Starting Line
Mishimoto embarks on its Focus RS project with baseline testing
By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Mishimoto
The highly anticipated Focus RS is finally arriving on US shores and starting to hit the streets. Rated at 350 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque at the crank, Ford’s hottest hatch promises to be blast to drive. However, we’ve been anxious to see what kind of power it puts down to the wheels on a chassis dyno in the United States.
Fortunately the crew at Mishimoto have picked up a new RS as a development project, and they company wasted no time strapping it down to an all-wheel-drive Dynapack dyno, which typically offers up more conservative numbers than the more common inertia dynos. However, when you are developing parts, the most important thing is consistent results on the same dyno.
Here’s a look a Mishimoto’s baseline run…
[video=youtube;45K5FQpwMIA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45K5FQpwMIA[/video]
“Our runs revealed that the Focus came in at 252 horsepower and just over 283 torque,” says the company. “We certainly see potential in the RS as an excellent foundation to build on.”
Here’s an updated video that provides a bit more perspective on the dyno numbers...
[video=youtube;yON7UIv7-d0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yON7UIv7-d0[/video]
From here Mishimoto will use the hot hatch to develop products, as it has for Ford’s other hot hatches, like the Fiesta ST and Focus ST.
“We have big plans for this little car, but we want to hear what you think! Let us know what you think of our new RS and what features you would like a closer look at,” Mishimoto added. “We are looking forward to tackling an entire line of products for this monster, so stay tuned!”
The stock Mishimoto Focus RS baselined on a Dynapack chassis dyno with more than 252 horsepower and 283 lb-ft of torque.
It will be fun to see what Mishimoto has in store for its new Focus RS project.
