Ford Focus with 850 HP VR38 Built for Hill Climb Racing

This is Tony Quinn’s bespoke 4WD Ford Focus built to race in hill climb competitions. It was built by Paul Ceprnich at his company PACE Innovations in Yatala QLD, Australia. Paul co-funded the project in order to show off his company’s design and fabrications skills. Which is good because Paul estimated the cost of the project at $450,000.

Since this car was designed to compete at the top “unlimited” classes the car rides on a custom tube chassis. The only thing still from a Ford Focus is the A and B-pillars and windshield. The rest of the body is carbon fiber built by Centre Line Patterns. Although it would appear the aggressive aero would provide most of the downforce, it is actually produced from underneath the car. In total the car can generate 2,204 lbs of downforce at 124 mph and weighs 2,171 lbs (985 kg).

Power comes from a Nissan R35 sourced 3.8 L VR38DETT V6 built by Craig Hasted. The engine generates 850 horsepower and 976 Nm of torque on 20 psi of boost. Power goes from the engine to a Holinger MFT six-speed sequential transaxle in the front of the car and from there goes back to the rear differential.

Tony plans on competing in the upcoming Pike Peak Hill Climb in the Unlimited Class where he will see some serious competition from regulars Rhys Millen and Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima.

The videos below show Tony competing in New Zealands’ 2015 Repco Race to the Sky.

Source: PACE Innovations FB page and SpeedCafe via BangShift