Camouflage, secret test locations, PR denials in the face of overwhelming evidence… Mostly, car manufacturers conceal new-model testing, so it’s unusual that Ford commissioned a documentary to chronicle Focus RS development. There’s marketing puff, but proper fly-on-the-wall moments too: a car breaking, engines failing, deadlines missed, all of it on YouTube.
Towards the end of the series of shorts, chief technical officer Raj Nair drives the RS. ‘That’s Normal mode?’ he asks. ‘That’s terrible!’ His parting shot is a You’re Fired-style ‘it’s not signed off yet, guys.’
Brave, but it underlines the effort Ford has put into making the third-generation Focus RS the best it can be. Of course, it ends happily when the crack team don’t sleep for weeks and give the RS a final polish, and maybe they took the really bad stuff out. But now no amount of editing can help them, as the first RSs are released into the wild from Valencia airport.
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