2014 Ford Edge Sport on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell revisit bitter F1 rivalry in... Ford Fusion campaign?

Formula One World Champions Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell haven't been on good terms since the 1986 season, when Piquet joined Mansell at the Williams team and Piquet spent the year privately fuming about not being granted the status of number one driver. Things only got worse from there - even though Piquet won the title the following year with Williams, still partnered with Mansell, the fuming was a lot less private.
They're back together after a 25-year silence, in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil to drive the new Ford Fusion. Called "Fusion Grand Prix," both men get the new Ford sedan, prepped to their liking - but still street legal, we assume - for a race to decide... well, who is faster behind the wheel of a Fusion.
There will be four episodes, with the first two having already aired. The third episode comes on January 29 and the race happens February 5. You'll find two video episodes and a press release below, but note - because it's a campaign for Ford Brazil, Piquet's dialogue in the vids isn't translated, so hit the Closed Captioning button to hear his side of the smack talking.

Ford Mustang hit by Moore' Oklahoma's EF5 tornado lives to do another burnout

Oklahoma recently saw the destructive power of an EF5 tornado, but in the aftermath of the devastation, we've also been witness to the incredible resilience of the human spirit. Moore, OK resident Jack Haden survived the storm but found that his 2003 Ford Mustang wasn't quite as lucky. As you can see in the image above, the tornado's 200+ mph winds did quite a number on the car, but while most people would have likely called their insurance company and scrapped the car, Haden had other plans.
After finding the car and seeing that its V6 still fired up, Haden spent a couple hours getting the car, um... roadworthy(?)... by removing the doors and front clip, cutting off the roof and putting on some new wheels and tires. He noticed that driving it around brought some comic relief to an area that needed a reason to laugh and smile. Check out the KSBI TV news report video below showing before and after pictures of the tough 'Stang, as well as a video showing the newly lightweight coupe doing a smoky burnout.

Ford Focus RS ready to make our hot hatch dreams real

Ford's current hot hatch siblings the Fiesta ST and Focus ST are already two pretty great entries into the segment, but there's always a desire for a little more. Thankfully, it looks like the Blue Oval is ready to satiate that need because it's continuing to test the even more powerful Focus RS around Europe. According to our spy shooters, these shots come from near the Nürburgring.
As with previous photos, Ford engineers continue to heavily camouflage the front end of the RS prototypes, but there's a big difference here. Unlike earlier ones, this example appears to have a closer-to-production-ready front bumper rather than just a horizontal strip for the license plate. That may point to development getting somewhat closer to wrapping up. Although, this one lacks the larger rear wing from prior testers, and the exhaust also appears to be a work in progress with the rear diffuser covered in mesh in these latest shots.
The RS is rumored to be using the 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the 2015 Mustang, but power is reportedly turned up from 310 horsepower in the 'Stang to somewhere between 325 hp and 350 hp for the Focus. Routing all that just through the front wheels could be a recipe for serious torque steer, and all-wheel drive is potentially being used for better traction.