Or this:
Or this:
I just found this pic online:
That looks like a great idea for stripes.
I like those stripes too. Pretty much the same as how I'd spec a GT350. I'd skip the red border. Just white and blue - old school FIA colors for the USA. 
Congrats!
Congrats man! I like that striped one. A lot. Is that spoiler stock?
Knurled wrote:turtl631 wrote: Very cool! I've been following the car closely, think I'm going with something used and less practical this timeWhat could be less practical than a 350hp Focus with electronic everything? (trying and failing to find the Initial D screencap with Bunta saying "I wanted something practical and easy to drive in my old age" (He bought a WRX STi)
Heh. Cayman or Z06. I like where you went with that though. The blue stripes look good!
bastomatic wrote: Congrats man! I like that striped one. A lot. Is that spoiler stock?
On the RS. Yes.
I'm thinking Group B RS200 stripes on mine.
When it eventually shows up.
I'm pretty sure I saw a red FoRS on my bike ride this morning. It certainly had the black grill & rear wing, but it was quiet...as in I couldn't hear any engine noise at all doing ~50mph past me.
Congrats!
Very jealous. Would love to have one. And you picked the best color.
Ok, any Ford manufacturing-speak experts out there? I got the following message on the status of my RS today:
P3T
Focus Rs
In Order Processing
Selected for Scheduling
Ford-werke Gmbh-saarlouis Assembly Plant,
May-19-2016
Not sure what all that means, but at least it's progress.
That note sounds like its just in the queue at the assembly plant. Once its built expect a couple weeks for shipping and customs.
Congrats on the purchase! You will love it coming from a FiST. Just be aware it's not like the FiST in that you can have a blast going 8/10ths on public roads, really need a track to exploit the full potential. Its a very neutral handling vehicle, will push if you overcook into a corner, but you can power it out of understeer with throttle. Doesn't requires as much steering movement to induce oversteer or maintain as a RWD car, almost feels like it pushes itself to oversteer.
I was lucky enough to be on the development team for it here in the US, worked on everything from the engine dyno, to launch control, rev limiter, and the "pops and bangs". Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
petegossett wrote: I'm pretty sure I saw a red FoRS on my bike ride this morning. It certainly had the black grill & rear wing, but it was quiet...as in I couldn't hear any engine noise at all doing ~50mph past me.
Probably not, they don't come in red. Likely a new ST.
Wow, a genuine insider on our board! Welcome, engiekev, glad you're here. Actually, you're not the first insider we've had, now that I think about it. Eric Hueschele from Chrysler once graced our pages, and I think a few others that don't quite come to mind at the moment.
All of us are extremely impressed with the results of your labor, and more than a little surprised that it's finally coming to America. I'm certainly looking forward to it in my garage, and even more so at the next autocross.
Everybody else on the board already knows this story, so I'll be brief. For the last five years I've been driving a turbocharged Spec V with 270 whp, which pretty much dominated the local SMF scene. I've searched long and hard for something worthy of replacing it, which led me to the Focus.
jstein77 wrote: Wow, a genuine insider on our board! Welcome, engiekev, glad you're here. Actually, you're not the first insider we've had, now that I think about it. Eric Hueschele from Chrysler once graced our pages, and I think a few others that don't quite come to mind at the moment. All of us are extremely impressed with the results of your labor, and more than a little surprised that it's finally coming to America. I'm certainly looking forward to it in my garage, and even more so at the next autocross. Everybody else on the board already knows this story, so I'll be brief. For the last five years I've been driving a turbocharged Spec V with 270 whp, which pretty much dominated the local SMF scene. I've searched long and hard for something worthy of replacing it, which led me to the Focus.
Great to hear you'll be putting it through its paces. The rev limiter will run out to fuel cut briefly before controlling engine speed, as opposed to the FoST and FiST which hit a "soft" clip and throttles back. We had autocrossing in mind, as well as allowing for no-lift shifts (even though shifting at peak power 6000RPM yields fastest acceleration, the "shift light" in the cluster was set there). Most of this info is public and published in the owners manual supplement.
Keep your eye on the Mountune parts coming out, they are the most well developed parts, as Ford works directly with them to assist development and sign-off (this has the bonus of keeping your factory warranty, and can be ordered/installed by some Ford dealers). As of now there are a few parts available, with a tune coming very soon which will really ramp up the powerband!
Funny, I was thinking this:
engiekev wrote:jstein77 wrote: Wow, a genuine insider on our board! Welcome, engiekev, glad you're here. Actually, you're not the first insider we've had, now that I think about it. Eric Hueschele from Chrysler once graced our pages, and I think a few others that don't quite come to mind at the moment. All of us are extremely impressed with the results of your labor, and more than a little surprised that it's finally coming to America. I'm certainly looking forward to it in my garage, and even more so at the next autocross. Everybody else on the board already knows this story, so I'll be brief. For the last five years I've been driving a turbocharged Spec V with 270 whp, which pretty much dominated the local SMF scene. I've searched long and hard for something worthy of replacing it, which led me to the Focus.Great to hear you'll be putting it through its paces. The rev limiter will run out to fuel cut briefly before controlling engine speed, as opposed to the FoST and FiST which hit a "soft" clip and throttles back. We had autocrossing in mind, as well as allowing for no-lift shifts (even though shifting at peak power 6000RPM yields fastest acceleration, the "shift light" in the cluster was set there). Most of this info is public and published in the owners manual supplement. Focus RS owners supplement Keep your eye on the Mountune parts coming out, they are the most well developed parts, as Ford works directly with them to assist development and sign-off (this has the bonus of keeping your factory warranty, and can be ordered/installed by some Ford dealers). As of now there are a few parts available, with a tune coming very soon which will really ramp up the powerband! Mountune Focus Rs
So here's a question.
