With its lime green paint job, flared fenders, and rally inspired wing, the 2009 Ford Focus RS is definitely something to be noticed, especially considering the fact that Ford retarded the spark timing to encourage the exhaust to “pop” when you lay off the 20.3 psi of turbocharged boost at redline. The heavily modified Volvo-engineered inline-5 is enough to impress most, thanks to an 8.5:1 compression ratio, with variable valve timing, graphite coated cylinder bores, silicon aluminum pistons, a forged crankshaft, and a Borg Warner K16 turbo. With a top speed of 163 mph, and enough juice to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, this isn’t your grandma’s Focus.

Even with all this power, what’s most impressive is how Ford keeps the 19-inch wheels glued to the pavement. While designing the Focus RS, Ford opted for a front-wheel drive configuration, mainly to save weight, rather than an all-wheel-drive system. However, the combination of a 300 hp and 325 ft-lb turbocharged motor and a front-wheel drive configuration creates tremendous issues with traction and torque steer, despite advances in electronic traction control systems. To resolve this issue, Ford adopted the Formula 1 proven Quaife Automatic Torque Biasing (ATB) differential. Connected to a six-speed manual transmission, the Quaife LSD virtually eliminates all torque steer, while providing exceptional handling dynamics. The twelve planetary gear (6 on each side) differential works by maximizing the amount of power that can be used during cornering by biasing the distribution of torque to the wheel with the most grip. As one wheel starts to slip, the torque differential across the two sets of planetary gears increases, causing the wheel which is slipping to progressively lock, transferring power to the other side. The results are significant performance improvements: superior, controllable traction similar to that of an all-wheel-drive vehicle.

Working in conjunction with the Quaife differential is Ford’s innovative RevoKnuckle suspension, further reducing unwanted steering disturbance and torque steer. Specifically built for the Focus RS, engineers at Ford’s Advanced Research Center in Aachen, Germany have developed a suspension similar in simplicity to the MacPherson strut arrangement, but with a two-piece knuckle that incorporates a “C” shape lower suspension mount. This creates a kingpin offset less than half that of a conventional MacPherson system, with wide track. In effect, this moves the scrub radius of each wheel closer to the wheel center line, giving Ford engineers greater freedom to optimize suspension geometry, including camber, caster, and toe, over the inherently limited MacPherson design. What does this mean to the driver? More rubber on the road during cornering, resulting in better handling, and faster lap times. Now can someone at Ford please explain to me why I can’t buy one in the states?

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