Car and Driver: First Look: Ford Focus RS to Compete in 2016 Global RallyCross Season

We hold our imaginations in high regard, but even we didn’t think it was possible for Ford’s Focus RS to become appreciably cooler than it already is. Ford Performance, working in conjunction with Ken Block’s Hoonigan Racing and U.K.-based speed shop M-Sport, has just put that to rest with the Focus RS–based Global Rallycross race car. After making a brief cameo in Block’s latest Gymkhana video yesterday, we now have official info on and photos of the RS racer. Two of these monsters will compete in the 2016 FIA Global Rallycross season, and they look incredible.
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The Focus RS rally cars will also go like the devil, what with all-wheel drive and 600-hp “EcoBoost” engines. With nearly double the horsepower of a stock Focus RS, we’d categorize the race car’s turbocharged engine as being more “Boost” than “Eco,” but either way—600 horsepower! Details on the rest of the car are upcoming, but we do know the fetching Focus will claw its way to 60 mph in less than two seconds. And with Ken Block and teammate Andreas Bakkerud at the wheel, neither car probably has or needs the production Focus RS’s “drift mode.” The massive horsepower and pro drivers will handle drift duty, thank you.

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• How We’d Spec It: The RS-Kicking-est 2016 Ford Focus RS-
• Ken Block Unleashes Smokin’ Hades Upon the UAE in Gymkhana 8-
• 2016 Ford Focus RS First Drive: Finally, We Experience the 350-hp, AWD Hot Hatch-

Expect photos of the completed cars to be released later, but for now, chew on these Ford Performance renderings. We have only one question: How do we source this bodywork—the bulging, vented fenders, hood vents, rear diffuser, and the two wings rigged to the hatch—to put on a regular Focus RS?

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