Ford Focus ST500Posted by Sam Philip at 11:00AM on Friday 09 November, 2007
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The Focus ST is a dolphin. That's according to Jost Capito, director of Team FordRS and the man responsible for hot Fords. Oh, and a former Paris-Dakar winner whose CV includes a stint with BMW's M-division. And... hang on... a dolphin?
"Yes, the ST is a dolphin," says Jost, "while the Focus RS is a shark."
We're at the launch of the limited edition ST500, and Capito is explaining how he got his designers, chassis engineers and engine tuners on the same page when developing the hot variants of the first-generation Focus. Instead of resorting to measurements and figures, he turned the two cars into animals. ST equals dolphin, RS equals shark.
It clicked. The original shark, the Focus RS, is a car that still engenders misty-eyed looks amongst hot hatch enthusiasts - a lower, stiffer Focus with a limited-slip Quaife diff - and ensures that, at least twice a day, Capito gets asked when the new one is on the way.
Not yet. The ST500 is no shark: it's a dolphin wearing lipstick. Despite a few spurious rumours circulated around the web that the ST500 would be a more, erm, focussed Focus - lowered, diffed-up and the rest - it's just a cosmetic job: red leather seats and upholstery, a few extra ST badges and a characteristically understated silver-on-black livery. Same 222bhp five-pot engine, same suspension, same car.
Which, given the all-round competence of the ST, is no bad thing in itself. A couple of days bombing around the Lake District in an ST with the boys from the Ford WRC team - about which more soon - confirmed that it's still one of the finest hot hatches around: civilised and easy to drive, but seriously, seriously quick when driven hard.
A tarted-up ST isn't quite enough to get us excited, though... but a new shark just might be. Yes, Capito has hinted that a new Focus RS could be on the way. Maybe.
It'd have to make financial sense, says Capito - it's estimated that Ford lost several thousand pounds on every one of the original RSs sold - and it'd have to be exclusive. Ford has already sold some 13,000 STs, but the RS would be a much lower-volume car, probably limited to a few thousand cars.
The timing's about right, too - the original RS was launched four years after the first-gen Focus, and 2008 will see the fourth birthday of the second-generation Focus. And, while we're speculating, let's talk power. The RS saw a power boost of some 35bhp over the original ST - a commensurate gain over the current version would see a 260bhp RS. Capito says the chassis could take that sort of power easily.
As yet it's all speculation, but there's definitely a will within Ford to make the new RS happen. Get Capito on the subject and his eyes light up as he starts discussing tyre widths and steering feel. This bodes well.
So, to all those of you who were hoping the ST500 would be the new RS... sorry. But don't give up hope yet - there's a real chance we'll see a few real sharks around Britain soon.
