Wolf-Ford Focus RS with 360 PS test

Rossen Gargolov
Wolf-Ford Focus RS with 360 HP test
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' You are welcome to come by, but not much is possible today, 'says Klaus Schwenninger, circuit champion of the Hockenheimring. The receiver has barely fallen on the telephone cradle when the decision has already been made: we will drive despite the snow cover. After all, the test candidate is a distant serial brother of the 2009 rally vice world champion. If the Ford Focus RS WRC can successfully track through snowy forests in Norway, a few flakes will not harm our road RS.

Wolf-Ford Focus RS with 360 HP

In addition, this time not just any RS is waiting for the ride to Hockenheim. In keeping with the wintry weather, the new Wolf-Focus RS 360 rolls out to the start with a sheet metal cover in “frost white”. The spiced version of the tuner from Neuenstein in Württemberg rages on the small course with a dull roar. Under the domed bonnet with the ventilation gills, the 2.5-liter five-cylinder now drums with 360 hp instead of the usual 305 to attack the Hockenheimring best times of the production model (sport auto-Supertest Ford Focus RS : 1.17.8 minutes on Conti Sport Contact3 and 1.16.6 minutes on Toyo Proxes R888).

Strengthened compact athlete with angry grumbling voice

Seven centimeters of snow plus a layer of ice underneath naturally make record runs unthinkable. But the trimmed RS has the potential for it. “We selected the injection nozzles and optimized the air supply,” explains Walter Wolf, founder and senior boss of Wolf Racing. In addition to interventions in the engine management system, the Wolf engineers increased the boost pressure of the Borg Warner turbo by 0.2 to 1.6 bar and adapted the water circuit to higher temperatures. Part of the increase in performance is also an exhaust system completely modified from Kat with ten millimeters larger pipe diameter and 0.5 bar less back pressure, which gives the strengthened compact sports car an angry grumbling voice.

In snowy Hockenheim, the handbrake quickly becomes the best friend of a front-wheel drive car. With its spoiler rear, the RS waggles so energetically into the drift as if it were fighting in the final of the Japanese D1 GP Professional Drift Championship. Playfully like an ice dancer the wolf carves through a Sachskurve,Depression and south curve. Cross travel instead of measurement travel. The pilot inside shines against the white splendor outside. But the trimmed RS wants to do more than just mimic the showman. Greedily, he sniffs for the last bit of dry asphalt on these January days. At outside temperatures of around freezing point, it undercuts the factory version by three tenths of a second in the sprint to 100 km /h despite scraping drive wheels with 5.8 seconds. Drive influences only pull the steering minimally. Wolf promises a better grip level and a time of 5.3 seconds at higher outside temperatures.

Measured values ​​of the factory model pulverize the Wolf-RS

While the series model with its even power development and without noticeable turbo lag is more reminiscent of a vacuum cleaner than a charged unit, the tuning variant puts the icing on the cake. The Wolf-RS pulverizes all elasticity values ​​of the factory model and storms towards the speed limit with almost constant power development. No wonder, the maximum torque climbs from 440 to 559 Newton meters.

In order to further improve the already surprisingly good traction for a high-performance front-wheel drive car on the production model, the Wolf Racing crew replaced the production limited-slip differential with a robust and more powerful Drexler lock. In addition, the tuner who was once active in the DTM and rally circus gave the RS additional racing genes. Thanks to the coilover kit from H&R, the Ford Focus crouches closer to the asphalt with its tighter setup (39.2 mm in front and 34.8 mm lower in the rear). More toe-out on the front axle results in even more direct steering behavior.

With jagged steering maneuvers, the tendency to understeer, which is typical for front-wheel drive vehicles, remains low, on the contrary: With its slightly twisting rear end, the Focus is not a spoilsport in terms of agility. Only Peter did not let himself be softened by the time we went to press. The rally derivative is still nervously waiting for a thaw. But not only the RS 360 wants to know: We are also excited and deliver the lap times in Hockenheim - that's a promise.

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