Re: Ford Focus Rally

[Jerry Photoguy <glewis4457@domain.elided>]

Howard is exactly right.  In one of their sidebar
presentations they showed the semiauto used by the
Subaru team....$70K for the tranny alone.  Now, I am
sure that there are alternatives for vehicles to be
sold to the performance public, ala Subaru WRX and
prob the Mitsubishi Evo soon.  Right now Ford sells
every SVT Focus before it even leaves the factory so
there is no market push to bring alaong the 4WD
version.  I understand that the years production is
already sold so buying one is problematic at
best...you gotta find a dealer who has not sold their
allotment.

Jerry in Houston

<<Gentlemen,
     To say Any car
company(skoda,citron,ford,etc)makes a FIA ralley car
is a misnomer.  These FIA cars bear as little
resemblance to a production car as does a Winston
stock car to the car in production that it resembles.
     The Ford Focus that campaigns in the FIA WORLD
RALLEY CHAMPIONSHIP rounds is nothing more than a
$500,000 purpose built race car. Allwheel drive,
adjustable everything, tublar frame, etc. and it looks
a little like the car it is named after.
     If Ford decided to build a street version of this
car, it would be but a shadow of the FIA car; and durn
expensive, I would imagine.
     But there is a main point of performance that
these world class ralley cars have that we public
consumers can only dream about..and that is TIRES. At
any world ralley, all of the teams have hand built
tires, as many as 10 different compounds and tread
designs.None of these tires are good for the public.
These tires, beastly expensive, are to be ruined in
ONE 25 mile stage. Then, depending on the make up of
the next stage roadway, another set is doctored to
tackle that section.It may have completely different
tread, compound and size..and each corner may have a
different tire on it.
     So, if Ford did build us a Focus that had all
wheel drive, it would not have a paddle shift tranny
or the magic tires that the FIA team uses.
    We can only dream of such a car in our driveways.
Howard>>
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