Ford Focus RS

[Carl-h]

Has anyone got any basic settings for a Focus RS. I'm abit bored of having really fast cars and getting brilliant lap times without even having to try. I want to take a fairly normal car and make it very very quick. I'm not bothered about having the best power figures, just handling that I want to improve at the moment. I have got 1.20 at Midfield after 10 minutes of messing with the sports suspension.

Thanks in advance, Carl

 

[Leonidae]

feel free to try my Focus ST setup from the tuner garages. just leave the stock differential one, since it's considerably better than the FC one. and leave the power stock too, otherwise traction problems will slow you down.

 

[Carl-h]

This is probably a stupid question but, where can I find that?

Thanks, Carl

 

[Greycap]

I'll give you a hand here, I'm pretty sure Leonidae doesn't mind me linking his setups.

MFT Focus ST-R/T '03

- R -

 

[Leonidae]

not at all, and feel free to leave a comment about the setup in either thread.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Well, I wouldn't be using an FF for attempting to make a car faster than it should be. Go FR, MR, RR, or AWD. JUST NOT FF. Why? Every last bit of the power you're trying to put down is being fed to the tires that A. Handle a large majority of the braking force, B. Need grip to turn the car, and with a front-biased AWD, and FWD even moreso, they now need to handle power.

Ever wonder why FFs go through front tires like crazy?

 

[Greycap]

Well, I wouldn't be using an FF for attempting to make a car faster than it should be. Go FR, MR, RR, or AWD. JUST NOT FF. Why? Every last bit of the power you're trying to put down is being fed to the tires that A. Handle a large majority of the braking force, B. Need grip to turn the car, and with a front-biased AWD, and FWD even moreso, they now need to handle power.

Ever wonder why FFs go through front tires like crazy?

Ever read the first post with some thought? He wants to make an everyday car fast. As it happens to be, most everyday cars are FWD. Naturally they can't handle hundreds of horsepower but that doesn't mean they can't be fast. "Fast" is quite an odd term, it depends on so many things.

- R -

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Strangely I don't quite think the Focus RS is an "everyday car", as it's A. TURBO'D, B. low production, and C. pricey.

I'd say that a Silvia Q's would be a better choice, but that's just me.

 

[Leonidae]

maybe Focus RS is more common than Silvias there where he lives..💡 or then not. but if he wants fast FF, he did choose the best handling one.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Strangely I don't quite think the Focus RS is an "everyday car", as it's A. TURBO'D, B. low production, and C. pricey.

I'd say that a Silvia Q's would be a better choice, but that's just me.

I see Focus RS's several times a week. I don't even know if we have Silvia Q's in the UK.

Just trying to make clear the "everyday" comment.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

I see 240s a LOT more than Focus RSs. Then again, I live in the U.S.

I've fooled with the RS in GT4 and all I got was unstoppable wheelspin.

I'ma see how fast I can get a Q's to go. With 225hp as a personal limit.

 

[Leonidae]

I can already say that Focus RS is faster, thanks to its lighter weight and better in-gear acceleration (outside 2 first gears that is, unless you have FC tranny or S-class tyres.)

 

[Dark Elite]

I don't quite think the Focus RS is an "everyday car", as it's A. TURBO'D

Right, so a turbocharged car is not an everyday car. OK... How many diesel cars do you see every day, even in America? Rather a lot. Enough, I think, to qualify a diesel car as an everyday car. Now try and find me a modern diesel car that is not turbocharged.

Turbocharging removes everyday-driver qualities? I think not...

The Focus RS is not so much an everyday car as the Focus ST170, which is not quite so much an everyday car as the lower-range Focuses. But it is built on a Focus chassis, and with Focus styling, and a Focus drivetrain. It's simply a hotter version of an everyday car - and if you want to tune an 'everyday car' to make it faster, that is exactly what you'll end up with anyway. All the use of the Focus RS (as opposed to the ST170) does is save you having to modify the engine components. So, you could argue that a Focus RS with suspension and differential tuning is more of an everyday car than an ST170 you've tuned to match an RS.

Oh, and if wheelspin's a problem, I should disclose the well-kept secret that the throttle has places other than open and closed.

For the record, I love the RS - nice choice for this excercise, Carl 👍

DE

 

[Rotary Junkie]

IONO, my Q's should be quicker.
+REP to Dark Elite. Great counter argument.

 

[Kent]

I'd like to hear more specifics about how the RS was setup in the initial test. 👍
I've done a bit of testing after reading this thread and it was interesting. The RS very much seems to be dependant on throttle control. There's just too much torque to run with a wide open throttle during anything other than 3rd gear or higher.
I did manage to tune out some of the wheelspin but 1st and 2nd gear are still a little touchy.

Let me know the specifics of the original run and I will get back with any helpful info I can. 👍
(my test was running with 277hp and S2 tires)

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Well, the RS is so light that it's not funny, and weight reduc makes it all the worse.

I'm going to pick one up and see what I can do. Grr... EFF EFFs.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Alright, I tossed my ratios in it, did some slight suspension tuning, and went out with 280hp, level 3 weight reduc, my LSD set to 60/60/5, and the clutch and flywheel duo.

Well, it was as you said; touchy in first/second, but smooth sailing from third onward. Well, almost. Whenever it crested a hill at full throttle, it spun the tires. However, I like it better than a Prelude I had built.

 

[Leonidae]

I also presume that it understeered with that locked diff..

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Not really.

I usually lock the diff like that and back it down to cure understeer, but this thing has to much power to do that.

I hate FFs with every fiber of my being, but this thing wasn't horrid. Just bad.

 

[Leonidae]

if you want to be fast.. ish with a powerful FF, you need to learn throttle control. also, the suspension simply can't be set up similarly as in other cars. FF's do have their strong points that pretty much nullify the bad sides when driven well. for example with mildly tuned Clio sport 2.0 (211bhp) I used 30/50/30 setup for the differential. it's close to locked one, but allows it to turn at speeds under 80mph without too much fuss, and on GVS, the last corner before main straight could be done with full throttle. I'll add the setup to MFT's thread sooner or later.