VIDEO: Ford Muscle - Focus RS And Mustang GT350R Blasts Around Goodwood

The Goodwood Festival of Speed might be held in the UK, but it isn’t complete without some American flavour. Ford isn’t one to shy away about showing off a little, especially when it has some very desirable, fast, and loud machines in its stable.

This is one of those occasions, and so they've brought the hottest Focus, the new RS, and most hardcore Mustang, the Shelby GT350R, to grace Goodwood. The car’s in question we’re driven by some well-known fast drivers, the Focus RS driven by the 'hoonigan' himself Ken Block and the Mustang by Ben Collins, otherwise known as the man who used to be Top Gear’s Stig.

We’ll leave you to judge how these cars look and sound for yourself. In our opinion, the Shelby Mustang GT350R sounds glorious, and well worth upping the speaker volume, if you can, to get an earful of the 526hp 5.2-litre flat-plane crank V8. Such a shame it’s limited to the North American market.

At least the new Focus RS will be sold in many more markets. With 345hp and 440Nm on tap from its 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, it’s certainly not wanting in that respect, and plenty of power to propel the hatchback.

As Mr Block sent it up the hill at Goodwood, he certainly seemed to be having a ball. Rightly so, given his input in the car’s development. There’s even a Drift mode built into the new RS – need I say more?

The slightly unusual engine note heard in the video did cause a couple of raised eyebrows. Rest assured, this is only because the sound for the video was taken from a GoPro mounted at a point not ideal for acoustics, which is unfortunate. Despite this, it actually sounds similar to a WRC rally car - a very good sign.