Chasing the lineage of the Ford Focus RS

10 August, 2016

Ford has released the latest in a long line of gravel- and track-bred monsters in the form of the brand-new Focus RS. The Focus has been built up by the PlayStation generation more than any car in recent history. One of the reasons for this may be Ford’s relationship with YouTube star, driving genius, and all-round good guy Mr Ken Block. If you’re unfamiliar with Block’s work, check out our coverage of the guy here. I guarantee you’ll be in awe of his skill. It will also give you some understanding as to what this new Focus is all about.

We were put in touch with the New Zealand RS Owners Club and pitched the idea of exploring the lineage of the RS, and suggested a few of its members might be able to come and meet us for a photo shoot and a chat about their cars. Instead, the club kindly put us in touch with a Ford collector who fit the bill perfectly and we jumped at the chance to spend some time with these cars. Here’s an RS gallery to explore, but to get the full review, check out the September issue of New Zealand Classic Car.


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Motorsport Flashback: The Temple of Speed

On the banks of the Lambro River is Europe’s largest enclosed park, all 688 hectares of it. Parco di Monza was commissioned by the son of an Austrian empress as a summer retreat in the late 1700s, but it would be for another century and a half before ground was broken on what would become Italy’s famous theatre of speed at the park’s northern end. One hundred years ago on 3 September, less than four months after work started, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza was officially opened and the first race – appropriately, the Italian Grand Prix – was run a week later. Monza was the world’s third purpose-built circuit, after Brooklands and Indianapolis, and was the result of the Milan Automobile Club financing the 3500 workers who created the super-quick, and consequently dangerous, track that made the word ‘Monza’ synonymous for speed.