With the car breathing easy and thinking straight, the team turned its attention to feeding the beast they just created, relying on a stock fuel pump and regulator to feed a set of Siemens 60 lb/hr injectors. At this point, FocusSport had managed to pull 396 hp from the wheels, a full 284 more than stock, and an unholy 347 lb-ft of torque. Knowing the stock clutch wouldn’t stand a chance against those numbers, the team dropped a chromoly steel flywheel and Exedy hyper single pressure plate and six-puck cerametallic clutch in its place. FocusSport installed a Ford Racing torsion differential to keep both wheels kicking the stock axles.Of course, the Street Tuner Challenge isn’t a drag race competition. The producers are looking for the best overall car, so factors like handling and stopping prowess had to be addressed too. The team tackled stopping their American rocket by bolting a set of Brembo calipers up front squeezing on good-sized 328mm rotors. Out back, the team went with a set of Ford SVT clampers gripping 280mm discs. All four corners are pushed by fluid running through slick custom stainless braided lines made in-house.
The guys turned to H&R for their suspension needs, dropping the car with a set of coilovers from the company using 400-pound springs rates up front and 514-pound in the rear. FocusSport bolted on H&R 24mm antiroll bars front and back to keep the car planted through the twisties, and turned their attention to wheels and tires.
The team knew they wanted to go with an eye-catching, orange-on-black paint scheme, so they went with a set of Pro Race 1.2 rollers from Team Dynamics. The 18x8 black wheels dipped in BFGoodrich R1 rubber give the car a sinister stance and some serious grip to match.With the mechanicals solid on the car, the team could turn their wrenches on the interior and exterior. Outside, the guys relied on Corvette Specialty in Riverside, Calif., to install a custom body kit fabbed up by 3dCarbon. Complete with a front lip, side skirts, a rear valance, and low-slung spoiler, the guys managed to change the car from commuting mule to track-lap champion. The boys at FocusSport even managed to work cooling ducts into the front fascia for those massive Brembos. Once the kit was installed, Corvette Specialty slathered the car in retina-searing orange and flat black paint.
With the paint out of the way, Corvette Specialty laid into the interior, ripping out the stock seats in favor of a set from MOMO. The rest of the interior was reworked with a custom orange, gray, and black scheme, all wrapped around a custom FocusSport rollbar. A Turbosmart boost controller, J&S Electronics knock detector, and Innovative Motorsports wideband gauges wrapped up the changes to the instrument cluster. A full Sony sound system was dropped in place to keep the car kicking.
So how did the car stand up against the competition? The FocusSport team managed to fend off serious efforts, which included a trick Mitsubishi Evo IX and a serious Mini Cooper S for the win. While proving their mettle to an international audience and dishing Ford up the credit they needed was important, the FocusSport guys also managed to demonstrate that just because the nimble hatchback Focus of old is gone doesn’t mean the new coupe isn’t a worthless brick.The team can’t legally drive the car on public roads thanks to its “crusher” status, but the blaze-orange beast has made more than one appearance at Willow Springs Raceway, managing a blistering 1:33 lap time with a top speed of 131 mph. The reception at this year’s Focus On The Beach proved that the new coupe was worthy of being accepted into the Focus brotherhood too, with crowds surrounding FocusSport’s effort. Positive proof that American metal isn’t dead.