How did the ST beat the RS in a drag race? I think we may have the answer

Here’s the thing. You hand a modest bundle of money to Mountune, Ford’s famously self-effacing affiliate tuning outfit, and in exchange they make a few mods to your Focus ST. The idea is to pump up its performance to something that will give you a tantalysing taste of the full-on 300bhp RS without replicating the experience (for obvious reasons) or invalidating the warranty. Nice package.

So where did it all go wrong? First the Mountune ST whips down the RS’s trousers in a straight drag race at Bruntingthorpe. Then it puts in a set of fifth- and sixth-gear increment figures the RS can only dream about. Scratched heads all round.

But I think we may have the answer. Mountune claims 256bhp and 295lb ft for its straightforward intercooler, air filter and remap conversion. It will even give you a piece of paper with the relevant dyno graph plots. We’ve now got one of those, too, but it comes from our friendly neighbourhood rolling-road in Wellingborough. It reads 285bhp and 384lb ft. One for the RS as well: 294bhp and 370lb ft. Given that the RS weighs 75kg more than the ST, well, it all falls into place.

Any comfort at all for the RS, then? Yes, it’s a good two seconds a lap faster round Bedford’s West Circuit. That, at least, was predictable.