Barrelbrigade 2023 – On the dynamometer – Ford Focus 1.8 TDCI Futura

Beer! But for whom?

With Marco, there’s more at stake today than just the honors and points in the Barrel Championship. Anyone who saw the Klokje Rond inspection two episodes ago will probably know what we are referring to: Joep and Marco disagreed about the remaining horsepower in the Ford Focus and made a bet, with a case of beer as a bet. Today it will become clear whether the 24 golden-yellow rascals will go to the Gorter house or whether Marco will pay for the next Friday afternoon drink at Carrec in Soesterberg.

“So I have to stick to my earlier estimate of 100 horsepower from the original 116 horsepower”, Marco summarizes his commitment for today. “I am curious, and especially whether my dual-mass flywheel will stay in place.” According to Ghisbert, Marco doesn’t have to worry too much about that. “There is normal rubber in between and that has worn away, so you get metal on metal and that is what he hears. It mainly occurs during load changes. The whole thing vibrates at idle, but at full throttle it is still stuck.”

Focus has lost something

It should be clear that Ghisbert sets to work with full confidence to scrape the bottom out of Marco’s dark blue can. And he does that not without merit, as it turns out when the white smoke comes out of the printer after the black smoke from the Focus. “You’ve lost something, but I’m actually really happy with it,” Ghisbert summarizes his measurement results. “It still has 109.7 horsepower.” Marco grins: “If we round that off, we will end up with 110 hp. That is six too few.” The torque peaks nicely between 2,000 and 2,500 rpm. Ghisbert: “That’s where the engine feels at home.” He’s never seen anyone so happy with lost horsepower. Given the performance of the Safrane, the highest score will in any case pass him by, but the question is whether he really cares about that. With his prognosis he wins a case of beer. And be honest, which is more useful at the end of a hot summer day: points or a cold beer?

– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl

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