Ford
Performance just pulled the wraps off of a little SEMA surprise for Focus RS
owners: the Drift Stick, a rally-style aluminum handbrake that slips over the
existing handbrake. It doesn’t just look cool, because a micro-switch inside
talks to the RS’s
electronics and lets you do some big e-brake slides, just as
if the car was equipped with the kind of hydraulic handbrake system you’d get
in a rally car.
Let’s back
up for a second and talk about the Focus RS’s Drift Mode, a clever bit of
programming that tells the AWD and torque vectoring systems to play nice with
the stability control, allowing you to swing the RS around in big, smoky
drifts. It’s not quite ready for Formula D, but it’s a fairly safe way to have
some fun under controlled conditions – and unlike a completely analog drift
machine, it’ll attempt to save your butt if you muck it up.
Where the
Drift Stick comes in is if you want to do a rally-style handbrake turn, as
opposed to a smoky Drift Mode drift. When you pull the Drift Stick, the
electronics inside tell the ABS system and rear differential clutches to allow
for the rear brakes to lock the wheels, letting the car rotate without having
to hold in the clutch pedal. It lets you do very quick, wide-angle turns
without the extensive modifications (and expense) of installing a hydraulic
system, so it’s perfect for rotating around a lightpole or a guy in a gorilla
suit.
If that tips
you off that Ken Block was involved, well, of course he was. This is the
perfect thing for him to be involved with, and vice versa.
Installation
seems easy. Clamp it over the existing handbrake, bolt a rod to your inboard
front seat mount, and plug in the cord into the diagnostic port. That’s it.
Easily reversible. And here’s a neat bonus: since it talks to the OBD system,
there’s a USB port on the Drift Stick. Plug a cable into that and it acts just
like Ford’s diagnostic tool. That means you can download diagnostic data, and
more interestingly, upload different tunes. Installing the Drift Stick itself
won’t void your warranty, either.
The Drift
Stick goes on sale Dec. 1, and it’ll set you back $999. If you want one, head
to your local Ford Performance distributor or get one online.
0 Comments