Jerry | Cambrian Writes

Performance “Blues”

I prematurely assumed I would be writing about something else this week, but here I am writing about another exciting reveal from the Ford. This one is exciting for a different reason altogether. It hits home. Let me explain.

We saw the GT350R, Raptor & new Ford GT. Those are superbly exciting, don’t get me wrong! It’s just that I feel like a kid watching the set up of a flashy toy display in a store window while fogging up the glass from the outside in my hand-knitted mittens. They’re a little out of my reach. So the Ford store decided to fabricate something that a few more people could play with, and revealed the “18 & up” Ford Focus RS, batteries included.

You’re wondering why so much hype? It comes down to access. Prior to now, the Rallye Sport (RS) wasn’t available in North America and it’s been that way since (believe this) 1969. I’ll keep it short so you don’t have to read all of the intricate details. They badged the first “RS” way back in 1969 on the oddly named “Ford 17m”, which was originally a 4 door sedan built by Ford in Germany. They later offered it as a 2-door, and it was replaced in 1970 by a vehicle with a proper name that you might recognize, the Ford Escort.

The Ford Escort and a few other models carried the RS badge for a number of decades until it became the Focus, but it still hadn’t set foot in Canada or the US. Europe was dangling it right in front of our noses for 46 years. It was famous. It had won rallies, been in touring car championships, been driven by world famous Colin McRae and North America wanted it. It’s been an unattainable dream, until now.

The creaky wooden front door on that 46 year old toy store has just swung open. Everyone wants to play with the new Ford Focus RS and flip it around and see what it does. It’s never been on this shelf before! How fast can it go? Do the tires actually turn? How many of them turn?

Four.
All four tires turn.
A brand new all-wheel-drive system with a twin clutch set up means you can split the power in the middle, and again between the two rear tires. Up to 70% of the power can shred just the rear rubber off or even send the entire 70% to ONE rear tire if needed. You’re wondering how much power is being thrashed around between the four corners of the RS? I’m going to guess about 335 horsepower in advance. If I guessed too high, I’ll post my apology right here. (Unless I can sneakily edit it without you noticing.) It’s a more powerful version of the 2.3L Eco-Boost from the new Mustang which hits 310 horsepower on 20 psi of boost. Maybe they just turned up the boost for the RS? New intake? New fuel maps? I could USE a map of the RS right about now.

Let’s sum everything up. The Focus RS shares a similar engine with the ’15 Mustang, but the Focus is hundreds of pounds lighter, and grips the road aggressively with a sweet all-wheel-drive system. Imagine when you lift yourself off of a moving treadmill with your arms to see how fast you can flail your legs. You’re light, so they move more quickly. Until you slip and get launched across the floor and shove an ankle through the base of that vintage encyclopedia set your dad cherishes.

It’s going to be fast, and awesome.
Oh, and no worries, it comes in 3 other colours too.
-Jer

Bookmark this page for updates on the RS & other performance products. Also check out our website for inventory on these amazing products and more!

Ford @ NAIAS & All of the Best Details.

The Ford Performance Lineup are all "Liquid Blue". — “Liquid Blue”. The chosen color for the Ford Performance lineup.

Wow. My jaw is on the floor. Unfortunately not the futuristic floor of the new Ford GT, the SVT Raptor, OR the drool-worthy Shelby GT350R. I couldn’t be there to spoil the finish on the door handles with my clammy excited hands in person, so I’ve scoured the net for all of us who want details and visuals. Stay right in your chair, forget about getting a second cup of coffee, health shake or whatever wakes you up, because if you’re reading this as a vehicle enthusiast there will be more than enough excitement to keep your eyelids at full mast.

Since mention of the 2015 F-150 everyone has been curious about the idea of a new SVT Raptor. We initially heard that Shelby may not be transitioning into the new Mustang platform, so maybe the Raptor will fade into the shadows as well? Nope! They’ve lit the fuse leading up to the new SVT Raptor, and it will be in production officially by fall of 2016.

BUILD. Let’s get into the gritty details and start at the frame. It’s all-new, stronger and unique to the Raptor. The body is the same new-tech aluminum alloy as the F-150 which shaves off 500+ pounds of weight around the mid-line. The Atkins Diet had never seen numbers like that. Five-hundred pounds would make you more agile and capable too, like it does for the Raptor. They’ve redesigned the FOX Racing Shocks with MORE suspension travel and an all new terrain management technology integrated. Excited yet? Let’s move on.

