One of the best reasons for visiting the on-going 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed at the Goodwood House in West Sussex, England is the array of nice cars that are participating in the Festival as well as to have an opportunity to get first glimpse of upcoming models.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed has become a favorite event by car makers to unveil their new models during Festival so it is imperative that you stroll around the Goodwood grounds beyond the main expectations.
This year though, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is even more exciting with the presence of Gymkhana legend Ken Block who will debut the Ford Focus RS and the Mustang Hoonicorn.
One of the world's most spectacular drivers, Ken Block, will give the all-new Ford Focus RS - and the Mustang Hoonicorn - their UK debuts at the Festival of Speed.
This year's event theme is 'Flat-Out and Fearless: Racing on the Edge' and few drivers hold this philosophy as close to their hearts as Block, whose amazing Gymkhana videos have won worldwide acclaim and achieved over 300 million views on YouTube. Ken has form with the new Focus RS too, as Gymkhana and World Rallycross star Ken Block was brought in as a consultant on the all-new Focus RS and joined the Ford Performance team at the preview event in Cologne, Germany - the city where the RS legend was born in 1968 with the Ford 15M RS.
The Monster Energy Athlete's reputation has been forged with wonderful displays of car control - his Gymkhana videos often being created in urban locations with buildings, bridges and other immovable objects often just millimetres from the action.
He will drive the new Focus RS, which has been developed by Ford Performance and is the 30th Ford to carry the RS badge, up the iconic 1.16-mile Goodwood Hillclimb throughout the weekend.
Block will also bring his incredible 'Hoonicorn', a 1965 Ford Mustang 'notchback' that has been customized with four-wheel-drive, an 845bhp Ford V8 engine, bespoke suspension and tyres, and bodywork inspired by rally and racing cars plus toys he owned as a child!
Here's a video of Block in action.
The Ford Focus RS packs a whopping 345 horsepower from its 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinde, reported Car and Driver. That is better than the Volkswagen Golf R which packs only 292 horsepower, and the Subaru WRX STI with 305 horsepower.
Ford said that the Focus RS comes with a 325 lb-ft of torque and between 2000 and 4500 rpm. The new Focus RS is equipped with an overboost function allows for a maximum of 347 lb-ft for up to 15 seconds if you press the gas pedal to the metal.
The new Focus RS comes with a six-speed manual transmission and a new all-wheel-drive system that allows clutch packs on each of the rear half-shaft. This feature allows for dynamic torque vectoring. The report said that up to 70 percent of torque can be delivered to the rear axle while up to 100 percent of torque can be routed to the outside rear wheel.
The Focus RS also outperforms the Mustang EcoBoost which produces 310 horsepower using a longitudinal application of this same 2.3-liter model.
