive in Lommel
that we really need to make sure are resolved.
The pops and burbles from the exhaust
steering feel in normal mode
and then brake feel
particularly in moderate to heavy braking
so, we just need to make sure that those three are fixed
and that there aren't any new issues.
The team await his arrival at Grattan Raceway near Grand Rapids.
We've had a lot of late nights
we left Lommel we went right to work
and had some struggles along the way
The issues that we had were not easy to solve.
In the last four weeks or six weeks since we had that drive
I think we've been able to clear out those issues and
we're anticipating a full approval today.
I drove the car yesterday
I'm pleased, I think we're there
and we're going to put Raj in the car soon and see if he agrees.
If we're not signed off today then ...
we have to say that we're actually not ready to go to production.
Which means a delay in job one
which mean delay in the cars getting to dealers
and the financial impact of all of that.
It's a big day.
We really need to be clean today ...
or we're gonna have some pretty serious repercussions.
Raj grabs his helmet and heads out onto the circuit alone for some high speed laps.
Back in the pits Raj summons Tyrone
to deliver his verdict.
Well ....
I think it's ready.
Finally!
Let's go build some cars because ...
there's a lot of people waiting for this car.
Oh yeah. The interest is massive.
I was referring to me, but ... yeah.
[ Laughter ]
You get so quickly used to the fact
that you just have to hit the throttle
and you've got tractive force on all four wheels.
Although to get the max out of it, if you feed in ...
right ...
and just maximize all four ...
it really flies.
Yeah.
But ... you're right you can also just mash it.
It'll make up for you.
Exactly.
It's gonna make a lot of bad drivers look good.
[ Laughter ]
Congratulations
Thanks.
Great job!
The team just needed the time to resolve the three issues
we've got the steering on normal feeling where it should be.
The brakes under heavy braking ...
good modulation, good firmness in the pedal.
Have you got your pops and burbles?
I got my pops and burbles!
The engine guys, you know said you're burning too much fuel
but I got my pops and burbles.
For the small Ford Performance team
Today marks the end of a two and a half year journey
from concept ...
to sign off.
We set out on the project with very specific targets
and we delivered those
and today really is the culmination of that.
It's the most difficult job I've ever had ...
but also the most rewarding job.
I've had to put people under huge amount of pressure ...
to deliver ...
much more so than normal development,
but it's also the reward
because you do get the results very quickly.
Much like in a race team.
And of course the development team was joined by the Hoonigan,
Ken Block.
Ken was great
he kind of came in from a different perspective
and I think that was good,
it kept us pushing the boundaries in a different way.
We want to make sure the drift mode was worthy of being a drift mode.
And I think Ken was a critical part to making that happen.
A performance team and the lengths that it's going to get the performance it needs
is probably be the ultimate example of an engineering team at its best.
That's probably enough fun.
[ Laughter ]
Just watching what we as people can do when we decide we want to do something ...
that's what's really cool.