The Ford Motor Company just announced that it’ll make “a major Ford Performance news announcement” on the 12th of June. This Friday, the mysterious bit of news will be delivered by Bill Ford, Mark Fields and Raj Nair. But what should we be expecting Friday at 14:00 UK time?
Considering that the 2015 Ford Focus ST made its debut last year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, this years’ edition may be the place to come clean about the 2016 Ford Focus RS, namely the horsepower and torque of its 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-banger. But there are more Ford Performance products in the pipeline, the reason why we won’t keep our hopes up for a Focus RS horsepower announcement.
You know what else happens in June? The 24 Hours of Le Mans. At the end of May we reported that a racecar based on the 2017 Ford GT is supposed to be revealed in time for the grueling endurance race. Remember that the announcement will be made at 14:00 UK time while the 24 Hours of Le Mans race warm-up session is slated for the early hours of Saturday. It’s a possibility, alright.
I don’t mean to fuel the rumor mill, but something bugs me regarding a possible GT racecar announcement. If you would turn back time to 1965, that’s the year Ford’s GT40 won the Daytona 2000. Considering that FoMoCo can’t run a Ford GT racecar this year at Le Mans, it’s a possibility they will at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. It would mark 50 years since the iconic 1-2-3 result at the 1965 edition of the endurance race.
Last but not least, the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor. To put it bluntly, chances are slim for the Blue Oval to announce something about the dune-loving pickup truck. Our two cents will go on the race-ready Ford GT. Still, the Ford peeps announce that Bill, Mark, and Raj are to “be joined by special guests,” on Friday. This sounds to us like the 2016 Ford Focus RS unveiling event in Cologne, when the automaker got Ken Block to Gymkhana the hell out of the uber hot hatchback’s Drift Mode feature. So - Focus RS, GT racer or Raptor?
You know what else happens in June? The 24 Hours of Le Mans. At the end of May we reported that a racecar based on the 2017 Ford GT is supposed to be revealed in time for the grueling endurance race. Remember that the announcement will be made at 14:00 UK time while the 24 Hours of Le Mans race warm-up session is slated for the early hours of Saturday. It’s a possibility, alright.
I don’t mean to fuel the rumor mill, but something bugs me regarding a possible GT racecar announcement. If you would turn back time to 1965, that’s the year Ford’s GT40 won the Daytona 2000. Considering that FoMoCo can’t run a Ford GT racecar this year at Le Mans, it’s a possibility they will at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. It would mark 50 years since the iconic 1-2-3 result at the 1965 edition of the endurance race.
Last but not least, the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor. To put it bluntly, chances are slim for the Blue Oval to announce something about the dune-loving pickup truck. Our two cents will go on the race-ready Ford GT. Still, the Ford peeps announce that Bill, Mark, and Raj are to “be joined by special guests,” on Friday. This sounds to us like the 2016 Ford Focus RS unveiling event in Cologne, when the automaker got Ken Block to Gymkhana the hell out of the uber hot hatchback’s Drift Mode feature. So - Focus RS, GT racer or Raptor?