POWER. Everyone requested the EcoBoost in a Raptor. It’s lighter they cried, so why not? Because apparently happiness is a carefully timed event. The new Raptor has a new high output version of the 3.5L EcoBoost engine with over 411 horsepower & 434 lb.-ft of torque to out perform the 6.2L in the 2014 body. Not to mention they gave it four more gears to help wrangle that power to the wheels. Yes. A 10-speed transmission. I told you this was uber exciting!

GRIP. They’ve redesigned the transfer case to make off-road mode easier and part of this change includes it’s ability to work much like an all-wheel-drive. Imagine a half mechanical, half clutch driven transfer case. You never looked cool chirping around corners in “4WD” anyways. And speaking of cool, with some 17″ BFG All-Terrain K02’s tucked under a brand new (and first-ever) dual exhaust you’ll turn some heads. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the six different presets for driving conditions: Normal, Street, Weather, Mud & Sand, Baja & Rock mode. Yeah, I want to be on a phone call just to say “sorry, just one minute.. I’m putting my truck in BAJA mode”.

2016 Shelby GT350R
To put it in crude short form, it’s the track modified version of the already awesome Shelby GT350. Over 500 horsepower from the 5.2L flat-plane crank N/A engine & they’ve shed some weight & streamlined the aerodynamics significantly. Let me tell you how.

Less luxury, better airflow and more carbon fiber. Yeah, carbon fiber rims. That’s a first on a production car, and it slices off about 13 pounds per wheel. They didn’t stop there. They’ve heisted their own stereo, carpeting, back seat, sound dampening material, air conditioning, and even the spare tire.

If that sounds a little too rustic for you and you’d prefer to crank “life is a highway” by Tom Cochrane, there is a package to help you. Order it with the electronics package and cruise the Florida highways with 7 speakers, dual-zone air conditioning, an 8-inch touchscreen and even navigation to get you to bingo.

Super sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber wrapped around the 19-inch carbon fiber rims (yeah I’m not tired of writing that yet) will be accompanied by the MagneRide adjustable dampers to keep everything in contact with the asphalt as well. It’s a monster of the track in terms of production road cars and you’re wondering what could possibly outrun the GT350R?

Introducing the new Ford GT
Grandchild to the 1966 GT40, this is the 2nd homage to the legendary race car that was built to tackle Ferrari in the “24 Hours of Le Mans”. It’s design is stunning inside and out.

We’ve all been wondering how much power could be forced out of an EcoBoost. The answer is north of 600 horsepower. The 3.5L V6 twin-turbo is mated to a 6-speed paddle shift transmission and claims to have a 0-60 of around three seconds and a top speed of 200mph+.

Ford is promising the GT will have one of the best power-to-weight ratios of any production car and that’s a hefty promise. I hope they pinky-swore on that. There are aluminum sub frames at the front and back hidden by carbon fiber body panels and an active rear spoiler to help with down force and braking, which leaves the rest of the braking to the 20 Michelin Pilot Super Sport Cup 2 tires surrounding carbon ceramic brakes. I wish my car had some ceramic.

Strap in, and hang on. The drivers seat doesn’t move, and doesn’t have to. The pedals and F1-style wheel will come to you. You don’t have to worry about hitting the signal stalk while signaling into your driveway either, because it isn’t there, and you’ll never want to go home. In fact, there is nothing between the wheel and paddle shifters. The dash is completely digital and configurable for multiple driving modes too, which makes the whole interior look that much more futuristic. 2015 Back to the Future fans eat your heart out.

The outside of the car is amazing. The folks at Ford have really outdone themselves on the curves and design of this car, and I sure hope I get to see one roll into the showroom here at Cambrian Ford. We’re Northern Ontario’s only SVT dealership so that means I will keep my clammy anxious fingers crossed that I get to put a few fingerprints on the glossy surface of one of these amazing machines.

