Ford Focus Rally Car: Rallying Cry

World-championship rallying-that incredible sport in which drivers fling production cars around public roads at high speeds and earn fame and big bucks while dodging the locals-is in stealth mode on the radar screens of most American car enthusiasts. That's too bad because rallying is wild fun and a great test of the cars and teams involved.

As exciting as PRO Rallying can be, it has remained a sport with a European accent-despite the Sports Car Club of America's well-regarded but not heavily subscribed PRO Rally program. Running through midwestern woods and western high deserts, the SCCA program is highlighted by the Pike's Peak Hill Climb every July 4.

Ford Motor Company, however, knows a good thing when it sees it. After all, the company has been in European rallying for ages. From Cortina sedans to Mustangs, Ford has rallied a variety of cars throughout the years.

Now there is more reason for excitement than at any other time in the recent rallying past. As of the '99 season, Ford's rally car has been based on the Focus-introduced in Europe last year and here in the States this year.

As feature-laden as these cool little cars are in stock edge-design form, their size and the availability of the optional 2L Zetec E engine are among the design basics that make the Focus ideal for the high-speed, rough-and-tumble world of international rallying. Trust us, this is no sissy sport confined to drivers unwilling or unable to drive authentic race cars. Ford lead driver Colin McRae was recently given a courtesy testdrive in a Ford Cosworth-powered Formula One car and he drove extraordinarily well-just a few seconds off the pace in a machine considered by many to be the most difficult breed of racers on the planet.

McRae obviously figured he gets all the thrills he needs from his Focus rally car, and why not. Though at 2,900 pounds his rally Focus is a long way from the 1,400 pounds of a modern F1 car, the Focu' intercooled and turbocharged 2L Zetec E engine produces 300 hp at 6,500 rpm. That's more than enough power to keep any driver busy while driving at top speed on the dirt, snow, and ice that are regular features of international rally-driving surfaces.

With all that horsepower, the rally Focus is still a good citizen. It operates efficiently with an electronic engine management system and exhales through a catalytic converter.

This quick little car puts its prodigious power down through a six-speed, sequentially shifted gearbox and a specially designed four-wheel-drive system that features an electronically controlled center, front differentials, and a mechanical rear differential.

Suspension consists of McPherson struts at all four corners (cash and prizes if you can tell us which car was first equipped with McPherson struts and why), and steering is accomplished through a power-assisted, high-ratio (12:1) rack-and-pinion system that offers 2.0 turns lock-to-lock.

The brakes used on the Focus are by Brembo, though brake specification depends on road conditions. On asphalt, huge 14.9-inch front and 12.4-inch rear rotors are fitted, with eight-piston calipers up front and four-piston calipers at the rear. On the less-grippy dirt or gravel venues, the rotors measure 11.8 inches on all four wheels and four-piston calipers are selected.

As with brakes, wheel size is highly dependent upon the racing surface. For the pavement the wheels are 18x8, for gravel they're 15x7, and for snow they're 16x5. We won't even try to outline the bewildering array of tires from which the team chooses. All the wheels are manufactured by OZ and the tires by Michelin.

So how does it all work? According to drivers Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, Petter Solberg, and Phil Mills, it works quite well. Last year in the car's first year of competition, the team finished Fourth in world championship points behind Toyota, Subaru, and Mitsubishi. With Cosworth power (thanks to Ford's absorption of Britain's famed Cosworth Engineering) and Martini sponsorship this year, the team has high hopes of finishing in the top spot. That means a Manufacturer's Championship for Ford and a Driver's Championship for McRae, Sainz, or one of the others.

Will it happen? Can Ford and Team Martini Focus beat the powerful Subaru Team? It's too early in a long season to predict. But with Fourth- and Fifth-Place finishes for Sainz and Solberg in the Monte Carlo Rally, a Third for McRae in the International Swedish Rally, and another Fourth for Sainz in Kenya's Safari Rally-which sums up the events run by press time-things look as if they're coming into focus for the Ford Team. Now all it will take is a little luck.