If Ford is willing to work with a tuner and warranty the parts, etc, why leave that power on the table to begin with? Mostly the Tune, not when they make other mods that Ford may no be able to release.
In reply to z31maniac:
Warranty changes a lot with the parts installed.
the new parts have a 3/36 warranty, and if something else breaks because of those changes, the coverage seems rather nebulous. Reading it, I'd suggest that breaking parts due to calibration changes would not be covered. But that's just me reading it.
The OEM "tune" will honor the full factory warranty. A Ford Performance (Ford Racing, Mountune) tune will then carry a Ford Performance warranty. Can't say much more than that.
The new warranty will also only be applied if the tune is installed by an ASE certified mechanic or ford dealer.
If another tuner (non ford approved) is installed, then it's possible the original factory warranty would be voided.
I believe alfadriver is an insider also (ECU calibration)... but anyway, welcome! 
What can you tell me about the AWD system that I haven't seen from the major publications? 
It seems clever but I don't like how it's a FWD-based system and the max rear-axle distro is 70%... and how it seems like it might not take too well to extra power. Have you guys tested it with increased output or have a ballpark CAD/FEA-based estimate as to the power levels the driveline could hold?
In reply to jsquared:
I also work in Powertrain calibration, so not very directly involved with the AWD system.
It is a GKN "twinster" system, not a Ford design but from that supplier. So I would say it was designed to meet Ford's design specs, just like anything else now when pushed beyond the limits it's hard to say how it will operate. Rest assured with the stock power levels it meets Ford's durability requirements. Even if I did know the exact HP/TQ limits, I couldn't say
It's technically a FWD based system like any of the other non mechanical units out there (aside from Subar). Think Evo X, but using two clutch packs instead of planetary units in the rear "diff". The difference with this system is the overspeed (allows more torque transfer to rear), and the vectoring capability when compared to other systems. There's definitely more complexity than a mechanical system, and the clutch packs are very sensitive to temperature (there are sensors to measure RDU and transfer case temp, and will protect to that). If it sees a lot of heat cycles, the oil minder will adjust accordingly (remind user to replace RDU fluid).
Some reading material:
Yeah I read similar articles (similar one from GKN that was an info article rather than an interview). Kind of dampened some of my enthusiasm for the car, but I'm still glad Ford is producing it. And I still want to drive one, but I won't learn anything about the car through a dealer test drive I am interested in seeing how much power the OEM drivetrain will be able to handle since I know there are people already chomping at the bit to increase the power from that engine 
jsquared wrote: Yeah I read similar articles (similar one from GKN that was an info article rather than an interview). Kind of dampened some of my enthusiasm for the car, but I'm still glad Ford is producing it. And I still want to drive one, but I won't learn anything about the car through a dealer test drive
Not dampened here. IIRC the review boiled down to "If you beat on the car mercilessly in DRIFT mode, you will overheat the RDU."
Other than that, it's my understanding in Race/Track mode, the car is supposed to be good for 30 minute sessions without having heat issues from any of the systems.
z31maniac wrote: If Ford is willing to work with a tuner and warranty the parts, etc, why leave that power on the table to begin with?
Think of the dumbest guy you know. Now give him the keys. Now set the power level so that 95% of the units will not come back under warranty campaign no matter what said guys does to the car, short of driving it off a cliff (and even then it will sometimes still land on it's wheels.)
And even at that, people will want to buy some doohickey so they feel like their RS is a teensy bit better than the other 3 in the parking lot at work, no matter how damn good it is.
In reply to Tyler H:
Exactly.
On the other hand, with the gains in processing power on modern PCMs comes greater control, engines are tuned to run even closer to the limit. Gone are the days of over engineered engine internals, where simply cranking the boost up and opening up the intake/exhaust nets 100+ hp safely.
Tyler H wrote:z31maniac wrote: If Ford is willing to work with a tuner and warranty the parts, etc, why leave that power on the table to begin with?Think of the dumbest guy you know. Now give him the keys. Now set the power level so that 95% of the units will not come back under warranty campaign no matter what said guys does to the car, short of driving it off a cliff (and even then it will sometimes still land on it's wheels.) And even at that, people will want to buy some doohickey so they feel like their RS is a teensy bit better than the other 3 in the parking lot at work, no matter how damn good it is.
If you read the fine print, any mods require premium fuel. So there's one big thing that many will either forget or just not do.
And we have to make them survive 120k for emissions cert, and I can't recall the number of miles that the engine has to survive. Mod'ing it just compromises some of that.
It's the one reason I remind people to be careful when doing things to a DI engine. They are pretty easy to make more power at a huge risk to the engine if you don't know how to do it.
Lack of knowledge with di is exactly what burned up so many disi motors with mazda. I kept telling the dopes that fuel would be a problem, and they didnt listen. Hopefully the focus kids are smarter.
In reply to mndsm:
Considering the number of FoST that have had engine failures after getting aftermarket tunes (and some without tunes) which possibly indicates that fuel quality and octane are very important along with paying attention to what's going on and what you're doing.
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