Support vehicles on the Tour de France are typically roomy, practical cars as they need to carry equipment and personnel, but Ford is bucking the trend by sending a Ford Focus RS on this year’s running of the race.
The special support vehicle will be used by Team Sky, which this week also extended its partnership with Ford to use its vehicles for another two years. The team typically uses Ford Mondeo wagons as support vehicles, but for the grueling Tour de France, Ford has gifted them with a specially prepared version of its 350 horsepower Focus RS.
Ford applied numerous modifications to Team Sky’s Focus RS to help it cope with the demands of the race. The suspension has been beefed up to deal with the extra 350 kg of weight that will be on board, which includes the team members, tools, drink bottles, a cooler and spare bikes and parts. The Recaro bucket seats have flatter bottoms, allowing team members to more easily lean out of the car, and it also sports a custom roof-mounted bicycle rack.
SEE ALSO: Ford Focus RS Wins AutoGuide.com 2017 Car of the Year Award
“We’re delighted to be extending our partnership with Ford – a company with the same principles of tackling challenges that we at Team Sky have,” Team Sky principal Sir David Brailsford said in a statement. “Ford vehicles play a vital role for Team Sky and their knowledge and support makes them an integral part of our team.”
The Focus RS will be used by Team Sky members to recon the road ahead of the riders, making sure the road conditions are safe for them to ride on as they fastly approach at speed of up to and over 70 km/h. Other personnel and VIPs of the team will be shuttled around in Ford S-Max and Ford Edge vehicles, while its usual Mondeo wagons will also be used.
The 2017 Tour de France will kick off on July 1st. In the meantime, you can watch Team Sky’s special Focus RS come together in the video below.
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