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Spotted on the Nurburgring by a local enthusiast - and personally confirmed as having a rear differential (like I would have done, he tracked down the car and looked underneath!).
This is the maximum Focus RS. And yet another one we won't get in North America.
Follow the link in the title above to BridgetoGantry.com
Tools & Links for DrivingEnthusiast.net post number # 2358
Another site that is new to me - and a great on it is. Covers the Nurburgring from the perspective of a track rat. The author obviously has nothing better to do than to hang out on the Nurburgring... drive it... and take spy shots of manufacturer prototypes circling it. Now that's a great life!
Brenda Priddy has captured the upcoming Camaro at the Nurburgring. Lots of details shown. Note the important differences here between the Camaro and Mustang:
GM routinely tests at the Nurburgring. Ford of North America never does. Jaguar tests there (oops, that's not Ford anymore). Ford of Europe's most recent test there was the upcoming 350-horsepower Focus RS. Does Ford test anywhere significant? Will an off-the-lot non-R Mustang run hard on a hot race track without blowing it's coolant all over the place? Unlikely. Will a Camaro? Yes - it's being done at the Nurburgring right now.
Does the Mustang use 4-wheel Brembo brakes? No. The Camaro and Challenger both have them as options - 4-piston type at all 4 corners. The cancelled Mustang Cobra had 4-wheel Brembos, all with 4-pistons, and an IRS as well - but all that was cancelled. Here's the picture of the rear Brembos that were teamed with the IRS: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-my-automobilia/sec-imho/2005-03-20_irs-2007-svt-bs/index.htm
Note the low-profile 20" wheels on the Camaro. Sure, a Saleen and a Shelby offer those, but not with this kind of suspension travel. The Mustang wasn't designed for these from the start. This is where I differ from my script: the Camaro is a *large* car, and this kind of unsprung weight isn't good.
Will the Camaro ever make a good track car? It's a large car, built on a shared and very large platform, and it inherently has a lot of weight (and momentum). The Brembo brakes are a great thing to see, but apparently 2-piece rotors are not offered and those would be the first part you'd want to replace. No doubt there wil be a lot of pad choicers for the Brembos - that's good. From what we've seen of the seats, they're even worse than those of the Corvette - if that's even possible. So it's debatable. But at least it won't overheat and embarrass itself if its driver decides to drive it hard, to the maximum.
Continue in the link in the title above to the Camaro5 site and lots more pictures and discussion.
And stay tuned to the enthusiast web sites for the next few weeks... hopefully we will get a lap time from the Nurburgring.
Tools & Links for DrivingEnthusiast.net post number # 2356
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Spotted on the Nurburgring by a local enthusiast - and personally confirmed as having a rear differential (like I would have done, he tracked down the car and looked underneath!). 
Another site that is new to me - and a great on it is. Covers the Nurburgring from the perspective of a track rat. The author obviously has nothing better to do than to hang out on the Nurburgring... drive it... and take spy shots of manufacturer prototypes circling it. Now that's a great life!
