In the 40-year story of Ford RS, the marque has been applied sparingly, merited by only the most high-performance Ford machines of the time.Six years have passed since the last Ford RS � the Mk1 Focus RS � finished its strictly limited production run. Now the famous badge has returned for its league of devoted fans and a new generation of performance car enthusiasts.
This new Focus RS is the product of Ford Team RS, headed by Jost Capito, a committed car enthusiast and racer. Alongside Capito is a small team of dedicated performance car and motorsport engineering specialists, led by Chief Programme Engineer, John Wheeler, whose own expertise stretches over 20 years of Ford performance and motorsport vehicles.
Team RS works hand-in-hand with Ford of Europe experts from across the engineering spectrum to create Ford�s performance road car range. More than 100 engineers have been involved in Focus RS and every one understood the weight of expectation that greets a new Ford RS model.
The 2009 production start for Focus RS has marked the 10th anniversary of Ford Focus and 40 years of Ford RS. More info:www.fordmedia.eu
Source:newspress
Fans of the Ford RS badge and its famous history will find interesting reading in these great books available from Veloce:
Rallye Sport Fords � The inside story by Mike Moreton.The inside story of how Rallye Sport Fords were created by Ford in the 70s and 80s, enabling works� and private teams to be fully competitive in national and international rallies and races, to win many championships, and, for RS cars to be bought by over 100,000 enthusiast customers. With over 100 photos and illustrations, many previously unpublished this previously untold story is brought vividly to life. Click here for more info.
Ford Escort RS Cosworth & World Rally Car (Rally Giants Series) by Graham Robson.The Escort RS Cosworth, which began rallying in 1993, was one of the most ingenious designs of all time, and eventually became Ford's most successful model since the legendary Escorts of the 1970s. The combination of Cosworth power, four-wheel-drive transmission, and an effective aerodynamic package made it a Rally Giant in all conditions, and, until the all-new Focus WRC was launched in 1999, this generation of Escorts was the most effective rally car that Ford had ever produced. Click here for more info.