A Brief Recount of a Historic Day for Fifteen52 & Mountune USA.
There’s something special about track days that get the mind, body, and soul in line for just a brief moment. If you’ve been on a track before, you would understand that pure adrenaline that courses through you from the moment you wake til the time you end your day. February 29th was not unlike what I just mentioned, but a bit more special for us at Fifteen52. That day, we set records with Mountune USA's Ford Focus RS.
First, a brief on this spectacular Ford Focus build. The car was purchased brand new in June of 2016 as a development mule for the Mountune Focus RS product line. Intercooler, exhaust, suspension, boost hoses, high flow intake, recirc valve, brake lines, brake pads, MRX turbo upgrade, forged engine program, alloy inlet manifold, direct injection fuel upgrades, short shifter, clutch, axle, ATB differential, transmission upgrades, PTU brace, radiator, oil cooler, etc. Yeah, this isn’t your typical daily driver. This car was meant to shine on a road course and test the quality of Mountune’s Ford Focus parts.
Mountune's engineers and mechanics speaking with professional driver Robin Shute about the Ford Focus RS's performance.
We don’t take track days lightly, especially this one. A team of engineers, a photographer, videographer, a company executive, and a professional racecar driver all got together at 4:00am Friday morning to head out to Buttonwillow Raceway in Kern County, CA. A good two and a half hour drive from Los Angeles, but we were excited and the drive felt quick. We arrived at about 7:00am for the Turn8 track event. The paddock was full of exotics, euros, American cars, and tuners. Everything from a McLaren to an entire crew of S2000s. Beginner track drivers and full racers headed to their drivers’ meeting while the rest of the Mountune52 crew got to work.
The Ford Focus RS's entourage, all sporting Fifteen52 wheels and Falken tires.
Set up was quick and easy. This is a professional team with years of experience on modified cars. Our Ford Focus was outfitted with Fifteen52’s Super Touring Podiums, Frosted Graphite in 18” wrapped in Falken’s RT615K+ tires that gripped the track hard. Even the rest of the entourage was sporting Fifteen52. Our F-150 Raptor sat on our Traverse HDs and our Ranger sat on our Analog HDs as well. However, we didn’t come here to just look good. We were here to prove the quality of all products involved.
Mountune's Ford Focus RS, driven by Robin Shute, preparing to hit the track for the first session of the day.
8:00am hit and it was time for the first run of the day. Our driver, Robin Shute, winner of the 2019 Pike’s Peak International Race, clocked a 1:59.095 lap on the first time around the track. While we didn’t go out to set any special lap time, we’re told that is the fastest lap on record by a Focus RS at Buttonwillow Raceway. It was a huge feat for everyone involved with this build.
Mountune's Ford Focus RS on track.
The other runs throughout the day brought more information and success than the last in terms of the quality of all our products. Our Super Touring Podiums are still outfitted on this track car to this day with the same set of Falken RT615K+ tires, ready to go again. Robin Shute left the track that day with another title under his signature helmet, and the Mountune team is excited to share battle-tested products with you soon. If you made it this far, thank you. We hope to bring more updates from the Fifteen52 world, and we hope you’ll continue to be a part of the 52family.
Watch a brief video of our day at Buttonwillow Raceway.
