Re: Ford Focus Rally

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

That's not exactly true. Winston cup Racers have NOTHING in common with 
the cars that they are supposed to represent, not even the body shell 
which is carbon fiber and plastic. At least the Rally cars start with 
real Peugeot, Citroen, Subaru, Ford, and Mitsubishi body/chassis 
shells. As far as these cars being purpose-built half-million dollar 
race cars, yes, they are, and who said or intimated that they weren't? 
We were not talking about race cars, we're talking about the street 
legal rally car knock-offs that Subaru, Mitsubishi, Peugeot and, 
apparently, Ford builds. There is no reason why, that any one can can 
come up with, anyway, Ford does not sell their AWD WRC version of the 
Focus here in the States.  If Ford sold their WRC knock-off here in the 
States, it would likely cost somewhere around the same price as the 
Subaru Imprezza WRC, and certainly no more than the Mitsubishi EV-7. 
OK, so it won't have the stiffness of a real rally car chassis. It 
won't have the brakes, it won't have the paddle-shifter (the consumer 
ones aren't that good anyway. The best is the Italian one used in Alfa 
Romeos, Maseratis and Ferraris, but that one is nowhere near as good as 
the ones used in race cars.). But it would have AWD, up-rated brakes 
and suspension, possibly a turbo giving it well over 200 HP, and would 
be a blast to drive. After all, that's what its all about, no?

George Graves
'86 GTV-6



On Monday, Feb 17, 2003, at 10:07 US/Pacific, Howard gentry wrote:


> 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
> --- George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided> wrote:
> > Why indeed? Is it AWD? I would think that the Ford
> > Special Vehicle Team
> > (SVT) in Dearborn would have glommed on to it.
> >
> > >
> > George Graves
> > '86 GTV-6
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sunday, Feb 16, 2003, at 22:50 US/Pacific,
> > alfa-digest wrote:
> >
> > > Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 18:16:17 -0800
> > > From: "Thomas Moll" <moltek@domain.elided>
> > > Subject:Ford Focus Rally
> > > Actually George, Ford has made a group A rally
> > version of the Focus
> > > and one
> > > of them finished fourth in the recent Swedish
> > Rally. The big question
> > > is why
> > > it's not sold here in the US?!
> > >
> > > Thomas Moll
> > > Seattle
> > >
> > > - ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "George Graves" <gmgraves@domain.elided>
> > > To: <alfa@domain.elided>
> > > Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2003 1:15 PM
> > > Subject: Re: alfa-digest V9 #269
> > >
> > >
> > > > The problem with Ford and GM is they almost NEVER
> > make the kinds of
> > > > cars that enthusiasts crave. They CAN. They know
> > how, they just don't
> > > > and won't. I remember well how, in the early
> > '60's, when Ford came up
> > > > with the gorgeous original Mustang, in spite of
> > the fact that it was
> > > > light, nimble, and quick 2-seater with mid-engine
> > and a integral
> > > > 'bread-basket-handle" roll-over bar,  Lee
> > Ioccoca, in a famous memo to
> > > > Henry II, said: " ...When I see the type of
> > people who want us to
> > > > build
> > > > this car (the real ca-buffs), I am more and more
> > convinced that is NOT
> > > > the kind of car that Ford should be building..."
> > When we finally got
> > > > the Mustang, what was it? A warmed over Ford
> > Falcon. The Focus SVT is
> > > > a
> > > > neat car with a great engine and tranny. But if
> > Mitsubishi and Subaru
> > > > can come out with AWD rally versions of their
> > Imprezza and Evolution,
> > > > why can't Ford make a balls-to-the-wall rally
> > version of their winning
> > > > Focus?  Obviously they could, but they must not
> > want to. If they did,
> > > > I, for one, would be standing in line at the Ford
> > dealership right
> > > > now.
> > > >
> > > > George Graves
> > > > '86 GTV-6
> > --
> Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day
> http://shopping.yahoo.com
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