If you liked what you’ve read, share this with a friend or maybe bookmark our blog to come back for the curated goods and news on new Ford, Shelby & SVT products right here.
-Jer

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Ford + Shelby = Voodoo

That’s what they’ve named the GT350 V8. “Voodoo“. It’s a naturally aspirated 5.2L engine (317cu) squeezing out an estimated 550 horsepower! It’s claimed to be their most powerful engine to-date, with new ideas and designs like it’s very European “Flat-plan crank” which has a few perks all on it’s own. It’s lighter, which means it can spin faster (estimated over 8000+ RPM) and also makes a very uniquely louder exhaust note. Who’s buying a GT350 to be subtle anyways?

While you and I are waiting for the 2016 Shelby GT350, the Barrette-Jackson Scotsdale auction is selling the first one on January 17th. Yeah, this month. How is that possible? It isn’t. Essentially they’re auctioning an I.O.U.

You have to be a pretty reputable company (much like Ford) to auction something that isn’t even physically an object yet, for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Who bids on an imaginary vehicle? Likely someone who has a few spare bucks laying around, because the 2015 Mustang GT pulled in $300,000 at the auction. You can safely assume that the first GT350 will auction for much more. What will you as a bidder be trading your money for? Dibs on creating the very first GT350 exactly how you want it. Your color, your interior and with whatever options they release it with. You get to bring the most powerful N/A car ever designed by ford, to your garage…..eventually.

Since Cambrian Ford is the only SVT dealer in Northern Ontario, you can bet we’ll be one of the first to have the GT350 buffed and gleaming in our showroom for groups of people to gather around.

-Jer’

If YOU had spent $300,000 on a Shelby GT350, would you drive it like it was built for, or dust it from time to time in a garage?

The Tallest Order for a Mustang

10,000 people watched a live dramatic journey of a hero repelling down a cliff in Arizona while speaking on a high tech optic phone of sorts. Following riding horseback, flying in an airliner, driving a Shelby Mustang, getting a lift in a helicopter and even dramatically riding a personal watercraft, this “hero” ran to the 112th floor of the Burj Khalifa. Almost a half Kilometer above the surface of our Earth the mysterious man was revealed playfully as Bill Ford. (great-grandson of Henry Ford.)

His mission? Simply place the Pony badge on the grille of the 2015 Mustang that was intricately assembled atop the Burj Khalifa the night before.

Why did Ford pick the Burj Khalifa? 2 Reasons: It’s the tallest building in the world, and because in 1965 Ford did a similar reveal on the top of the Empire State building. In 1965 it was the tallest building, so it only made sense to keep that in mind for the 2015 reveal 50 years later.

Like any large production, there is a LOT involved in placing a 3500+lbs vehicle inside a very fancy new building. Alright, so you might know that they took it apart and reassembled it on the roof, but how do you get all of those parts to fit in an elevator and still look genuine as a whole car? Here’s a video showing the car being assembled.

Kind of like a complicated model car for big kids?
-Jer’

Challenge The Fusion Hybrid #2 | A Whisper

We put out the word to the masses to challenge the quietness of the Ford Fusion Hybrid. How quiet could it really be? Jaymie-Lynn challenged us through Facebook to see if the Fusion Hybrid could be quieter than “a whisper”. We took this challenge and had Jerry do some whispering, but how do you show something so silent and compare them? Watch to find out!

Think you have a fun challenge for us? Please share it!

Challenge the Fusion Hybrid #1

We set out to have the public challenge how quiet the Ford Fusion Hybrid is, and Tom Spencer on Facebook was the first to challenge it! He wanted to test the Fusion to see if it could be quiet enough to record professional quality audio inside it while it’s moving. Well Tom, here’s our reply to your challenge!

Passing 1000

We’ve got some great friends on Facebook from the area and surrounding that add their own ideas and humor to our posts! Thank you all! As more of our staff here at Cambrian are becoming involved in our page, you will be seeing more of how much fun we really are. We have a unique working dynamic for a business like ours and truly take pride in it. Thanks for being social with us!!

The beginning of a great Blog

Welcome to our new blog site! Okay, so what is a “blog” and why are we here? The answer is exciting! This is a central hub for everything we put online. From our Twitter feed, Facebook, Google+, You Tube and more. Why go searching 12 websites for that link we posted a week ago that made you chuckle uncontrollably when you can come here and find it easily? This is where we’re social. We’re here to talk to you, learn from you, and move forward with you. We wouldn’t be here without you, so it’s time we put our ear to the internet to gain your trust, friendship and to do it where we can all be comfortable.

Welcome to our most social endeavor yet.